top of page
Writer's pictureA Too Powerful Word

Joe Kidd


Joe Kidd (1952) is a musician and poet from Michigan, US. With his constant companion and partner, Sheila Burke, they have written, recorded, and performed their multi-award winning music across North America and Western Europe. They have been recognized by fellow artists as well as the Michigan Governor's office and the United States Congress for their work as activists for Peace, Social Justice, and Cultural Diversity. Kidd has published his book of poetry and illustrations "The Invisible Waterhole", US, 2020.




Everything Is Political


everything is political

everything is music

we've already determined those truths

there's nothing... and then there's political music

but nothing is political music too

there are those stretching as far as they can reach

to save a body falling

but we all bounce when we hit the floor of hell

it's like that

dogs and ducks chase us when we smoke

when we are on fire

people run

to water

to make movies of people on fire

the tall people here

the ones that stand strong against the wind

are spinning

taking showers

dropping their jewelry in the street

for the rest of us to press into bookmarks

I pet their fur

paint their underground toes with lipstick

they like to listen to political music

harmonicas covered with lipstick




Christmas In Purgatory


might it well be done tonight

a minutiae or a millennium

oh what time, what pain has passed

what day, what dot, what, what

I dare not pray for mercy, nor for a gift of love

knees bent, I cross my breast for those I have inflamed

my eye does not see my hand, my hand cannot find my heart

endlessly I move directionless, through caverns, through fires, through you

all

keeping the company, the consequence, the burden, of a time alive

now buried deep within the hollow earth, the frozen border of hell itself

no flesh, no bones, no voice with which to carry or cry

perhaps for an instant if I may break through

perhaps you may read these words' intention

that come to you from an unimagined realm

a population of one plus one million

if so, then I am not forgotten

a soul alone in desolation





Saint Valentine's Pearl


of adulation and appeal

two hands as one hold the glowing globe

here is life, a new creation

the tasteless joy of those who turn

again to a world barren and surreal


here are the bricks stacked one upon another

a fortress, a castle engulfed in ice

footprints tracked across a beating chamber

as a river circulating, carries the promise

to a place where your aura cannot be depressed


say something, anything

there is truth in words that abolish sorrow

three together, you and I

understanding what is and what ever shall be

we have seen it growing before our eyes

no beginning, no end, no history

this heart, this earth, this fertile garden

here is the calm, without the storm


a choice, a freedom exercised

a world of miracles in a long embrace

an atmosphere of common breath

clean and fresh, a bouquet of colors

our table a blessed banquet to share


the moon is our guardian, full and bright

this flesh, a home for our spirits tonight

beauty a gift, the seraphim chorus

each kiss, a communion on the steps of the temple

a drink from the fountain, eternal and pure





Travelogue


speaking of traveling

not of moving to destinations

but of eyes roaming hidden landscapes

tongues opening whispered passageways


continent drifting

to a rolling rhythm

blood moon cutting a super path

above a molten cascade formed deep within


traveling among the hearts of elders

thinking back to a day when today was the anxious future


human, human, human, I am here, look for me

seek my voice and the aroma of my love

travel with me to the invisible world

closer, closer, you are too far away


travel inside of me

find the seat of my existence

find the heat of my desire

warm yourself there

where time is measured in heartbeats and caresses


it is given

it is received


travel this imaginary space

filled with light and possibilities

close your eyes and drive this vehicle

into that which all holy men have sought




50 views0 comments

Recent Posts

See All

Comments


bottom of page