let me sense the chaos a semi-autobiography (based on the mca jimi @ woodstock CD) And those who took away our Voice Are now surprised They couldn't take away our Song. --Kofi Anyidoho 1. in the news every day the blk world gasping fragmented / confused trying to grasp itself confused / fragmented fresh murders marbling the sidewalks of our psyches in an indelible redness no future sun can bleach "in Rwanda ten thousand dead in one day" 2. i know that bosnia is bad but have you seen liberia have you heard haiti been seized by rio's preteen street grown gangstas or ingested the platinum raps of inner city america celebrating its own depravity today's blkness makes humpty dumpty look whole 3. we are the palsied palms of ex-chattel picking melodies african black & mulatto intermixed with the eye tears of murdered cherokee & dappled by the martial noise from motley strains of conquering caucasians chortling praise to their bellicose god this mixture is the indigo matrix of my muse's midnight hue 4. have we survived the past only to give up the present the speedy spin of integration flings us away from groundings with our people a chocolate despair consumes our sweetness leaving the dry bones of neglected unity disconnected & rotted is the bottom line higher than the common good 5. i have a new cd of ancestral soundz previously unreleased roaring strings timbred to a keening juice of electric hurling through akin to the incredible jism jerk of groin muscles shooting off i needed to make this hollering this ghostly heart cry loudly leaping through the thick of rhythms' din there is always a need to assert humanness to cry to announce i am 6. the road to life is no gentle path birth is a renting of flesh a messy letting of dangerous blood rife with pain & promise & ultimately merely momentary existence amidst the vastness of eternity 7. within the cruelty of this avaricious modernity life's mystery is the capacity of color to forge beauty from the chaos the simple courage to shed systemic chicness & stand unshod authoring the gospel of musical creativity 8. such singing whether with others with orchestra with hand instruments or single voice alone such singing is answer is signpost signifying we've found a sound that turns the temporary of today's tough earth into a life long spiritual home 9. without dark sound sanctuary nurturing imagination my future is limited to this tone deaf present except within vibrant hymnal shelter how else can my soul survive 10. yes let me sense the chaos listen to my blues resound let me sense the chaos i will respond with a song let me sense the chaos why else was i born —kalamu ya salaam