This time of Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving the holiday will be here on this upcoming Thursday. Many of us will sit down with the family and eat Turkeys, Hams, rice dressing, cornbread dressing, and a few pies and cakes. Im getting hungry just thinking about it. Others will hit the movie theater and some of us will watch the Detriot Lions more than likely lose on another Thanksgiving day. Some of the radicals among us will protest silently and make comments and jokes about why we shouldn't celebrate Thanksgiving. Either way, we all know that Thanksgiving isnt a holiday really. In fact, its a life style. We should be thankful everyday of our lives and tell the Creator thank you because God is good all the time and all the time God is good. This is a time where we are all to really count our blessings and forget the complaining we find ourselves doing so much. Somebody would love to have your life. Ask the homeless guy or the kid down the street who will have to go to a shelter on this Thanksgiving to get a meal. Just for once in your life, shut up and be thankful.

I'd Rather Be With You

As peek out my window,
and smell and feel the cold air.
I wish I was there.
Telling you how much I care.
I wish I could stare,
at your beautiful brown eyes,
they are like a pool of jewels
and I can't lie,
I'd rather be with you.

In my mind I'm strategizing and thinking,
of the things I need to do without blinking.
Im so deep into this love affair,
that i dont care much for what's out there.
I gotta get my mind right,
because a good woman is worth the fight.
She pushes me to do well.
She pushes me to excel.
There is nothing I cant do.
Because I know deep down, I'd rather be with you.

I picture us holding hands,
walking down the street.
Im so sprung i cant feel my feet.
She got me levitating off the ground.
My ears hanging on every word and sound.
God be praised for the one I found.
I am grateful that love has finally come around.
This a blessing and a dream come true.
Now all I wanna do is be right there with you.

Richard J Wright

A.I. what gives my man?

A.I. Man, what is the problem? Memphis was so glad to have you. I guess you thought you was being exiled to basketball purgatory. Now, granted Memphis is not the best place in the world to play basketball but last time I checked they do have NBA stitched on their respective jerseys. 3 games. 3 games. 3. Games. Well, A.I. where would you like to go? You had it so good in Denver. Yet you blew it there. You had it so good in Detroit. Yet you blew it there. We not even gonna talk about Philly where you was worshipped. Why I don't know. When the sun sets on your NBA career. You will have two highlights.1) The day you broke Jordan's ankles. Yeah, you did that. 2) You infamous quote on practice. That's it. No jewelry. Well you got plenty of jewels but not the ring. Im still shuddering over your Hip Hop album cover. Shaq thinks its a classic. Yeah you will get into the hall. Yet, you will be remembered as a ball hog and not a competitor that made his teammates around him better. We will remember your mama, she was great. Real Talk. But dude that's it. I hope retirement for you is great. What will you do? I just hope you took care of your loot. I aint mad atcha but im scratching my head wondering A.I. what gives my man?

This Blogging Thing...

Most blogs suck in my opinion. Im just going to be honest. Why, because many of them lack originality. The best blogs do not have the bells and whistles of popular blogs. People write what they are able to relate to and that's cool. However, when you see what is being offered to people, its enough to make you yawn. Take your fashion, sex, entertainment blogs for example. There are hundreds of them. Many of them have the same posts. I wonder do any of these writers know that people are lifting their stuff. Perhaps its by permission. Yet, I am willing to bet that many of them are not given permission. As a writer that is taboo. You dont steal creativity. The idea is to enhance your own craft. Most of what I see is overrated opinions. Take African American writers in todays world. Now I have to perfectly honest. Most of what is being offered in bookstores is straight up garbage. The stories have no substance and offer no real insight in life. Infidelity and criminality seem to be what publishing houses are pushing. Many writers published under pen names, because they probably dont want to embarrass their families. While I think Black authors should be supported, especially those who are independent. I just wonder are we really offering anything worthwhile. The internet has made new media a viable and lucrative way to make a living, our stories are not reaching new heights. Like Hip Hop originally intended, creativity was the sign of going to those new heights. Now, their is no original thought or substance. Give a reader or listener something to think about. Go to the bookstore and comb through the books and CD section. Do you see anything that is new that inspires? Hardly. As a blogger, I want hundreds of followers, yet not a the expense that I wont offer something besides gossip or a number of sex positions to make you a champion lover. Cosmopolitan thinks these bloggers go way too far. Its just my opinion. I dont expect you to agree, especially in regards to this blogging thing.

All is fair in love and war...really?

You know love is a wonderful thing. It does not suck to be in love. It is the greatest gift God bestows on His children. When Christ died for the ungodly, it was because He loved us. When a man finds a wife, the bible declares that he finds a good thing. Why? Because the man finds the one thing in his life that he needs most. Somebody to love him. That is why when God saw the animals who had mates and then looked at Adam who was alone, He declared that is not a good thing for man to be alone. So God in His wisdom created woman from the man He created. That my friends is a beautiful thing.

However.

What happens when love shows up on the scene? Many people go through many different emotions all of which are related to being in love but not necessarily because of love. Think of all the songs you have heard that hail infidelity. Bobby Womack's "I wish he didn't trust me so much" comes to mind. TLC's Creep and every other third blues song ever made. Many of these songs are bits and pieces of justification to step outside the boundaries of commitment. I know people in my family who cheated on their wives and married the "other" woman and had lasting relationships. At family functions, everything is peaches and cream but whispers linger and secrets are quite comical. Yet, we believe that all is fair in love and war. Truthfully, sometimes love is war and war is love. Which leads people to believe that it may not be ethical but its fair. Take the dynamic of being single versus being married. If you single, then you are single. Oh sure, having a girlfriend or a boyfriend is nice but as I told a sister recently, what's the point? Are we just wasting our time because their is nothing better to do? The language of singles and married couples are different. Yet, we try to smear and blur those lines. We have shacking as an example. I heard a wise man once tell a brother "its hard to eat from two tables". Yet, many do all the time. We live double, triple, quadruple lives speaking in languages and dialects that do not reflect reality. Yet, we do it because we can and we think its fair.

In my divorce, I was devestated. Divorce is horrible. You may think the person you are divorcing merits leaving but that is an emotional and spiritual tearing that is not like anything you will ever feel. How did I get there? Truthfully, pride and looking at the relationship made me feel "its not fair". Nevermind that working it out was an option. Which by the way I tried, yet the other party decided to move on. Recently, this other party remarried and after only almost 6 months wants to "hook up". I guess the green grass has some brown patches. Now, in my small mind I could take her up on her offer but why? Because I could? Hell.. never. I scratched my bald head wondering why? Which leads to the old saying "you dont miss your well until its gone". Yet, I refuse to play this game because one it does not benefit me at all. Some people believe that if the sex in your relationship is mind blowing then you can get it whenever you want. While I agree that good sex is crucial in any marriage, it will not keep it together. Good sex prolongs relationships but will never keep one. Its what occurs outside the bedroom that makes that dynamic possible and leads people to cheat. I could go and get some but why? Is all really fair in love and war? Truthfully like Tina Turner said "what's love got to do with it?". Not a doggone thing.

What am I saying? Many times the things we do are not because of love. We are self driven creatures at heart. Things may seem right but we know in our heart of hearts we are just wrong. Yet, this goes on and on. Right now somewhere, a woman is meeting a man in a parking lot at a mall. She tells her husband she's going shopping. Yet, in a few minutes she will be locked in a hotel room with a man she thinks in some perverse sort of way is love or the loving she's missing at home. Somewhere there's man who is on the road talking to a woman about how horrible his marriage is. The women on the receiving end of this conversation is sympathic to his frustrations. Leading her small mind into the possibility that I would be better to you. Why? All is fair in love and war... really?

No Guarantee

There's no guarantee
that I will love you forever.
No guarantee
that I will stick around.
I have found something about me
makes me leave
makes me decieve
makes me grieve.
Hearts are made to be broken,
with words unspoken.
Silence is golden.
Yet, solitude is platinum.
I know not what I want
'till I get it.
Then I just want to forget it.
Later on perhaps I'll regret it.
I know I shouldn't have said it.
Now I guess I gotta dead it.
Destiny I've met it.
Still there's no guarantee.
I cant pretend to be
something out of a harlaquin novel,
for life is something more surreal.
So many brothers have been there.
You may not care,
you may think its not fair,
I rather let you be free,
cause with me...
There's no guarantee.


Richard J Wright (2007)

Taken for the upcoming 2010 release Anthology: The Secret Lives of Richard J Wright

I Miss You...

When she's away I just dont feel the same.
I find myself talking to myself, saying her name.
From the time I really saw her face,
something went through me in the space
in my heart, my mind, and my spirit.
Couldn't shake the feeling
and I couldn't steer clear it.
She made me feel like a king,
and that's a job solely built for a queen.
Now she's away for the holiday,
While my mind spins quietly with only these words to say.
"I Miss You"

Richard J Wright