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Bass with bbb-ba-bump-bbb-bom-bub-ba bump

Giving secrets to Mingus when he wasn’t great yet

A. K. Toney is a poet, writer, and performance artist
A. K. Toney is a poet, writer, and performance artist

Emeline (For Buddy Collete)

  • I want to go out through a poem
  • Give a little whistle like Buddy Collete and Herbie Mann speaking
  • Switch my woodwind from flute to sax
  • Then back to swing of be bop
  • Playing it again as though a little bird told you…
  • Giving secrets to Mingus when he wasn’t great yet
  • Riding her is a song coming touching friends
  • Known as Alfredo Rivera passing
  • Martin Indiana old brass ancient soul
  • New blows of breath creating a Jazz Tonic smell
  • There was always The Soft Touch
  • All for a Girl from Ipanema in Blue Samba
  • Why Do You Linger?
  • It Can Never Be…
  • Overkill to Ascension
  • I want to rise counting the Blues and so does every note
  • Indigo air forever floating fantasy phantom
  • Singing a sound without words
  • Be the feeling of a poem
  • And show you my Buddy
  • A clarinet if ever there heard sheen
  • A love scene as if she was Emeline

Parable of Poetry (For Dee Black my Mentor)

  • One day the Sun said,
  • “Where will we put the water?”
  • And the Moon answered,
  • “Just Poet on the Tree”
  • The Poet Tree
  • One day a man named Dee Black became D’Ebony Tree…
  • He gave fruit to the people
  • He gave shelter, furniture, and tools to comfort the people
  • He also gave shade and water to cool the spirit of the people
  • He even gave children, men, and women words to breathe with
  • When Dee Black was a man he told everyone,
  • “That Tree died for you, so don’t you cheat the paper.”
  • Paper is made from trees, we write poems on paper
  • In other words, “Always tell the truth, never lie!”
  • Poems are words that make moments
  • You are that moment, make the most of it!
  • Make at least a poem for the Poet Tree
  • What would wood sound like if it sapped out poetry?
  • Drum trap ttt-t-ta-tap ttt-tick ttt-tip
  • Bass with bbb-ba-bump-bbb-bom-bub-ba bump
  • Or Shekere cha-che-s-shake-chika-che-shake
  • If a Tree does all this for me,
  • The least we can do is Poet on the Tree
  • The Poet Tree
  • (Poetry)

A. K. Toney is a poet, writer, and performance artist. For over 20 years Toney has been an active member of the renowned cutting-edge African American arts enclave World Stage Performance Gallery’s Anansi Writer’s Workshop in Leimert Park Village (Los Angeles). Since 1993, Toney’s skills in performance art have led him across the nation and abroad. His experience as a performance artist and educator has allowed him and his organization, Reading Is Poetry, to teach workshops with preschools, elementary, middle, high school, young adults, NAMI, and the Natural History Museum. Toney is also a contributing writer to KCET.

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A. K. Toney is a poet, writer, and performance artist
A. K. Toney is a poet, writer, and performance artist

Emeline (For Buddy Collete)

  • I want to go out through a poem
  • Give a little whistle like Buddy Collete and Herbie Mann speaking
  • Switch my woodwind from flute to sax
  • Then back to swing of be bop
  • Playing it again as though a little bird told you…
  • Giving secrets to Mingus when he wasn’t great yet
  • Riding her is a song coming touching friends
  • Known as Alfredo Rivera passing
  • Martin Indiana old brass ancient soul
  • New blows of breath creating a Jazz Tonic smell
  • There was always The Soft Touch
  • All for a Girl from Ipanema in Blue Samba
  • Why Do You Linger?
  • It Can Never Be…
  • Overkill to Ascension
  • I want to rise counting the Blues and so does every note
  • Indigo air forever floating fantasy phantom
  • Singing a sound without words
  • Be the feeling of a poem
  • And show you my Buddy
  • A clarinet if ever there heard sheen
  • A love scene as if she was Emeline

Parable of Poetry (For Dee Black my Mentor)

  • One day the Sun said,
  • “Where will we put the water?”
  • And the Moon answered,
  • “Just Poet on the Tree”
  • The Poet Tree
  • One day a man named Dee Black became D’Ebony Tree…
  • He gave fruit to the people
  • He gave shelter, furniture, and tools to comfort the people
  • He also gave shade and water to cool the spirit of the people
  • He even gave children, men, and women words to breathe with
  • When Dee Black was a man he told everyone,
  • “That Tree died for you, so don’t you cheat the paper.”
  • Paper is made from trees, we write poems on paper
  • In other words, “Always tell the truth, never lie!”
  • Poems are words that make moments
  • You are that moment, make the most of it!
  • Make at least a poem for the Poet Tree
  • What would wood sound like if it sapped out poetry?
  • Drum trap ttt-t-ta-tap ttt-tick ttt-tip
  • Bass with bbb-ba-bump-bbb-bom-bub-ba bump
  • Or Shekere cha-che-s-shake-chika-che-shake
  • If a Tree does all this for me,
  • The least we can do is Poet on the Tree
  • The Poet Tree
  • (Poetry)

A. K. Toney is a poet, writer, and performance artist. For over 20 years Toney has been an active member of the renowned cutting-edge African American arts enclave World Stage Performance Gallery’s Anansi Writer’s Workshop in Leimert Park Village (Los Angeles). Since 1993, Toney’s skills in performance art have led him across the nation and abroad. His experience as a performance artist and educator has allowed him and his organization, Reading Is Poetry, to teach workshops with preschools, elementary, middle, high school, young adults, NAMI, and the Natural History Museum. Toney is also a contributing writer to KCET.

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The latest copy of the Reader

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Submit a free classified
or view all
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Time’s up for Doubletime Recording Studio

Owner Jeff Forrest is trading El Cajon for Portugal
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Reader readers sound off about Encinitas cliffs

Not much sympathy for victims
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4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
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