SIDEWAYS EIGHT PROJECTS

DOUBLE FEATURE:

Kathleen Florence & Rich Ferguson

w/ Co-Host Eric Morago of Moon Tide Press

Plus 15 Open Mic Slots

Thanks so much for doing an interview with The Spoken Views Radio Show! 

Please expect to perform / read a poem or two during our time together. 

Below are the questions you can expect to answer during our interview. 

I’ll ask you follow up questions to create a truly custom interview, but we’ll start here: 

What’s your process? How do you literally write a poem? 

Why do you make art? What effect do you hope it has on the audience? 

What inspires you to write? What might you encounter that would make you want to write? 

What sort of events have you participated in or exhibited your poetry at that you felt were memorable? 

What are some common topics or subjects of your writing? 

What have been the best parts of being Poet Laureate? 

What doors opened to you or what things did you get involved in because of the title stand out to you? What advice would you give the next poet Laureate? 

Have you been to a workshop that you found particularly interesting? What was the prompt? 

“A train is a poem that will take you anywhere you want to go.”

— Dale Maharidge

We’ll see when we get there.

I’ve summoned the spirit of Mr. Mark Twain

and asked him kindly to speak through me.

He obliged despite pain in boarding this train,

such that you’ll hear enough to plainly see.

Using satire powerful men dismissed as rubbish,

I commented on politics and the inner steeple.

Requiring a centennial before my biography’s publish,

for I spoke boldly about country and people.

The increments of money and stocks may have changed,

The alibis may have gotten somewhat more sophisticated,

But people nowadays and back in the day can be equally deranged,

And onlookers, not in the arena, are basically  just as jaded.

The stories we used to print in the papers

could’ve been set in present hours, dropped in one of three individually labeled jars:

Stretchers , Lifters, and Powder Burners.

Same as contemporary drama and capers,

innocent folks suffering behind, unable to see the stars, and free folks in power who should be behind bars,

though they’re no longer page turners.

They’re keep swiping and doom scrolling now, deep griping and trolling vows, 

which at one point we thought of as sacred.

How did we get here?

How will we make it?

We will make it by remembering what was left behind, how we got here in the first place, by helping to walk each other home, engaging in the art form of neighborliness and closing our eyes to better hear the music.

We will make it by visiting the reserved table, off to the side, after the performance to tell the artist what they meant on that particular evening, in that beautiful neck of the nostalgic woods. A surprise opener who changed the entire trajectory of a weary traveler’s life for the ever loving better on a chilly night in Carson.

We will make it by seeing how small the world can really be with an ever expanding sense of wonder, allowing perfect timing to wash over us when it happens. 

By spending less time in comments sections and more time in handshakes and hugs.

We will make it by singing along, holding our children close, laughing as often as possible and taking trips back in time to when we thought times were simpler in order to gain proper perspective. 

By supporting our friends, chosen family and the wild dreams they have to change the world for the better. 

By hearing each other, seeing each other, praying for each other and at least trying to fully understand. 

By more often noticing the morning sun piercing the veil of fog lifting over our mystic lakes and that tableau of quilted color, gently pulling us with a cosmic creativity, beckoning us to still believe.

By remaining awestruck beneath the night sky as it has a magical way of weighing our worries and leaving us with a lavishly legendary and liberating lightness of being. 

My name is Samuel Langhorne Clemens.

I was born November 30, 1835 and raised in the Show Me state. Known by the pen name Mark Twain, and before I went on to the next plane of existence on April 21, 1910, I traveled far and wide and wrote a fair amount about the people, places and things which were able to show me a thing or two. 

And I came back, at this uniquely special and inspiringly irreplaceable moment in time to tell you we’re all aboard this train together. Bound forever by time and space, headed for an unknown future, able to reminisce and enjoy a comfortable silence now and again. To enjoy each other more often than not, and to be grateful always in all ways. I’m still writing these days about everything I’ve encountered since you last knew me here. You wouldn’t believe me if I told you, but you can read about all of it someday when the time is right and you get the pleasure of seeing it for yourselves. 

Whether ‘tis in the papers or across the screens, remember to listen to the good news. Remember the dreams you once had and become the person who would’ve saved you as a child. Remember everything you truly and deeply need in order to forget the rest, but don’t forget to rest.

All aboard. All present and accounted for. All heading down the tracks thinking about what was before, what is now and what’s in store.

Hold on to your dessert forks. Better is on the way. Let’s help one another get home safely as best we can and save each other’s day, daring the impossible to believe in us. Show me what you’re made of. Equal parts childish wonder, star dust, spinning yarns and good news I reckon.

We will make it.

We’ve got to.

I’ll see you when you get there. 

What makes me feel________?

1. Angry
2. Frustrated
3. Sad
4. Helpless
5. Frantic
6. Anxious
7. Isolated
8. Imprisoned 
9. Hopeless
10. Apathetic 

Psalm 56:8 

You have kept count of my tossings;

    put my tears in your bottle.

    Are they not in your record?

1:34am awake to pray after staying up late to write

Given the title to put a bow on this rhyme

fasting for gain, casting out pain in this plight

Father you have in hand our treasure, talent and time

As we toss and turn in our beds

awakened at all hours of the night

turmoil dancing in our weary heads

a moment from giving up the fight

Others pray and suggest the oughts 

while the pain persists of unknown cause

the test results side with the have nots

avoiding bright lights and loud applause

Differences in meals, meds and procedures

trying everything under the sun and over the moon

The world offers its help but we believe yours

we need complete healing extremely soon

Like now, like right now, give us this testimony 

give us a reason never to doubt  but always endure

I don’t want my beloved daughter tested for me

I want her done with this tour, abundantly sure

I will be as persistent as the widow

Remind you she doesn’t deserve the thorn in Paul’s side to persist

She has the childlike faith of a kid though

wisdom beyond her years and I’m pissed

She’s learned that you’re in charge

she’s accepted the surrender as humbled

She has her arms opened wide and large

you’ve helped her rise whenever she’s stumbled

It is a tired and longing soul pleading you

from the frazzled end of my series of days

Everyone filling this room is needing you

so I’ll raise a hallelujah and hear me some praise

Fix this Lord as only you are able and can

give us a diamond in the rough and a win

continued suffering shouldn’t be the plan

you’ve overcome death and conquered sin

Bring transference of this pain to the stones in the Truckee

let them be baptized by the waters of the river themselves 

As we give gratitude counted among the favored and lucky

to be written in the book of life on your shelf

For even those stones can be made anew

if you say it then I know it will be

You once took my heart given to you

softened it and then set it free

I’ll pray and attempt to bless you in all ways

sing and dance as best as I can

break these chains, lighten and brighten her days

bring solid rest in the night as your plan

Are we not all in your record? In your thoughts? 

Do you not want your children to be blessed?

Let wickedness fade while evil rots

we will soar by your wings above this mess

Surely the one who placed the many flowers

in the meadows of the mountains across earth

has the uniquely special and needed powers

to demonstrate his own daughters worth

Be with us in this Lord and fully remove

the suffering and the angst and the pain

I’m asking the one with nothing to prove

to show up, show out, and of course remain

She needs you, I need you, we need you

let any and all hesitation disappear 

for I’ll cry, fight, run, climb and bleed to

fully rest in having both her and you near

And now that you’re among us and within us

we the church gathered in your picturesque frame

continue to begin us again and win us

to you in Jesus most holy and precious name

♾️♾️♾️♾️

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Finished Wednesday 9/24/25 by JJZ

Sapphire Jazz Ensemble Piece

The Negro Speaks of Rivers- Jesse

Mother To Son- Kashae 

Sapphire Jazz Ensemble Piece

The Weary Blues – Jesse

My People – Kashae 

Laughter – Kashae

Sapphire Jazz Ensemble Piece

I Dream A World- Kashae

Poem (To F.S) – Jesse

Sapphire Jazz Ensemble Piece

Life Is Fine – Kashae

Sapphire Jazz Ensemble Piece

Same In Blues – Jesse

Harlem – Jesse

Sapphire Jazz Ensemble Piece

I Too – Together

Sapphire Jazz Ensemble Piece