The Sky Stretches Blue

"love yourself in your lists"

2011-02-01T17:36:00.000-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_CF1mqOp0Q

The link above is to a video for "love yourself in your lists," the final poem in "Ghost In Anthill" (digital book) and also appears as a spoken word interlude on the album "Sidewinder." Inspiration to write this came after reading the first part of Toni Morrison's "Beloved." The question I pose when I read it is to imagine that you have just gained your freedom for the first time in your life.

winter (web-ink) wild

2010-12-21T12:39:00.000-08:00

14. winter (web-ink) wild - by Eric Crow
(from the book "Blood on White Leather")

wind whispers loudly through trees
enjoys caressing tickle it causes
blows its bending way through bare branches

intimately, I bargain
now, here, only
karma for those want cleaned

wet my quill.
inspired by intimate view,
noble wind escapes
thrillingly from my pen makes
easy turning point:
romance pours from my body

wonderfully,
I am a voyeur
loving the scene
developing before my eyes

@2010 Eric Franklin Crow

"That" Wish

2010-11-19T14:37:00.001-08:00

"That" Wish, by Eric Crow

invisible explosion

erotic cosmos summit

here, low root

meets high Heaven

physical rapture ensues

inhale short, hot breath

sense the other's wet

the longer the wait

the harder the shot

then comes the rush

which cannot turn back

binds me to its peak

pinpoint of skin

from which the world

loses its weight

flying everywhere

blue sky knows not

heaving collapse

onto "that" wish

get yourself together:

move on or move again.

birds chirping at midnight

2010-08-02T15:10:00.000-07:00

birds chirping at midnight

birds
chirping
at midnight
in trees outside
my bedroom
window,
singing
happy songs.
their chrips
chase away
chatterbox
shadow idiot,
dumbstruck
by alcohol,
fueled by
stored up anger
that outburns
oil’s flaming.
birds
know nothing
of seeds of chaos
planted by electronic
farmhands,
complete
with children
who paint screens
on television sets,
turned off by Dad.
cool July breeze
washes dying light
rage away this night
but now you know
why this is why
I live for every
3:18 a.m.
moment I can:
to hear birds
chirping at midnight.
they reclaim
the sky after
we're done
besting, texting,
taking, making,
shaking, faking peace.
birds chirping at midnight
turns life into more
than just talk
of love from above.
i sit and listen
to the shape of the space
between and around
their chirps:
this is how
I remember to love God.

@2010 Eric Franklin Crow

apparently

2010-05-30T19:19:00.000-07:00

I wrote this at the end of last year, in response to those who think that public displays of happiness should be kept to a minimum...

apparently

apparently,
I'm supposed to care
about where I dare to breathe free.
apparently,
there is a penalty
for walking down the street
like a happy child of God.
apparently,
these people have been deputized
and given a pad of snicker tickets
to dispense at whim.
these are the same people
whose mating call to each other
is as thick and dull as a rock to lake bottom,
yet even the rock has more personality...

©2010 Eric Franklin Crow

©2010 Mother Nature

2010-01-19T18:31:00.000-08:00

Giggly Berkeley Girls

2009-12-17T14:26:00.000-08:00

Giggly Berkeley Girls - by Eric Franklin Crow

Giggly Berkeley girls
don't need champagne
they have a silly switch
built into their brain
not the best sound
for a head in pain
but I leave them be
resist the urge to complain
not my lot to judge
key of grace maintain
(nicer done than said)

©2009 Eric Franklin Crow

30,000 Miles - lyrics

2009-09-18T01:50:00.000-07:00

(From the album Inner Garden, Outer Wild, released in May.)

(...30.000 miles)

To notice me just see inside you

Then see identical whenever you’re true

To notice people just look out there

With what’s inside you and everywhere (Break)

To notice future flying colors test

Past and present will mark the best

To notice Heaven just walk through Hell

Then tell me all is well

If you share your deepest bliss

With the world then expect a kiss

If you want to give good light

To all joy then create the sight

Chorus:

30,000 miles, gazing into the sky

Deep in the night, would love to try

30,000 miles, gazing into the sky

Heavy star delight, would love to fly (repeat) (Break)

It takes time to walk shade

Around the room into the parade

It takes patience to love gray

Into the brush that strokes today

If you want to give face

To your hopes then take the space

If you need to be heard

Then make certain your voice has occurred

Pour out effort to cancel apathy

Then in its place put sweet empathy

Once the skin has started peeling

It’ll patience to know healing

If you care to give face

To your hopes just take the space

If you need to be heard

Just make certain your voice has occurred

Chorus 2x (fade out)

"those old-time demonstration blues"

2009-06-09T19:53:00.000-07:00

"those old-time demonstration blues" - by Eric Franklin Crow

sarcasm chasm,

satire wire,

biting enlightening:

gotta lotta those

old-time demonstration blues

got a gash from the crash,

wall's balls

in blue nightmare's fare:

"please have exact change..."

(Written while reading Coming Of Age In Mississippi, after just having heard about the stock market starting its crash last year.)

Eve Of Justice (Prop 8 protest)

2009-03-02T04:09:00.000-08:00

www.eveofjustice.com - On March 4th in cities all over California and a few outside the state, there will be a mass demonstration called the "Eve of Justice". The next day, March 5, the CA Supreme Court will hear arguments for and against invalidating the Measure, which placed discrimination into the State Supreme Court and placed a ban on (future) same-sex weddings.

Flickering Candle

2009-02-21T02:36:00.000-08:00

(This poem, first written in 1994, has been included in several of my collections. It is one of those poems that has followed me and will follow me. I also find it fitting to include this here in this spot, because I am studying Frankenstein in Humanities class.)

Flickering Candle - by Eric Franklin Crow

On a rainy afternoon

Looking out across the sky

Sitting in the midst of solitude

Tall mountain towering high

My mind goes wandering far,

And as thoughts pass through

One idea suddenly appears

Growing wild in bright blue

Then, from this brief insight

Comes a brilliant question:

What consciousness will arise

From the Quest for One?

As a single candle illustrates

The twilight mostly past

And as the motion of night

Will predict enclosure fast

I find the rare occasion

When not a sound I hear

Except the flickering candle

Balancing out my every fear

I feel no pain of any kind,

Nor anger, grief or anxiety

Hypnotized by the candle's flame

I cling to what I see

And it shows me no separation,

No disorder, no exhibition

This solace is easy and graceful

I marvel inside this condition

A breeze suddenly awakens me

How long have I been asleep?

Through the gentle of my smile

This precious moment I will keep

Raised By Wolves, Restrained Rejoicing

2009-02-20T00:28:00.000-08:00

Raised By Wolves, Restrained Rejoicing - by Eric Franklin Crow

I feel

Somehow raised by wolves

Thefamily that too root

When my other disappeared

And the tribe I had

I had to walk icy mountains

Of solitary fire

To get to where they are

Something they saw in me

Must have been beautiful to them

And they came to visit one day

And took their place

Beside my table

They drove me

Into their bosom

And made me grow

Into one of their pack

I took their bread

And they my time

I took their love

And they my grace

They tried my patience

And I theirs

They built me up

I tempered them down

They drove me crazy

And I drove them away

I was unaware

That I would ever come back

But here I am

And it's not like I never went away

But it's not like I never left

I feel something

Stirring in my eyes

Restrained rejoicing

I don't necessarily feel tears coming on

But there is something there

Something in my eyes...

Eagle Bear - Sampler - liner notes

2009-01-31T17:32:00.000-08:00

Eagle Bear - Sampler

Names & Times:

Groove Coaster* - 6:03

Spacious Mellow*** - 2:26

Emmanuel Adam* - 7:39

Serena Swirl**** - 6:27

Windmill Soft** - 4:00

Waxing Proud**** - 7:16

Cainonaya Meswit'me Nomo!*****

Total Time - 39:49

*From the album "Groove Coaster," released March 2008

**From the album "Smorgascape," released May 2008

***From the album "Californiadelica," released August 2008

****From the album Elektrofiliak, released October 2008

*****From the forthcoming double-album "Inner Garden, Outer Wild," to be released in April 2009.

All tracks composed, arranged and produced by Eagle Bear, and composed by Eric Franklin Crow between October 2007-January 2009. All albums released by EFC Productions.

Thanks 2: God, San Francisco Bay Area, IBR & U.

For more information about other music and future releases, keep visiting this blog - link it to your homepage toolbar - theskystretchesblue.blogspot.com, or email me at theskystretchesblue@yahoo.com .

Much love, peace and cuddly bear snuggles,

Eagle Bear

Witness of History on November 7, 2008

2008-11-09T19:38:00.000-08:00

“In entering upon the great work before us, we anticipate no small amount of misconception, misrepresentation, and ridicule.” Elizabeth Cady Stanton.

What began in 1965, as a trilogy of events: a) the arresting of straight ministers along with a crowd of drag queens and other “homophiles” (what they called homosexuals then) at the masquerade ball sponsored by the “Council On Religion and the Homosexual”; b) the Compton’s Cafeteria riots in San Francisco’s Tenerloin, with the Compton’s Cafeteria riots in San Francisco’s Tenderloin district; and c) the Stonewall Riots four years later in 1969, has reached yet another turning point in the struggle for gay liberation - the issue of same-sex marriage.

During the part of the protest rally that happened at 9th & Market, after encountering two men, one of them (dressed as) a minister, who were espousing the same “tired and scared” view that marriage is between a man and a woman, I came across a woman who, when I suggested that declaring marriage to be a union between one man and one woman is like taking a picture of a pair of wedding rings and then placing over them the words “straights only”, replied with, “that’s right…I’m straight, and I don’t want that.”

Then as the protest headed toward San Francisco City Hall, I watched in amazement as thousands of people all gathered upon the steps of City Hall, in peaceful but certain protest, as Pollo Del Mar, a local drag personality, gave a determined and rousing speech, where she said plainly how moved she was at the turn-out of the crowd, and then exclaimed that second-class citizenship is never acceptable,” In viewing the protest itself, I’m reminded of the words Susan B. Anthony spoke, as she addressed the court that found her guilty of voting – “resistance to tyranny is obedience to God.”

Later that evening, as took to the streets (“to the Castro”, the cry that was heard) and then at the sit-in that happened at the Four Corners, the atmosphere for the next three hours was so charged with such peace and love that I felt euphoric for the rest of the night.

I now realize that I’ve focused on sadness and anger over this for long enough. Instead, I choose to focus on the fact that while we didn’t defeat Prop 8, the record speaks for itself – 18,000 same-sex couples were legally married this year. And those who created Prop 8 have said that they will not try to invalidate these marriages. Let’s hold their feet to the fire on this. And let’s remember that if Gloria Allred and the ACLU et al. have their way, Prop 8 will be overturned.

Let me remind everyone who may be thinking that this is an issue of race or religion, let me guide you away from that thought, and instead place the onus where it actually exists – if ever there was a class issue, this was it. Let us also redirect those who fell prey to what the “mobocracy” wanted – just as with every other civil rights movement, we will eventually prevail.

Let’s also thank the youth for their incredible contribution. Not only did they play a large part in electing Barack Obama as our next President, they were the only group (besides LGBTQ people, that is) who voted overwhelmingly in opposition to Prop 8. Some may say, “It’s about time,” or “better late than never”, but I will say “thank you."

2008-11-09T19:33:00.000-08:00

Protest Prop 8 Rally tomorrow in SF...

2008-11-06T21:31:00.000-08:00

The sky ain't stretchin' so blue for me today...

2008-11-06T02:11:00.000-08:00

The sky ain't stretchin' so blue for me today: Prop 8 in California is why:

If you're not mad, you're not awake!

Californiadelica (a 2-EP album)

2008-09-01T01:15:00.000-07:00

EAGLE BEAR - CALIFORNIADELICA – a 2-EP album

EP 1: Beaten Path

My Lover’s Name Is Linn – 5:33
Beaten Path – 3:11
Your Name – 2:27
Pop Goes the World – 3:47
parafin box – 4:45
La California – 3:12
Pink Egg Soup – 5:20

Total Time - 28:14

EP 2: Spacious Mellow

Terminal Pyramid – 4:36
Concrete Boogie – 7:35
Spacious Mellow - 2:26
Famtastique – 5:05
slow jump – 6:28
Mushroom Carpet – 8:20

Total Time - 34:29

Produced, Arranged, Composed and Engineered by Eagle Bear

Thanks 2:

tyler
the org
Emmanuel Adam
God
U

©2008 Eric Franklin Crow

To get a (free) copy of this album,
email to: theskystretchesblue@yahoo.com

New Amerykah

2008-08-22T01:43:00.000-07:00

"New Amerykah", by Erykah Badu - the last, best hope for hip-hop. She needs to change her name to Ms. Bad-Azz, she dat funky!

"I'm going to start charging my anxious thoughts rent..."

2008-07-31T18:42:00.000-07:00

From the May '08 release, Untitled II (Life) - by Eric Franklin Crow

I'm going to start
Charging my anxious thoughts rent
Nice and "peace"-meal like
If they want
To keep living in my head.

I will not accept any more IOU's.

My anxious thoughts
Are going to have to learn
To live within their means,
Or else they just might be evicted
(90 days notice my ass!)

©2008 Eric Franklin Crow

Square In the Eyes

2008-07-06T23:23:00.000-07:00

Square In the Eyes - by Eric Franklin Crow

Square in the eyes
Is where you'll feel the purest me
It may knock you for a loop
Be ready
To see yourself
(If you dare),
Cuz the emotions
That are "not okay" to feel
Are the emotions
I feel free enough to feel
And I want to feel them
All the way
Completely
So I can move on...

©2008 Eric Franklin Crow

A good week for gay rights...

2008-06-20T16:41:00.000-07:00

So it's been a few days since same-gender couples have legally been able to marry in California, and it seems to have gone off without a hitch (that we are used to the protestors is both a blessing and a curse, but that's another story, as well as the Nov. ballot initiative that would write discrimination into the state constitution.) For now, we in the GLBT community have this moment to soak up and bask in.

What I remember in my mind are the moments leading up to this history-making moment. The night before, I took a walk through my neighborhood, fully aware of what was going to happen the next day, and feeling a different kind of freedom - the freedom that comes from knowing, once again, that someone (the state Supreme Court) was the grown-up, and told society that they have to act right when it comes to how we treat each other. I had Crosby Stills & Nash playing on my iPod, in particular the song "Delta", and the lyric "of fast running rivers of choice and chance" struck a chord with me." I digress.

I remember the next day as I was going to SF City Hall, thinking at some base level, that even though we had won this decision, that something was going to happen, and the other shoe was only minutes away from dropping. One of these "11th hour challenges" (talk about clutching at straws) might have been granted, or the protestors might have gone into City Hall and try to stop or disrupt the marriages, or even that someone could even decide that this was a good moment to be martyr (I put nothing past the religious zealots when it comes to this issue.)

It struck me that this speculation might actually be a form of internalized homophobia/fear. Though I wanted to write something about this the night before, I waited until after - my thought being, "better not do anything to jinx it." Something about not wanting to speak my mind, for fear of opening Pandora's Box (funny how nobody seems to remember how the story ends, and at the end of Pandora's Box is hope.)

But why be afraid of speaking my feelings. Why not just shout my happiness and joy out to the world? Why be concerned what detractors would have to say? Why suppress myself because some nutjob tells me I'll burn in hell for not worshipping their God just the way they say (they say this is what God and the Bible say, but we all know it's really their own law they think everyone else should follow) or that they might try to set something off to get vengeance.

It occurs to me from writing this out, that I could stand to practice what I preach. I've told a few people to not worry about what others think, and to just be themselves. And while I've never been one to literally shout it out loud, I'm certainly going to think twice about sharing my heart's desire. The closet door is open and off its hinges, and in November, my hearts desire would be that we burn the closet door down, and make a promise to ourselves never to go back in.

...that strange smell

2008-06-17T20:22:00.000-07:00

This is an excerpt from the unabridged version of Untitled II (Life).

...that strange smell - by Eric Franklin Crow

That strange smell you smell?
It’s the burning, er, cooking
Of our liberty,
And GW has made sure
That we have access
To as much oil
As we need to do this!

©2008 Eric Franklin Crow

I'll give you a hint:

2008-06-15T05:14:00.000-07:00

Bastion

Radiant Mother

2008-05-27T00:18:00.000-07:00

(Another excerpt from Untitled II (Life)

Radiant Mother - by Eric Franklin Crow

Radiant Mother,
With determination
To teach the principle of incarnation.

The supersoul
Dwelling
In the fires of consummation.

Anointment
Has only been a part of her
Of truth to be understood.

Man with humility
You will be liberated

Unlimited potency,
Unlimited truth,
Freedom from anger.

You must know,
One who lives
Unbreakable, transcendental words.

Aum.

©2008 Eric Franklin Crow

...if we stick together

2008-05-23T02:01:00.001-07:00

This is from my tide-over book, Untitled II (Life).

...if we stick together - by Eric Franklin Crow

If we stick together
One in a million
Becomes two in a million
And then three in a million
And so on and so forth
And eventually,
It becomes a million in one
And a million in two
And a million in three
And then a million in a million
Will multiply the magnificence
Of the hallowed human race
Crafted by a loving Creation Force
Gracefully held by a grateful Creator

©2008 Eric Franklin Crow

(If you would like to peek inside my cyber-vault, please join groups.yahoo.com/group/EFCpoetrygroup .

Egg Soup

2008-04-29T03:02:00.000-07:00

Egg Soup - by Eric Franklin Crow

Egg soup is the best

What has been said by me
Was said before me
By another about me

Grow beyond grade school
To get before grade school
And then get about grade school

At least the dupe could chant
Like he wants everyone else to chant
Then we'll sink both into the chant

If I have lost my way
Forked road is the way
Only choose the other way

Round and round we go
Before we choose not to go
Down the road another would go

Egg soup is the best until it's too salty

©2008 Eric Franklin Crow

Lineament

2008-04-19T13:23:00.000-07:00

(Work in progress)

Lineament - by Eric Franklin Crow

Death of Death:

Dye is cast

Lineament:

I want No space in their perception of "Your" wool.

Darkness' ultimate namesis

Mark of spring is what I will choose.

Quantum leap:

Inward expansion

An unnamed vibration is evident.

©2008 Eric Franklin Crow

Next direction...

2008-04-05T06:51:00.001-07:00

I feel the next direction coming on...the second part, if you will.

This will be marked by what it is not before it is what it is.

Infenuity: Telling the Truth Of Telling the Truth

2008-03-06T03:45:00.000-08:00

Ingenuity: Telling the Truth Of Telling the Truth
by Eric Franklin Crow

The ingenuity
In carrying out a takeover plot
Of the US Government,
By means of an engineered event,
And then executing the plot
By abounding protest against the plot,
And propagating
The telling the truth of telling the truth
Is a dangerous mirror effect
That may never evolve beyond this heresy.

In other words,
Should we be looking for the enemy
By listening to his conspiracy theories?

©2007 Eric Franklin Crow

Dichotomous Dye Cast

2008-02-22T16:35:00.000-08:00

Here's an outtake from The Sky Stretches Blue, from the first of three books that would later comprise the material within, and the first of which comes from the book Emanate.

Dichotomous Dye Cast - written by Eric Franklin Crow

We guard
Our precious memories
These nostalgic points of light,
Worshipping them
Like a city of gold
That never was
And laugh out loud
When our children try
To live up to these moments
And fail (miserably)
We give them an ultimatum:
“Like it or lump it”
Well, fuck you hard
For trying to concealing the third choice
Not accommodating for anything
Unless it conforms
The dichotomous dye cast
Don’t tread on my future
To protect your past

©2007 Eric Franklin Crow

My Next Here

2008-01-29T19:03:00.000-08:00

This ride slowly comes to end with this last excerpt from The Sky Stretches Blue. The chant that is in this piece is intended to be akin to "starlight, starbright..."

My Next Here
by Eric Franklin Crow

I stand
At an amazing threshold
Of open space.
If I go
Forward
Into this space,
I will transport
Into a catapult of air,
And make way
Through a “Big Kiss”
Where the Universe only makes love,
And Creation only lets love be made.

I close my eyes,
Point my heat to the sky
And chant:
“Wish of Will,
Wish of Light,
Wish of Fill,
Wish of Sight.”

And once this spell
Has finished uttering forth through me,
I feel a gentle hand at my back,
Pushing me into a whirlwind:

I am In my Next: This.
Here.
Now.

Aum.

©2007 Eric Franklin Crow

Look Into the Fire...

2008-01-16T20:45:00.000-08:00

Here is the 2nd last excerpt from The Sky Stretches Blue. It is the prologue. After the last posting, which will come next week, interviews will be posted to the blogspot and wikizine, and planning will begin on The Shoelace Project.

“Look Into The Fire...”
by Eric Franklin Crow

Natural disaster
Not started so naturally: (Manufactured) tsunami.
Wartime mentality ensues,
Chaos and disorder reign.
Rape gangs and vigilantes wander the street,
No longer able to remember
What they are ﬁghting for, or even whose side they are on.
They capture me, knock me unconscious,
And drag me into an abandoned building.
I am stripped naked, blindfolded, and strapped to a chair.
Just as I am made
To breathe some strange, toxic substance
(From a cloth that I can smell ten feet away),
I hear a loud clicking sound:
That switch of a light, mixed with a gunshot.
All around is instantly silent.
I realize, then,
That my hands are slightly loose
From the knot they’ve been tied in.
I loosen myself from the knot and remove my blindfold.
I see the men who captured me: all lying dead.
I bolt for the door and run for a half mile
And ﬁnd a small meadow
With a home on the other side.
As I approach, I see a porch
With a rocking chair to the right of the stairs.
The scent of citrus is in the air,
Along with a faint, familiar melody...
While surveying the outside of this house,
I call out, “Hello?”
And hear a faint reply from inside,
“Come inside...”
A man is sitting in front of a ﬁreplace, his back to me.
He says, “Come sit beside me.”
I approach hesitantly, suddenly reminded of my naked body.
(But this is apparently unimportant, as he makes no mention of it.)
As I take my place beside him,
He says, “Look into the ﬁre,”
And then fades away.
As I begin to gaze into the ﬁre,
A speck of light captures my attention and begins to grow.
I touch my hand to it:
Gently, it lifts me and brings me into its light.
I am then posited into a room devoid of windows or furniture
Except for a small desk with computer and keyboard,
And a chair about two feet into the room.
I sit down, and see the “apple” key blinking.
As I press it, a number of screens suddenly appear into the room.
As I run my index ﬁnger past each screen,
It highlights and comes closer to me.
I choose an image
Of a hilltop with a man waiting there...
The conversation of my life begins...

©2007 Eric Franklin Crow

The Sky Stretches Blue - the Title Piece!

2008-01-05T15:01:00.000-08:00

Here's the title piece to The Sky Stretches Blue. After this, there are just a few more excerpts that will be posted here, and then the book itself will go in the archives. But this is just the start for this idea - more is coming along - everything from The Shoelace Project to the new album coming out later this year. Things will get exciting - stay tuned!

The Sky Stretches Blue
written by Eric Franklin Crow

Still and wonderful,
The sky stretches blue.
Beyond the horizon of trees
Reflecting my own hue.
This cry is happy,
This cry is true.
I hope to show
As only my words do.
Creating childlike love
In my witches brew,
That I will bottle
To sell to you.
All you must pay
Is a heartstrung new.
Still and wonderful
The sky stretches blue.

©2007 Eric Franklin Crow

Dating This Week?

2007-12-26T12:38:00.000-08:00

Dating This Week? (an excerpt from The Sky Stretches Blue)
by Eric Franklin Crow

Protests a-plenty
Down Market St.
Myriad marching goes
One reason or another:
This kind of Pride
That kind of Protest
The other kind of circus

Reminiscent
Of a teenage daughter
On her tenth boyfriend of the year:
A little cute, but a little monotonous.
And the question
I find myself asking:
What cause is San Francisco dating this week?

How one city
Can survive the madness
Year after year
Is beyond me, for sure
(That's to say if it is surviving), and
If all the movements
Moved to another corner of the world
Would the ruby slippers still be worth Oz?

©2007 Eric Franklin Crow

Fuzzy Pink Bunny Slippers

2007-12-22T19:38:00.001-08:00

Here's the next excerpt from The Sky Stretches Blue - the explanation behind it is this: I'd been seeing a number of images pop into my mind, portraits if you will, that if I were to ever commission someone to paint, would be quite a funny exhibition. This is one of them (and a bit timely, if you ask me):

Fuzzy Pink Bunny Slippers
by Eric Franklin Crow

There is a woman
In a long, yellow bathrobe,
Pink horn curlers
And fuzzy pink bunny slippers.
She’s got a 32-ounce coffee mug in her left hand,
A credit card in her right,
And green morning breath coming from her mouth.
She’s walking into a mall
Toward a computer kiosk,
Open to an online shopping website.
There’s a hyper child on one side of her,
And a woman in “snatch-and-grab” mode on the other -
Neither can touch the computer,
For the thin yet visible blue electric shield blocking them,
Yet the hyper kid has still managed
To get a food stain on the monitor

©2007 Eric Franklin Crow

My Ninth Evolution

2007-12-08T23:40:00.000-08:00

Before I provide the next excerpt of The Sky Stretches Blue, I need to get in touch with some of you, because I have copies of this book for you. Also, as this initial leg of the project begins to wind down, I will be keeping you up-to-date about some future projects coming to the community through T-Sky-S-B, such as The Shoelace Project, and the premiere of my first new album of music (in about ten years!) It is all going somewhere, and in time, all will become clear. This is picking up where Cubs Club Of CA left off, but in a more feasible and enjoyable way.

Anyway, here is the next excerpt from the book, entitled:

My Ninth Evolution
by Eric Franklin Crow

I am in the beginning
Of my ninth evolution:
"Eagle Bear"

This name withing the numbers
Initiates a new adventure
That will bring forth understanding
And balance my final line

This is a mystery
Already solved, yet not known by me.

I won't know it until I have passed through it.

Infinity: Make me Grateful
To claim this name as my own,
And help me relay
This determination to my Higher Self (Emmanuel Adam).
Let this Be so.

�2007 Eric Franklin Crow

Some things to know about this excerpt: besides my new name, this makes reference to the presence of the number 9 in my life (the underlined words are a reference to this. The last "stanza" of this prose is a prayer, similar to the devotionals that I used to write when I was involved with Metropolitan Community Church (in San Diego.)

ILS/b's new position (it's official!)

2007-12-06T16:26:00.000-08:00

Though the decision was made a few weeks ago, Mister Marcus officially confirmed in his latest column for the BAR that the new producers of the International LeatherSir/boy title have decided to listen to the people and will welcome, as competitors, those who are considered “legally male” (namely if you have a gender label of M on your driver’s license, then the law basically says “that’s good enough.”)

So now it seems as though anyone who identifies any old man-like way can have what they want, and that this basically means that if you want to identify as “pink with green polka-dots, then you just might have the legal right to do so one day.

WELL, IT’S ABOUT TIME! In fact, I say THANK GOD! (for some reason, the line “10% is not enough, recruit, recruit, RECRUIT!!!” is popping into my head! LOL)

Seriously, though, I am OVERJOYED that this blow for freedom has been struck, because it’s further reinforcement that it is the content of his character, the values by which he lives his life, and the size of his heart that define a man, not the inches of skin that hang between his legs.

It was also said in this article, “it will be interesting to see whether participation or attendance will be altered to any noticeable degree.” This means that there is pressure on the new owners to make sure that attendance and quality of the contest stays the same or increases.

To this end, The Sky Stretches Blue would like to come in here. We will lend our support, wherever feasible and beneficial, to any transfolk that wishes to compete in the 2008 Northern CA regional LeatherSir/boy/Bootblack titles.

So this is the sound of discrimination ending...

Of particular interest today...

2007-12-06T16:14:00.000-08:00

This article is of particular interest to me, because it attests to the fact that I know I'm not alone in my protest of the over-corporatizing of all things gay. It is an editorial featured in this weeks Bay Area Reporter. Cheers to Paul Quick for writing it.
-----
Debt dragging down cafe...

Cafe Flore was a perfectly viable neighborhood-serving retail business before the current owner bought it. What's dragging it down is the debt service on the exorbitant price the current owner paid. He knew, or should have known, the financials of the business and the zoning restrictions, before he bought it.

Cafe Flore is a glass building with a metal roof at a corner that opens into the residential part of the neighborhood in a way that is unique. It is particularly ill suited for late-night alcohol sales and all-night operation.

The current ownership appears never to have had any intention to continue to operate the cafe in the way that it once served the community. Even its fundraisers have seemed designed to provide minimal revenue to the recipients, and maximize sales at the bar. If we're concerned about gentrification and "de-gaying" of the neighborhood – and we should be – rewarding speculative investors with zoning changes moves us in exactly the wrong direction. If the current owner can't operate the business he bought at the price he paid, he should sell it – perhaps at a loss. This just might cause a healthy readjustment in commercial real estate values that would allow truly neighborhood-serving businesses back into the Castro.

Paul Quick

San Francisco

Contrast Of A Daze?

2007-11-24T12:58:00.000-08:00

Along with it's companion prologue (following) the contrast of which I speak is defined a little more clearly.

Contrast Of A Daze? by Eric Franklin Crow

Contrast of a daze
Inside - vivid and extreme
Outside - still and lifeless

Like a flaming stoneface:
Room for another
Inside the stupor?

Blessing of snapping out
Always takes over
Reviving toward simplicity

Victory of return
In the dropping down:
Others do relate

My "fortune" is not unique.

Prologue: Tongue

Enslaved
By the words
Of a sick tongue
That has forsaken love.
...If the rain
Can even escape
The slings and arrows
Of being called wet
By the same...

©2007 Eric Franklin Crow

From My Seduction/Extra-Dimensional

2007-11-16T00:00:00.000-08:00

Here's a double-dose from The Sky Stretches Blue - enjoy!

From My Seduction
by Eric Franklin Crow

From my lips
Will drip the honey
That will get Love high.

From my root
Will ooze the milk
That will set Illusion free.

From my neck
Will bleed the beauty
That will let Spirit pure.

From my eyes
Will flow the blue
That will wet Reflection true.

From my heart
Will beat the time
That will get Real near.

©2007 Eric Franklin Crow

Extra-Dimensional
by Eric Franklin Crow

Though the start was false
It still was a start
Though the Bear pelt was mangy,
It still kept me warm.
Though the first shepherds misled,
They still were my conduit here,
Though the ceiling was leaky,
It still kept me reasonably dry.

So now comes the question:
What good is Point A,
Except to get to Point B?
What good is such treachery
Except to be used to escape the pitfall?

Had I seen those "Wolfs" ten years ago...

©2007 Eric Franklin Crow

How I Feel About This War

2007-11-07T16:16:00.000-08:00

Prodigal Pizza is a prologue to The Sky Stretches Blue, and is included in the multimedia promo package that some of you have already received. Here is an excerpt:

How I Feel About This War
by Eric Franklin Crow

I feel
The blindfold this war is wearing.

My feet
Feel the blisters
On the feet of the soldiers
Who have orders to keep marching

My heart
Feels the nails
In those crosses
On that hill in Lafyette

My blood
Feels the thinning
Of those who have had to sacrifice
Their medicines for bombs

My ears
Feel the fear
Of those mutant "elephant chihuahuas"
Stomping and barking
All over the American jungle

My voice
Feels the chagrin
From those who expect
People to believe this war
Came to mind only after 9/11

My throat
Feels the strangulation
Of all the red tape
That it seems it will take
For this war to end

©2007 Eric Franklin Crow

ACLC presents Santa's Slave Auction!

2007-11-07T13:59:00.000-08:00

Here is information for an event from another of the groups that I want to sponsor through T-Sky-S-B. It's a fun time for Leather family and friends:

Alameda County Leather Corps presents
Santa's Slave Auction

Saturday, Dec. 1st,
6:30-10 p.m.
At The World Famous Turf Club
22519 Main St., Hayward, CA

Come sit on Santa's lap and bid on your favorite slave.

Please bring a new, UNWRAPPED toy to benefit Mama's Toy Drive.

Emcee's:
Jeff Tucker & Trailer Trash Trixie

Join us for an evening of Slave Auctions, Item Auctions, Raffles and
Sitting with Santa.

Proceeds to benefit:
Oakland Children's Hospital Infectious Disease Department

For more info:
email
info@acleather.org
www.acleather.org
www.sfleathercalendar.org

Laurie Aguinaga, Ms. Alameda County Leather 2007 and Mama's Girl

EFC/tazpuppy Productions Presents "The Sky Stretches Blue"

2007-10-31T22:49:00.000-07:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

EFC/tazpuppy Productions presents The Sky Stretches Blue, written by Eric Franklin Crow.

We present for worldwide release, a new masterwork: The Sky Stretches Blue. Written between December 2006 – July 2007, this is a poetic odyssey based on true-life experiences, and is intended to serve as an “adult fairy tale.” The two main characters are Ross Thelebeh and Dennis Nekir, and as you will discover, while appearing on the surface to be that of teacher and student, their relationship ultimately goes much deeper. A wide variety of influences, literary, musical and cinematic, were put to methodic use, to highlight an idea – the idea of how diverse the individual’s relationship with their God/Creator can be, and the benefit such diversity can have, when external influences such as religious dogma and puritan panic are not allowed a voice.

This book is the first big step in creating a new realm of possibility, both for me as a writer and those for whom I am blessed to have reading my work; and, as the title suggests, our potential as human beings goes as far as the sky stretches blue. Best of all, this book, while being offered without monetary compensation in mind, is intended to generate random acts of kindness. For information on how to receive your copy of The Sky Stretches Blue, visit and join http://groups.yahoo.com/group/theskystretchesblue . The only information you will receive from this group will be related to the book/project. Thank you for your support.

Catching a falling leaf...

2007-10-31T17:21:00.000-07:00

Today is a day of celebration for me. Not only do I have the privilege of offering of my most inspired works, it is also just a great day to be alive.

While doing some random internet searching about the (Pagan) festival of Samhein, I came across an interesting bit of information. Supposedly if you catch a leaf before it falls to the ground, you will have good luck and health for the coming winter. I figured since I was going to go to my Zen place (Heather Field, in Concord, CA), that I might see if I could do this. I didn't know how hard it would be.

Have you ever tried to catch a falling leaf with your bare hands? Even if there are a number of leaves falling at once, it seems as though they fall faster just because you're trying to catch them. LOL. I was this close I don't know how many times, but didn't catch one.

But I'm not upset by this at all. For me, in my spiritual path, I know that things like this get pointed out to me by the Universe, because the Universe wants to show me something. I couldn't help but to notice that during this time, I became very aware of my surroundings. First of all, after I stopped chasing, the first thing I seemed to notice was how beautiful the colors in the trees were. Second, I actually felt like a kid playing in the park, running to try and get the leaves before they fell - it reminded me of playing volleyball.

This was the point, for me. I got out of my head and into nature and life. I didn't catch a leaf, but I caught nature (or should I say nature caught me?) This was a reminder to me that, though this has been a great process (writing The Sky Stretches Blue), like all things, it is impermanent. I'll only play with this for so long and then, like a falling leaf, its purpose will pass. How like life this is.

But I'm gonna play with it as much as I can - like my life. I encourage anyone who reads this to do the same. What else is life for?

See you at 11:01 p.m.

Take This Fishbowl

2007-10-31T13:31:00.000-07:00

Here's a new excerpt from The Sky Stretches Blue - in particular, this comes from the prequel and companion piece to ...Sky, a book of 40 poems/prose entitled Prodigal Pizza. Take This Fishbowl is a yearning for privacy in a world where there seems to be exponentially less of it as each generation passes, and the loneliness that can happen even when you're being watched by everyone.

Also, FYI, The Sky Stretches Blue is will be ushered into the world this Hallow's Eve (Halloween) night, at exactly 11:01 p.m., and then links will be made available for download. Shout out to those who have supported me during the writing and production of this work, and I hope you'll come get a helping of ...Blue Sky once it's done cooking (it's served with Prodigal Pizza and beef barley w/nutmeg.)

Take This Fishbowl
by Eric Franklin Crow

Take this fishbowl I've lived in
Smash it into a million bits
Stones are plenty good for the job
Smash me into a million fits

Take this hamster wheel I've run in
Mangle the metal beyond repair
Take this dangling carrot I've nibbled
Grind it into a chewy, pulpy bare

I want a chance for a private start
I know where my heart will go play
I want a chance for a sound thought
I know where my mind will go stay

Leading to the hollowness of my heart
There is a trail of confetti
Soaring through the solitary sky
There is a trail of empathy:

Here's hoping the peace of God disturbs me.

©2007 Eric Franklin Crow

But Adults Do...

2007-10-25T03:09:00.000-07:00

Here is a link to an audio excerpt from The Sky Stretches Blue, entitled "But Adults Do" - it's one of many multimedia features that will be on the CD-ROM that's coming out next Weds. (Halloween!) I'm very happy with the way production is shaping up, and I'm sure that you will enjoy it as well!

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Et1zF4CmQlQ

The difference between hunger and anxiety...

2007-10-21T15:46:00.000-07:00

Earlier this year, I started a fitness/diet change (as a New Year's intention), and in that time, I have learned things about myself, on things that would've never occurred to me otherwise. Specifically, I lost the ability to tell the difference between hunger and anxiety. Being a Bear (original physical definition: a hairy, husky, gay man), I learned to accept myself and not be ashamed of my size, and I also learned that society doesn't have the right to tell me that I have to look a certain way in order to exist on this planet. That said, I also found myself developing a bit of a problem, with losing control over the portions of food that I ate, as well as eating for the wrong reasons.

So one day, while anxious about something (I forget what, isn't that the way it goes?), I stumbled upon a discovery - I was able to correlate that in feeling anxious, I was feeling it in my stomach, and I was feeling it in the form of hunger for food. The spiritual path I walk has taught me that this has happened because I collapsed the circles of hunger and anxiety, so that the two could no longer be told apart. But once this is realized, the antidote becomes as instantly apparent. Upon this realization, I wrote the following, which is an excerpt from my new book, The Sky Stretches Blue:

The Unbinding

My daily trek
Leads me to hunger
Healthy to be
Desirious to seek
Except that something inside
When spellbound, provokes confusion:
Hunger with anxiety
Learned early on

How romantically evil...
...And how like me

Concise realizing: Now
Concise healing: Prayed
Guilt of knowing better: Released, only by Grace
To that constraint, Ego,
I relinquish you to Indulgence,
Perpetually.
...And a schism occurs:

Hunger is hunger
Anxiety is anxiety:

With tearful actualization.

©2007 Eric Franklin Crow

Web shout-outs!

2007-10-21T15:03:00.000-07:00

In my quest to be a conduit for inter-connectedness through this blog and the wiki-zine of the same name, here are a couple web shout-outs! With the second in particular, I hope to shed a little light on the notion that with regards to how we choose to live our life, we are only as limited as the sky stretches blue.

My buddy, Andrew, aka bootdog, has a great website - www.bootdog.com . I have known him for a couple years, and besides the fact that he's a cute pup, he also has a great sense of humor. You'll laugh at the unique wit he puts in his articles.

Also, another buddy, photographer Rich Stadmiller, www.richtrove.com, is having an event. Here's the text from the website.

Note: The Beast we call AIDS has now been with us for over 25 years.

In the face of assaults on body, mind and spirit, and we are still here.
This in and of itself is cause for celebration.

The Alexander Hamilton Post 448, in conjunction with
The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence and
SF Defenders is hosting

"A Homecoming and Healing Celebration"
for Veterans of this HIV/AIDS era and those who support them

Sunday, Nov 4 1:30PM-5PM
Room 207 War Memorial Building,
401 Van Ness Ave., San Francisco
A RichTrove project by Rich Stadtmiller

Opening ceremonies with a color guard and invocations will be followed by an exercise to recognize our personal everyday heroes.
A second exercise recognizing the hero in each of us will be followerd by a final blessing from the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence.
The Sisters will then kick off the party with sounds by DJ Jim Strano.
Entertainment will also be provided by MIchael Dumont (Emperor 2007), John Weber (Mr Gay SF 2007), Johnathan Gaftney and BeBe Sweetbriar (Mr/Miss Gay SF 2008).

Ask me, and I'll answer!

2007-10-19T18:25:00.000-07:00

FYI, anyone who has read anything that I've posted here, that would like to ask me questions about the content or inspiration underlying, now is the time to ask. Written artistic expression is often a language unto itself, and while sometimes when you read something and get a clear picture, sometimes it makes all the difference to have another interpretation to factor in

The Purplehouse Effect

2007-10-19T18:07:00.000-07:00

Here's a new segment from The Sky Stretches Blue.

The Purplehouse Effect

There's a purplehouse effect
That's been allowed to infiltrate.

Sudden overexertion of emotions
Is leading to a heating up
Of the muscles around the heart
And the nerves stemming from the brain.

We believe the cause of this heating
Stems from chemicals
That the brain gets tricked into creating
When breathing the air of idealistic love
Without regulating a sense of reality

When enough of this imbalance is present,
A change in the heart's core temperature is inevitable,

Except unlike the greenhouse effect,
After enough temperature pressure
Has been applied to the heart,
The heart will lose heat and grow cold.

Temperature will continue to decrease
Until the subject remembers
That love is only a feeling,
And, like all feelings, its lasting is finite.
Then and only then
Will the heart heat back to a normal temperature

©2007 Eric Franklin Crow

My Spirit (Will This Be What I Do?)

2007-10-10T19:08:00.001-07:00

Here's the next sample from the new book!

{entire section written by Eric Franklin Crow}

Dennis: Is he putting a part of his past behind him?
Ross (happy): Yes! Now you’re getting the feeling of what I’ve been showing you.

My Spirit (Will This Be What I Do?)

My spirit
Is crying to stand
For what it was told
Was true.

My spirit
Is desperate to die
To what it has overcome
By faith.

My spirit
Is longing to be
For what is has seen
Is given.

My spirit
Is cautious to give
As before it fell down
In depth.

Will this be what I do?

Dennis: But he’s not sure which way he wants to turn...
Ross: Yes. He doesn’t know if he wants to do what there is for him to do.

losing itself to dusk...

2007-09-28T17:49:00.000-07:00

losing itself to dusk

losing itself to dusk,
the ursoid continues to download his heart
(that hasn't yet been incised by the jigsaw)
armed escort holds a gun to his own face
and takes the last empty Russian Roulette shot -
metallic tears streaming down
unfelt drops of daylight
root into the soil of the stars
and conjure a twinkling ignition,
passing him away into the past
before its unique signature beams again
"an error occurred -
your matrix cannot read this .rmp (reptile map file)"

©2007 Eric Franklin Crow

Meshell Ndegeocello is

2007-09-26T01:57:00.000-07:00

Meshell Ndegeocello's album, "The World Has Made Me The Man Of My Dreams"

http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=95747580&blogID=301127690

The Sky Stretches Blue has a Wiki-Zine!

2007-09-23T03:47:00.000-07:00

What's a wiki-zine? Follow the link to find out..

http://www.zimbio.com/TheSkyStretchesBlue

Images to follow there and here!

Soaking Up

2007-09-19T03:38:00.000-07:00

Soaking Up

(inspired by Sade)

Soaking up
Each note of music
Like the last drop of rain;
Her voice
Singing each precious word
Like the final setting sun;
The stage
Lit up like a star's first twinkle
Shooting across the night sky high;
The band
Attuned to the chords
Like a newborn's first breath;
The crowd
Cheers the signature songs
Like goals at a World Cup soccer game.
All of this together
Tastes like the greatest meal
That could ever be supped,
And Ms. Adu,
I hope you'll come back
To imprint your name on us
(Like a tattoo),
And then wrap us up
In your colour of love,
And sing us to sleep.

©2007 Eric Franklin Crow