Addendum to Blueprint for a Greener World (Printed, Not Online)

Noise in IL?

Pollution?  Not sound.  We want a state of music, not sounds of pollution—or sound pollution!

We can capitalize spiritually on our history here:

See our folks frolicking together, not just drinking beer.

Artisanal outlook: ebony and ivory

Playing, taking turns, no rich-folks-wanna-be,

But wealthy and healthy in heart, strong again in soul:

We excel in being ourselves—from jazz to rock and roll!

GUTS HAVE BRAINS BRAINS HAVE GUTS

Blueprint for a Greener World is meant to inspire and fuel, as a gift for the world to use to heal itself.  It can be used as a step stool, to begin to ascend, and illustrates why I have hope for the future.  This experience with growth I want to share so the audience can’t blame me for withholding juno (feminine genius) from them. 

I see that the unit of “God” is the sphere—the whole, as opposed to just individuals or parts.

As English Premier League soccer team Arsenal says, Victoria Concordia Crescit—Through harmony, victory!

We need to capitalize our planet’s name: Earth, and to use an exclamation point after Black Lives Matter!

Can the world human population use everyone’s mental powers to control the weather?  Or are we gonna sit and wait for some god to act?  Which would be more insulting to the higher powers?

When are we going to quit turning our frustration from living in such a difficult world onto each other—and ourselves?  Of course we die!  

What changes would we have to embrace to save the planet?  

If not fun, why done?  Please stand up and move and be moved!  Tears of joy can flow—all right!

~Jenny

“She was always shoving her wet, wild nose into some cavernous place in the Earth, as if to convince it it still spoke in a valued tongue.” –The Eyes that Mind, © 2017

Always Below–song of Earth

(Response to USA’s Space Force song “Semper Supra”– “Always Above:”

Always Below—song of Earth

©2023 by C. Jenny Walbridge

Here on Earth we never miss

Chances to love, times to kiss.

Moon shows path in days and nights,

Sunny jokes while Sexy lights.

Beneath our legs around, Earth goes.

Like snakes, our body wisdom knows.

Born from wombs of mammal dudes:

Mommies teach, dads drawing nudes,

All spinning stories for the bands,

Planet of sea and homes of lands.

Yay, when we look afar at us

Eyes are tearin,’ but no fuss.

Moving is our law down here:

Science says to us, don’t fear,

For, as genes said, we’ve felt the end:

Life and death will be our friend!

While below we care for others—

Elders, children, sisters, brothers.

Jumping high yet being held,

Gravity our futures meld.

Jeweled brooks will set the mood—

People feeling gratitude!

We can edit like a genie—

Need care, but not from a meannie.

My vision opened the letter–

Returns us to living better.

I see plain and I bee sky:

Queen of all, here!  Have my eye!

Comfort abounds in this new song,

Play, feel the demise of wrong.

Earth’s provided for us—hear!

We find out who we are!  Don’t leer

At our fine world, our flag unfurled.

Mark garden, creatures, in hope curled.

Change is upon us, jump for joy!

For each them, they, and girl, and boy!

“Get who…”

“Get who gets you”

©C. Jennifer Walbridge

“Get who gets you”

Goes a mating service jingle.

“Earth” the Planet’s name.

If Nature on our orb was alive—

Made in a deity’s image?—

She/He would likely want to be known as a pleasant place to stay and dine 

With no starvation and without rapine.  

So, don’t seize me or my stuff!  And why not point out the berries?

We the people shall overcome…ourselves:

To get her!  Grasping, holding, helping—on target: the future!  

Liking the species,

I think this is inspiration that the Planet does well.  

And easily.  

“Earth” means more than “soil;” more than “land,” 

IT INCLUDES OCEAN, BROTHER BARRACUDA AND SISTER SQUID!  

Who do eye, how to Why?  

US, togetHer, here, everywhere,

Hear we: today!

And where else does One live?

Poem: From Earth

From Earth

© 2023 C. Jennifer Walbridge

We’re all from the Earth—

Dirty.  (Wordy.  Flirty!)

Seeing our aspects—other folks, other creatures—

Dead or alive, keeps us, sanely, to-get-Her.

Yesterday at work at the supermarket,

I saw lobster tails, wrapped for purchase; I

Don’t usually see those, but the New Year came

And, with my new grocery bagging job,

Wilder foodstuffs than in my daily life!

Our store sells warm chicken cheaper on Mondays; 

When the customer brings them in their

Plastic bag, they smell: my body—mostly vegetarian,

Certainly not a fan of bird meat—must

Imbibe some.  We share the air.

Care?

Likewise, the cleaning supplies aisle

Stinks to high heaven—like detergent, chemicals;

How do the odors, in thick plastic containers,

Emit?

Cleanly—meanly

To my health?

Yet, soaps are needed to wash:

Dishes; clothes; floors; produce.

Soil.

Love!

Tomorrow—our next day; our

Children’s lifetimes.

Garden?

Wilderness?

Taming; using.

Sustaining; abusing.

Here us play

“To get Her:”

Is our planet really so hard to understand?

She asks us to be gentle on ourselves;

She is more than dirt; She is also snow.

So, frolic!

Lady Don’t Lack !!

Lady Don’t Lack !!

Rap after Sir Mix-A-Lot’s “Baby Got Back”

by C. Jenny Walbridge, © 2022

We got big butts

And we will not lie.

You other peoples

Might ask why—

It’s how we’re made, we just size up;

We gonna fill your cup!

We so lovely you tearin’

You look and you can’t stop leerin’

That girl in the mirror smilin’

That fat on her backside pilin’!

In the butt we’re radical.

We be international!

We like our rear 

And we think we’re fine—

Whoever made us 

Was sure tryin’!

Drivin’ to be livin’

Women got much fat

Drivin’ to be livin’

And we sure don’t lack!

We stick out in wide ways;

I say we gonna get some lays!

Cellulite is here to find?

Jigglin,’ sister, we don’t mind–

We beautiful!

We got big butts 

And we think we bad!

They givin’ by our mom and dad.

Nobody who be less than cool

Will learn it all at this good school!

We love our butts 

And it’s so okay

Bitching about it’s yesterday!

My body, it ain’t yours for free

Unless you gonna respect me!

Lady don’t lack…

Lady don’t lack!

Decent folks find our form pleasin;’

Nature made us for a reason!

Drivin’ to be livin’ 

And we got much fat

Drivin’ to be livin’

And we fine with that.

What is that in your head?  It’s corny!

That thought you got makes you too scorny!

Critic, baby, you may be.

Well free your mind, y’all, say me!

Dial 1-800-FIX-A-LOT

And ditch those sexist thoughts!

Lady don’t lack!

Nothing Human Is Alien II

NOTHING HUMAN IS ALIEN ll

by C. Jenny Walbridge

Inspired by Christopher Reeve’s speech at the Democratic Convention on August 26, 1996.

The early years:

I’d known bright joy at ovation

In a classroom situation.

I’d told others how to feel,

But could I see myself?

I had tasted their ablutions;

They were simple, clear solutions.

But my problems went beyond them,

And I had to get more help.

Later:

It was time for the Convention and

I heard Christopher Reeve;

He held me in detention, standing,

Heart upon my sleeve.

He said family values meant

In a country time is spent

On each other, sister, brother—

All cared for by one another.

The man had found some loopholes

In the American Dream:

He pointed out discrepancies:

Things are not what they seem

For those with shattered lives.

 And he said, We can overcome!

But ’til good heart arrives, it’s clear

The luckless are struck dumb.

Democracy’s in jeopardy—

The rich can lobby more!

Who pulls the strings?  Aren’t we ashamed

If we abuse the poor?

Tonight, in writing letters,

Some quite brilliant words I found.

They help cut through the old fetters

With which my eyes were bound.

“Nothing human is alien,”

Is the phrase I mention here.

I wrote it down so many times—

It seemed to stop my fear.

I’d suffered from psychosis then.

(It’s now under control:

The drugs I take can for me make

A more collected soul.)

When Reeve spoke and he mused so well

On our good land today,

“We must help those with mental problems

Too!” I thought he’d say.

I would not put it past him, though,

To quote, on second thought,

That if we can make a difference for

An ailing mind, we ought!

For all the knocks life hands to us,

It gives us talents, too,

And virtues such as empathy

It’s good not to eschew.

The struggle to be sound of self

Is not an easy one.  But

Of mind and body, health makes

Productive lives, and fun.

My own journey has taken me

Aways from whence I came:

By learning more about myself,

I’ve come to be the same,

But stronger, smarter, more aware

Of the fact that we are all

So very vulnerable to

A heart-ache or a fall

From the grace of full acceptance in

A culture that is mean,

A system that would hate its own

When they’re no longer lean

Or sprout a female chest or a

Cleft palate or are Black.

Discrimination hurts, my friend—

We’ve got to fight it back!

Nothing human is alien,

I’ve come to know it’s true.

For mentally ill I have been;

An artist too.  And you?

A family is what we are,

The rich parts and the poor,

And each of us inside our heads

Must build bridges for more

Understanding—it’s what we need,

Of ourselves, and of y’all!

My therapy’s been long enough

That I can make this call:

What grander art than that which

Rests between a set of ears?

But must psychology’s concern

Be solely that of fears?

Let us create a culture where

Art therapy’s the norm:

Where each one gets a chance to make

Some line, some movement, form,

And all feel inspiration 

To express their artist’s soul.

A healthy planet’s what we’d get 

If we’d assume this role!

I hold just that the world’s solutions 

Lie within our grasp,

Whether they be saving souls 

Or fighting plagues of asp.

Liberation of our souls is

Needed.  Hey!  I have seen

Within myself, recovery,

And hope.  Know what I dream?

A future where we utilize 

All of our greatest gifts, 

Where we’re engaged to teach, inspire;

In which my spirit lifts

The all of you, who come to know 

Yourselves as I’ll know me.

We’ll dance ahead, committed

To each other feeling free.

All Help the U. S. A!

 

C. Jenny Walbridge ©2022  

(Inspired by Lee Greenwood’s song “God Bless the U. S. A.”) 

I love this land I stand on

Maybe more than some could grasp.

I’m in red, white, blue tie-dye,

And a peace sign is my clasp.

From Denver to Seattle,

Going south to Georgia too,

Where Old Glory’s overhead, 

The great bald eagles flew,

To Lady Liberty who towers,

Welcoming with hand of light

(Though our country in its guises was

Not always in the right)—

I am proud to be an American, 

Where my family came to live.

Like others from those distant lands

Who now are here to give,

I want to stand up

Next to you,

So we can both salute

Our brave past; now, our future

Needs our people not to shoot!

From Chicago down to Texas

Innocents murdered in cold

Bloody NRA gets richer

That Amendment Two—so old!

From the swamps of Leeziana

To the sands of Arizone

The people upset, crying,

Health care stealing all they own.

Yet I’m proud to be an American,

Sharing all the problems here.

Trying to get help we need,

Not have sad eyes that tear.

And I want to sit down next to you,

Take your hand and say,

That we must play “together”

‘Cause we love the USA!

From first responders’ hurt lungs

To broken bones of the police,

Soldiers’ missing limbs, 

PTSD—on the increase,

From teachers to bus drivers,

Truck unloaders, work all day,

Security guards, phoners

Working hard all night, I say,

That I love my fellow Americans

Who made the U. S. Number One!

They contributed their best

As our great citizens’ve done.

And I’ll gladly stand up next to them,

To save their bodies’ health

‘Cause they have strong American hearts—

Here’s where we know true wealth!

I’m glad to be an American,

But do we keep it for ourself?

Most of us came from afar;

Do we put others on a shelf?

Why don’t we stand up, write

A new agenda for our land

I think it’s time our country 

Will become a smart new brand!

Yeah, I’m proud to be an American,

My humble nest is here.

I sometimes order pizza,

On the weekends, drink some beer.

I’d like to stand up next to you

In all our grief and pain—

How can we use our freedom

To bring peace? wonders this brain.

USA Dot Two 

Is a newer version of

America, for winners,

Built by those of us who love

Our country and are ready 

To try something that’s more green,

Flex our muscles, stretch our bones,

Take a leap over the mean!

I disliked actor Ronald Reagan

All the things that he would quote

And the trickle-down idea’s

Not exactly all she wrote.

Yet, I’m proud to be an American,

With friendly border lands.

No need for trade in weapons—

We want better games for our hands.

And I have to stand up

Next to those

Who’ll choose our leader new

By votes we’ll use our freedom,

Finding one who has a clue.

Stars on every U. S. flag, 

Thirteen moon-months stripe

If any space is “tainted,” 

Use that banner, “clean,” to wipe!

That’s the way we’ve ruled the Planet.

There could be a change:

Global collaborations with all over—

Is that strange?

I’m proud to be from the U. S.,

Tall mountains majesty,

And know that I don’t need a gun,

There’s peace, no tragedy.

From the lakes of ancient Persia

To the hills of Vietnam

Let us not fail to celebrate,

Not drop another bomb.

War finally done, some great ones died.

None need face fear now, right?!

The U. N. must do its work,

All nations giving light!

All share a home, it’s Planet Earth,

From sea to shining sea.

Why don’t we now collaborate

On laughs for you and me?

And I’d like to high-five you and hug

My neighbor from afar,

Let’s cooperate.  We can still

Save our Earth, the Sun’s all star!

There ain’t no doubt we love our lands—

Let’s all help Earth, today:

The children from all over

And the ones with hair that’s grey—

It’s fine for the U. S. to lead

As long as we recall

That China’s differences are nice: 

They’ve still got their Great Wall.

I can reach from where I’m at 

To generate some health

For the whole planet’s welfare

Not just missiles labelled “Stealth.”

Let’s see if we can guide our hearts

Around the Earthly curve

With trips up into Space we’ll soon

Be viewing blue with verve!

How ‘bout some runs for poorer folks

From nations like our own—

With egos big but tools small—

Still dialing on the phone…

Well, wait a minute, here,

Maybe there’s a place for us::

On the world stage in peace—

Could we avoid a fuss?

I want you to stand up,

Next to me,

Look at ourselves and see

If we can extend a hand 

Of justice, to be free!

Feminist Poems

Feminist Poems

by Catherine Jennifer Walbridge ©2022

  1. Fingers

I’m in the bathroom at night

I’m sitting on the toilet

I need some toilet paper 

It is dark.

I reach for the end of the roll

I have to find the end

I touch the roll, very gently I find the end of the roll by turning it around its pivot slowly.

I’m in the book store

I’m at Whole Foods

I’m in their bathroom

The toilet paper is not hanging down conveniently

I reach under the plastic toilet paper dispenser

I have to turn the roll with my hand to find the end.

Gentleness is called for.

Precision.

My baby gives me the cigarette we are smoking

Very tenderly my fingers touch his.

He hands me the cigarette;

We must be careful because it is hot.

This is nothing that machines can do.

The hand…the fingers…the paper…the pen!

2. What it Is to Be a Girl

Walkin’ round with nothin’ hangin

Getting banged, not givin’ bangin.’

Feelin’ fine, sharing the future

Nature says I have to nurture.

Worshipping who I desire?

Goddess—talking on the wire—

Tellin’ me that I can work it—

Practice hard, showin’ you, jerk, fit

As a drum you playin’ on

Inspiring you to write a song.

Where’s the credit?  You get some

Providing schooling, sports; not dumb,

You’re simply discriminatin’

Want all control of who you’re datin.’

But she doesn’t grow while still.

Listen here—I see you will!

3. We could make life a lot easier for a lot of people!

In some other countries the folks are allowed

To do small capitalism, and proud 

Of their fruit stand they are.  And why don’t we

Give some small housing?  Austin, Portland—see?!?

One might just heal when they come to possess

Their own door knob, and even to feel blessed

To live in a space where they can just cry

Or take a nap, in privacy.  Sound good?  Let’s try!

‘Cause people are touching, and people need warming.

They want to run inside when the bugs are swarming.

We all have toes which belong to our feet—

Directing us whither we tread, who we greet.

Do we feel we don’t need manners with our neighbors?

Friends, enemies—for all folks—we must labor

For shared results, progress, two folks on the see-saw—

Neglecting each other, can’t get high, it’s a law

Of nature.  (Good deeds make us happy together!

Gifts, sharing, good-natured acting—whatever.)

Enjoy being ourself as we impact another,

And they’re holding us, like a sister or brother.

Family and friends—we do need ‘em.

See all the nations who know they must feed ‘em?

Not leave fellows to rot while leaders drink up,

But help people be strong, all join with a cup!

4. Sexy!

Our place in the world is erotic: 

no control over the weather.

No control over the stock market—

No control over our feelings, our finances, our dinner’s quality

because it comes from polluted fields—they may be polluted, we don’t know,

just like we don’t know how our lover will respond from day to day.

Nature is sexy.  We are part of nature.  

But does our history from now on have to be so hurtful, just because we are trying to live the fact that the world is sexy? that we are not in control, that peoples get hurt because forces are so powerful, like sex?

And we must prove that we can synthesize things; even though we are part of nature, we “are above it”—an abstraction good for who?

“They got screwed.”  

Make love, not war!

5. Feathers

Falling into place as I again comb them with my beak.

Life keeps going!   I fly!

I feel like a jukebox.  All the selections keep dropping into my slots and then I play them…New tunes each day.  I learn.

Momentary panic

——worked through—-

Played through

I think of our pet millipede who,

when I turned the light in the kitchen on,

looked at me and ran from the open peanut butter jar to behind the cabinets—

We were both shocked.

We saw it again.  I said to my boyfriend, “This is our friend.  Don’t kill it.”

Really a beautiful animal with too much style to murder.

My boyfriend!   My boyfriend shares with me.

He tries to help me fix my computer and leaves a grease spot on “return.”

Life—decent.

I am 50.  Death is approaching, very slowly.

Am hoping not to crash into a window…

If I do and they find me, maybe they will give me to the natural history museum to identify and catalogue: 

the Jennybird:

she didn’t shave 

she looked at the sky

(a rainbow was there sometimes)

6. The Third Sex

Calculate the appearance—colored clothes and something hair—

Strike up a conversation if you want to take a dare.

Your instinct’s right, because you can’t just look inside the pants—

Your body wants to party, not analyze the dance!

It’s dark and light in stripes in division on a horse—

Picture the zebra now—it’s an animal, of course.

Each one is different—you can see, they really are unique.

Straight markings are impossible—stripes show in curves, go peek!

All in order, some of them are sexy in one way,

Others in another.  God makes them—it’s okay.

Humans have fingerprints and some realistic gripes

But when the zebra moves, you don’t think about its pipes.

Are there really only two sexes?   Well, ask a doctor—“No.”

How about three then, if there’s hermaphroditic flow?

I say we have some billions, and every person’s great.

Each of us is unique.  Some will, maybe, mate;

Some of us have babies; some just clearly can’t.

Sexual organs differ, like the leg that wears the pants.

Don’t cop out, friend, be truthful to your feelings for

A person, not a gender, ‘cause in bed there’s always more

And trans folks can be amazing, just like the others can—

Please remember the zebras before you make a ban,

For God creates with panache, sometimes in black and white,

Somewhat he and somewhat she but always in the right.

If He makes us in His image, well, that means He’s more complex—

He is also She and More—that’s how They stack the decks.

Each person gets a special mix of dark and then of light—

The feminine, the masculine—everybody’s right!

Wise one, know that we can live in peace together—

But we must be creative, like God Itself, no tether.

Open doors but also, sugar, look within, I say—

I’m ready for more tolerance, now and here, today!

7. Frozen Pizza

“The Pill and frozen pizza were women’s liberation,” says my boyfriend.

The progesterone birth control shot and frozen pizza are indeed my liberation:

no blood, no babies.  Dinner!

But my guy and I make quality meals, too,

and we sleep together,

and study and read and write and learn about each other and the world, discuss

and walk 

and look for pennies, dimes and quarters

and often we find them!

Our pizza costs $5.99 and there are always leftovers for lunch.

The shots are freeing and free 

because I have insurance from the government

for being bipolar 

which means that I am free to work part time and not be rich.

We endlessly review good business policy for food and liquor establishments, 

he saying “You must always please the customer,” and

“I would have specials all the time in a club that looks really classy.”

We love cheese and halvah.  

“What can we do, we are only human,” as he says.

8. To the Class of ’21

from C. Jenny Walbridge

I wrote this speech with my “Judgement Free Zone” pen.

It’s from some planet fitness thing.  Now’s when

I’m comin’ from the future, makin’ a stand

Talkin’ of art and healthy in this land,

And sea emocean true.  I notice that you grew

Now, we be needin’ your peace signs, too!

My love life, ‘cause I have dignity,

Depends on you having fun.  Here, see,

This state, this world, where we be living,

You and me.  I’m okay giving,

Though I need you motivated 

To pay attention: you’re not dated.

We can care likewise for Earth

While I’m alive, and give you birth.

Lemme just share a couple things

I found out—they might give you wings!

From an artist these words coming,

Who studied peoples, not be dumbing,

Learning all about the others

In the world, our sisters, brothers.

My life is performance art…

Is yours, too?  That’s a good start!

Using all the rainbow hues—

Love is wise—that’s my good news.

You can make your body wild

Just like when you were a child

But document your progress, so

You can see just how you grow.

A skateboard sticker I have goes,

“GREEN IS GOoD.”  (Seedless should know.)

Not cash green!  I now suggest

We give our nature here a rest:

Each day, dance for all and me—

Surprise us—creativity!

No one needs to waste away.

‘If not fun, why done?’ I say.

Science tells us the best way

Most inventive, now, is play!

Sitting versus dancing, here—

Make the world reject fear!

Our planet wants to be known

As a kind place, be a safe home

To stay and dine, without rapine—

(Grabbing others, saying ‘They’re mine.’)

A-R-T ’s in Earth—so, get it?

Grow up, go save your life with it!

Make some noise with pots and pans—

You can grow some grown-up plans!

Makin’ music—olders like it—

Givin’ hope—don’t drive but bike it.

Get tattoos if you need ‘em, whitey,

Browns, you, too, can be delightey.

What’s the rhythm of the game? 

Lust is love, they are the same.

Appreciation, courtesy,

Are cool—they make humans to be

Friendly, optimistic, free

To help each other up.  You see?

9. Live Child

When “with child” happens in a tube

When no use can be found for lube

Then tell me I’m no animal

Who needs warmth, whose rhythms pull

Me through my life, in winter rain,

Me feeling joy, me feeling pain,

‘Cause I am one with human needs

I cry to you in voice that pleads

That here I sniff and air goes in 

And there are you, and here we been

We’re touching now in simple skin

I say your name—you let me in.

10. A Poem

Your recycled paper is more expensive than regular.  

It takes a lot of water to clean out a can for recycling.

Having a car must needs be part of your lifestyle.

You are a vulnerable woman, you need the protection.  Rape.

Your car is the “greenest” model available.

I am unreasonable to suggest that you are unreasonable.

11. Wild 

She was always shoving her wet, wild nose into some cavernous place in the Earth, as if to convince it it still spoke in a valued tongue.

12. If I were the President,

I would need things to be somewhat stressful,

but also fun.  

I would need not to have to dress in fancy clothes;

and not to run

‘Cause walking is my sport of choice—

and stretching, too—

I would need to dance around

but not to come unglued.

I would need to get a chance to 

talk to people of my State—

Publicity, you know, 

and chances to be great.

But wise counsel tells me

that I might be hated;

Though that advice pales

before ones who aren’t dated.

It seems that the U. S. 

is in such a hole

We need to rise again and can,

‘cause we got soul!

A many people hurtin’ here

and I do care—

Don’t like to see my sister-girl

up quit, bad fare.

So tired that my brother-man

can only go

As far as rich folks let him,

no bootstraps, and so

Can’t pull up himself;

he needs to live, not die—

It’s serious.  I can ask myself

‘cause why?

I’ve learned that to be healthy means

you’ve dignity, you sigh

In pleasure sometimes, 

smiling, too—

If you deny the poor, 

you work for who?

Lazy are you, one might say?

“Get up and run, and start today!

“You’re good as Hillary in some ways—

With Trump it’s already a craze!”

We’re international, I see—

And that means I can start with me.

Am I a banker?  Or have degrees?

No!  And yes, I have to tease,

‘Cause I can see what you may not—

A way out for the melting pot!

Be Christian, Muslim, Jewish, more—

Stick with me for an open door.

It looks like pain from way outside

But I won’t ask you to swallow your pride.

We can work, not slave, but play

For future kids and us today.

On this planet there’s a lot

Of wisdom—some is in my plot,

I’m thinking: no more shame

For rich because

They’ll quit supporting 

Stuff that does

Not help the matters 

Here at hand,

Like empowering folks

To form a band,

To sing wholly the songs we love,

To see again the settling dove.

Peace, baby!  Vote this way

in November

And you and I will suddenly

remember.

Love,

~C. Jenny Walbridge

13. My Pledge

I’m gal who’s strong, I’m woman tough

And times ahead, they may be rough

But, see, my heart is big and round–

The Planet wise, the Planet sound

Is first to me–then I’ll make love,

And free the caged white turtledove,

But not before, man!  Can you see

I plan in you a door to free?

No mating now is how I say

We need the world fixed up today!

So let’s try no sex any more

’Til females stop being so poor

And plastic ceases being dumped

In water home of whales with humps.

14 Give up those condoms, stand with me—

Abstinence will make us free.

One painful year we’ll slow our lust

’Til Sister Earth can breathe, we’ll trust:

“To-get-her” sing, all safe, and then

Next year here, sex back, our friend!

14. Kali’s Song to the U. S. A.

I worship with my eyes

And my eyes are touched by fire.

I’m Kali, the Destroyer,

Who is likened to a liar,

But it’s never that I’ve killed–no,

Nor ever have I stolen;

You see, I’m not a woeful man

And neither am I rollin’

Deep in guilt and steep hypocrisy,

Cold-heartedness and sin–

I love my every brother,

But he will not let me in!

The worship of the natural can

Take great one Yahweh’s powers,

Though also what’s effective

Is a field full of flowers.

To balance on a seesaw–

Yes, you’ve done it with a friend–

Takes two, but then it needs one more–

The center point–to end.

Say Holy Ghost, call what you will,

But I remind you that

This one who charms by warmth and 

Arms is not an idiot!

I’m waiting at the door, you see,

And wondering I be

About who runs the show down here,

God–is it you or me?

We light fire and it licks for us;

Its sight gives our minds a turn.

That’s fuel for the flame;

Thus our hearts do slowly burn.

One cannot fight the glowing 

Of one’s nature.  And to grow

Takes Earthly womb, and woman’s

Room is soon within the tow.

I, Kali, Indian goddess,

Say let not all grace be men’s:

Fire’s power’s the Eiffel Tower

Of modern folk, with friends,

But male control of nature has

Taken us down a road of pain

And caused in us a longing

For removal of bloodstain.

So do not divorce from love, my friend,

Your worship or your soul.

Your heart’s attached to all these things–

To share all threes the goal!

Though dime and gold are moon and sun,

They now are linked with fears.

Recall that you are good, oh, land,

You’re beautiful, you’re oh-so-grand,

But if you do not understand,

We’ll drown soon in our tears!

15. Woman’s Day

It’s Woman’s Day today

So all women, please knit something

Then cook something

Then we’ll hear your televised criticisms of the government.

16. Human Needs

Waitin’ at the bus stop, Chicago north range

Lady in pink says she’s homeless, asks for change.

I say “No, I don’t have no coins.”  True.

Man beside me pulls out a five for her—whoo!

Lady’s very pleased.  To the guy I say,

“That was really nice to treat her that way!”

“My religion,” he replies, “won’t permit me to

Not help her if I can. “ Say what?  Say who?

“I’m a Muslim,” he says.  I’m familiar, though

Have never read most holy books, Koran and so.

Shelters for our rest

Beds because we nest

Human needs have all of us

Life is what it means to trust.

Invest in a better life for you and your;

Be happy—can you, seeing pain and poor?

Does your religion let you accept it all?

Who do you have to make the call?

Little toes have everyone

Caring and a need for fun

Human needs of all of us

Life is what it means to trust.

Winter quick approaches here

Dark outside, cold people peer

From places warm? or temp housing—

Hearing sound of church bells ring.

It makes me feel enlivened when

I shake a hand and message send

I give some help for human needs;

Love is how contentment breeds.

Shelters for our rest 

Beds because we nest

Humanity is all of us—

Life is what it means to trust.

17. Wise Eyes

Seeing in the pond, “I’m beautiful,” she thinks. 

Her god has given to her a perfect right to drink.

Hunting with his tools, “I’m powerful,” he states.

“God gave me this talent; he must want me to mate.”

They’re Muslim.  Come along a Christian, born and bred.

He’s learned trauma and his sex fills him with dread.

A rational belief system, ‘cause God, who made us all,

Wants us to love in peace, use our hearts, not take a fall?

Oh, no, we must be careful of the female of the race:

We need to control her—make her mind, bind her in lace.

The very mom of Jesus had to be a sinless lass;

Born of mother virgin, to appease the sounding brass.

But customs are as customs do, and variable and so

Creatively invented—they don’t grow up from below

Or from on high.  It’s easy to assume yours are the best—

After all, they’re popular, we drink them at the breast.

Jesus came for helping, yet there are others to hear:

Mohammed and Baha’ullah don’t make love seem less dear.

The Christ did not preach pain, self-hate;

Stop flagellation!  Find a mate!

18. Rap After Sir Mix-A-Lot’s 1992 “Baby Got Back”

Lady Don’t Lack

We got big butts

And we will not lie

You other peoples

Might ask why

It’s how we’re made, we just size up–

We gonna fill your cup!

We so lovely you tearin’

You look and you can’t stop leerin’

That girl in the mirror smilin’

That fat on her backside pilin’!

In the butt we’re radical!

We be international!

We like our rear 

And we think we’re fine

Whoever made us 

Was sure tryin’!

Drivin’ to be livin’

Women got much fat

Drivin’ to be livin’

And we sure don’t lack!

We stick out in wide ways

I say we gonna get some lays

Cellulite is here to find?

Jigglin,’ sister, we don’t mind–

We beautiful!

We got big butts 

And we think we bad

They givin’ by our mom and dad!

Nobody who be less than cool

Will learn it all at this good school!

We love our butts 

And it’s so okay

Bitching about it’s yesterday

My body it ain’t yours for free

Unless you gonna respect me!

Lady don’t lack

Lady don’t lack

Decent folks find our form pleasin’

Nature made us for a reason!

Drivin’ to be livin’ 

And we got much fat

Drivin’ to be livin’

And we fine with that.

What is that in your head?  It’s corny!

That thought you got makes you too scorny!

Critic baby you may be

Well free your mind, y’all, say me!

Dial 1-800-FIX-A-LOT

And ditch those sexist thoughts!

Lady don’t lack!

19.  Chicago Connection

Rap after NWA’s “Express Yourself” and Above the Law’s “Freedom of Speech”

ARTEMIS

There’s been a lot of hiding and terrifying out there and I’ve never had the chance to tell anyone what way is up.  It’s time to dig reality.  I’m workin’ on me.  I’m tryin’ to

Connect myself…

People tell me I should

Express myself!”

(Be enlightening this geek will–

You’ll want to read the sequel!)

I’m expressin’ with my vulnerability

And I’m a comin’ from bipolarist virility.

I get sick of takin’ pills to self-deadicate;

I’m an ape and have biology to medicate.

With you I pledge to share my design–

And what I need to be more or less fine.

I’m connectin’ for my responsibility

Of livin’ in a world with human fra-ility

I make lovin’ thought with each embroidered stitch

My needle’s workin,’ I’m like a acupuncture witch!

The war now over, here’s what I’m gonna make—

My mind is free, it’s just like I’m gonna break

Dance in the street–I’m ‘a level with you:

My city’s real pretty but I’ll tell it what to do.

“Heal thyself” said the doctor by the name of Dre–

“First, do no harm—” We should be goin’ that way!

Connect myself…

Express myself…

Yeah, I’m a sewer and it’s time for relatin,’

Connectin’ the dots for the inundatin’

Of all us citizens–why, you wanna know?

I’ve been through the trial, wanna help our love to show.

Drugs have seen their day and ECT has, too;

There’s better stuff out there, we should see it through!

Just like that alternative energy tech–

Earth and our bodies need apology—heck!

Mental illness ain’t a place to dwell in long

Discrimination there’s the way to do it wrong;

Why attack with words and antiquated solution 

When all are in the boat of chemical pollution?

Be enlivening the meek will–

Come out and be our equal!

Connect ourselves!

Countin’ on my method, well, I think that I can do this

Though conventionals may say I’m lookin’ foolish.

I been healing–don’t criticize me;

Talk to me close up–look into my eyes–see?

I’m plannin’ a great world party!

Let’s get there now—we ain’t tardy!

It seems that a lot a us have depression.

Ain’t no surprise–but there’s a lesson

For us, it’s the consequences of messin’

With Nature–I do it too, I’m confessin,’

And holdin’ back our good hearts from each other,

Including our differently-abled brother,

And our poor sister, who ain’t got one dime–

The children, too!  Isn’t now the time?

They say, “express myself”?

—Respect myself?

In fifty years, doctor billing will catch up with news.

But by then our health and compassion will lose!

We just have no trust in all but the painful–

Big medical treatment is often disdainful!

Bodies a universal language for all to hear—

Don’t go drownin’ in your beer!

Some don’t agree with my unique approaches:

I stay away from illicit drugs and roaches,

Cause they make a sister foolish–

I need all of my body parts to do this!

A fancy degree?  Well, I lack it.

I got style though, but others will attack it!

It’s scary to me, the form of folks out in the cold for the norm but I’m warm!

Connect myself…

Respect myself!

Lookin’ at the mirror;

No reason to fear ‘er!

I want to put Libertyville on the map;

My mid-U. S. hometown’s the source of my rap

Tom Morello and I be there on the crew

We be Illinoisan if we can’t reach you!

Why I got to be here, talking so much,

Stitchin’ and preachin,’ and tryin’ to touch

You, neighbor, acquaintance, ‘cause you tellin’ me

That we needin’ help?  Yeah, this I can see!

Don’t let your bad contort us,

‘Cause it could abort us!

Like is the U. S. just a correctional facility?

‘Cause I’m concerned with our psyches’ mobility:

I see talent that’s been wasted extreme;

WPA-like’s what I dream.

There’s methods around that would solve people’s problems–

Whether they be Jews, Christians, or Moslems–

Why they be in hiding

When they could be guiding?

This woman’s got to criticize two or ten–

There’s stuff going down and it’s hurting a friend–

He can’t do painting when there’s shooting outside:

How will he feel some pride?

Fifty stars on the flag, but the actors are soakin’

Up the blues of addiction while their nannies are jokin’

“See you in rehab,” say the rich girls and males

“See you in prison,” say the poor, “in the jails.”

Just take it around U. S. country and then

Go further and learn, and then listen and when

You see with your heart like I have done that soon

All people are one and we need the same tune:

To express ourselves,

Connect ourselves,

Respect ourselves!

People call it wise when you sharin’ the truth

‘Cause how you gonna be when you don’t have youth?

Is there gonna be a future for you or for me?

‘Cause we closin’ our eyes, and we just don’t see.

For many a muted voice here do I speak–

Chicago’s my home and the strong and the weak

Are both humbled by Lake and sidewalk and poor– 

Those who aren’t lazy but can’t find a door.

My thinking is different, my projects, they rock me,

Though many would see my appearance and mock me

Yet I live inside this big body of mine

And I say to you that conditions are fine

That here in this brick house, this person can count

The goodnesses that to her heart and it’s fount

Have been from the brave world extended and so

Are making it right for my virtues to grow.

(Some people say that my whole self is arty.

I want to hear them, smarty!)

See a therapist, yeah, this is what I do, 

And make some inner working break the hold on you.

See society, and then take a look at the world–

Help the Planet get the Earth flag unfurled!

I want to teach citizens and educate

See, females are now in the ring–are you late?

I ask bulls**** prevention for the future date

For expressin’ myself and improvin’ our fate!

I need some good fuel to live in peace.

Touching and home-cooked food are my grease,

And love from my tan man to make me create:

3-, 2-D and rhymin,’ my medicine’s great!

Unfortunately, in my present condition,

To function I make an unwelcome addition:

Yeah, I’m taking drugs, though I don’t like to do it,

But these days, sanity—they get me to brew it.

Sooner or later I may find my peak—

Instead of the drugs, Alexander Technique—

“The Body Has Its Reasons”—so, my body, speak!

I want to hear me, from howl to squeak!

Am I but alone in the law of the land?

My arms are but two–is there but one more hand?

Let’s hear from the people whose voices are few—

From the tens, and the hundreds, the millions, and you!

Express yourself, baby!

Please, do it—no maybe!

Friendly folks are reachin’ out to meet us, true,

So welcome to the start—celebrate the heart! 

Connect yourself, respect yourself—express yourself:

Elect yourself to Artemis and heal our part!

American

Recovery

Team

Ecological

Muse

International

Synthesis!

20. Peace

Peace doesn’t come from quietude,

From standing like a tree;

Creation is its action mood,

So set the spirit free!

21. Blissful

Blissful is everything—

the nouns and the verbs.

Even the predicates follow their hearts.

We realize with eyes some, 

with fingers others,

with love singing through the air others still.

But who are we, in happiness?

Why and wherefore do we this and that, making babies?

Tell us, please—if not in love, where are we?

22. Recess

Now let that I have said it here

Be evidence for more—

Americans are feeling how

Our culture makes us sore:

Sore when we build up the strong cult

Of power, and then just

Watch that great strength start to break down

The gentlest hearts, and us.

By rejecting a large part—

Its Nature—the U. S. has

Both lied to all and turned away its

Very soul—its jazz!

See, people, we cry out and cheer

When Michael Jordan moves,

Yet we don’t let on to the fact

All humans need to groove—

We evolved to exercise, 

To move our bodies, stroll;

Our ancestors were great walkers;

This sitting takes its toll!

John Kenneth Galbraith said,

“The ideas by which people…in measure guide their 

behavior were not forged in a world of wealth.”

He’s dead,

But John’s words seems to echo

What we know from science books:

Our heritage is that of schemer,

Not so much of rich-folk’s looks.Let’s learn about our past, 

For learning often is the key

That, combined with dreaming,

Brings a better home to be.

“Imagination is more important than knowledge,”

Einstein thought.

I’m telling you that we need both;

To help our Earth we ought!

A position that supports us in 

Naturally unfolding will

Find great rewards from those it serves,

Will hear no voice be still.

Teams are a great way of working—

A true solution, fostering friends.

Creativity’s for me

Not only means, but happy ends.

The ideas of rich and poor,

The leveling of their wealth,

So all contribute to the world,

Would bring great results!  Stealth

It seems, so simple! but

Fine work for you and me.

With wonder as a cornerstone,

We’ll build to set us free!

But look we should into the past,

So we can get inspired.

The task is grand and we must plan

For a natural kind of wired,

That to one another.  Hey,

You—man, woman, Turk or Norse—

It’s time to play with each other, For our kids’ lives, of course!

We be!

C. Jenny Walbridge 

January 4, 2022

My Method

Mentally

IL

Good Neighbor Posse

Clutterbusting Team

meets

Interior Decoration!

Meanwhile, This Wild, Sweet Person Loves Bees!

Bees, fruitful,

multiplied by

devoted framers,

constitutional 

lawn-paintings of 

swords into snowblowers!

Save Us—We Be!

Wee bees, needy sweeties

Love um 

House em

Home um

Tree honey Forest money Selling candy Capitalist fantasy

Roamin’ buzzin’ flyin’ homin’ 

Insex: we love like em

Help!  Care for our buddies, our workers, our Queens!  

The future rides upon bees’ wings—Yikes!

The website leasehoney.com states: “Bees pollinate crops such as apples, cranberries, melons, almonds, and broccoli. Fruits like blueberries and cherries are 90% dependent on honey bee pollination, and during bloom time, almonds depend entirely on honey bees for pollination.

“The fruits and vegetables you eat on a daily basis are also made possibly by honey bee pollination, including but not limited to watermelons, pumpkins, squashes, zucchinis, lentils, tomatoes, strawberries, mangos, avocados, plums, peaches, apricots, pomegranates, pears, blackberries, raspberries, grapes, peanuts, macadamia nuts, mustard seeds, coconuts, soybeans, and coffee.”

treehugger.com states of bees that “Their work means that coffee plants produce 20-25 percent more fruit.  That extra production can mean the difference between a small farmer making enough profit to support his family and his family not being able to eat.  And because about 80 percent of the coffee we drink is grown by people running small coffee-growing businesses, keeping bee populations healthy matters to both producer and consumer.”  This from “How Bees, Coffee and Climate Change Are Inextricably Linked,” by Starre Vartan.

This makes me think of a few things.  Firstly, doesn’t the Bible have God giving Nature to humans to tend like a garden?  To rape, plantation style, including slave labor?  No, that’s not what it says.  

I came from a place transitioning from rural to suburb—Libertyville, Illinois, an hour by train from Chicago.  Our hundred acres were planted with various and sundry fruits, nuts, vegetables and crops.  We had a large grass lawn, but there was a wild field (“the pig lot”) and there were wild spaces, nurturing rabbits, groundhogs, opossums, raccoons, the crayfish that lived in the basement, etc.  I only got stung once by a bee or a wasp—I had put my hand into a pile of cut grass, its temporary home, so was not resentful.  

Point being, I know how rich complexity can be, and how much work it is to tend a garden.  But I also feel how deadly an environment can be when reduced to simplicity; just like racial composition for humans, communities need to be integrated.  A natural environment is often composed of many families (insect and human; dandelion and oak; bird of many feathers, including raptors, and small mammals—overlapping in their life cycles), but when reduced to the simplicity of one species caring so much to win against nature that it will poison its own countrymen, the pickers of the food crops, with insecticides, even—get this—as it relies on insects to pollinate it, I worry.  I feel in myself the sentiment that American poet Robert Frost relates in “Mending Wall,” “Something there is that does not love a wall.”( https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44266/mending-wall )

My last name is Walbridge, and I hope I can live up to it!  A fellow “Jen” of mine, Gen. Hiram Walbridge of New York, a congressman, in January 1865 gave a speech to his colleagues regarding slavery, and why it should be stopped—it was “on the proposed amendment to the federal Constitution forever prohibiting slavery in the United States: delivered before the Committee on Federal Relations, in the Assembly Chamber of New York”.  He suggested that, odious as slavery has been perceived by Europeans, if the North of the USA didn’t get rid of it, maybe the South would first.  It would be in their interest to then make commercial trading deals with other countries.  

I don’t know about you, but I am an ape.  I like to say that I’m a great ape, ha ha ha, and am similar to a bonobo.  My friends, the African great apes—chimpanzees, gorillas, bonobos—are under attack by this world, and this concerns me.  “In recent history,” according to treehugger.com, “Can We Save Africa’s Great Apes?” by Mary JoDiLonardo, “we have seen significant declines in all great ape populations and their natural habitat…Habitat loss is caused by the extraction of natural resources through commercial logging, mining, conversion of forests to make way for large-scale agricultural plantations or other human development activities like roads and infrastructure, all of which encroach on great ape habitat.”  The great apes are extremely cute when they are youngsters.  Bonobos have amazing behavior patterns, see below.  Plus, they have hair on their heads that is parted in the middle, like me.  This is the amazing thing: when they are stressed out, they have sex.  God made them!  Do you think we should be learning here?  

To the Class of ’21

To the High School Class of ’21

from C. Jenny Walbridge

I wrote this speech with my “Judgement Free Zone” pen.

It’s from some planet fitness thing.  Now’s when

I’m comin’ from the future, makin’ a stand

Talkin’ of art and healthy in this land,

And sea emocean true.  I notice that you grew

Now, we be needin’ your peace signs, too!

My love life, ‘cause I have dignity,

Depends on you having fun.  Here, see,

This state, this world, where we be living,

You and me.  I’m okay giving,

Though I need you motivated 

To pay attention: you’re not dated.

We can care likewise for Earth

While I’m alive, and give you birth.

Lemme just share a couple things

I found out—they might give you wings!

From an artist these words coming,

Who studied peoples, not be dumbing,

Learning all about the others

In the world, our sisters, brothers.

My life is performance art…

Is yours, too?  That’s a good start!

Using all the rainbow hues—

Love is wise—that’s my good news.

You can make your body wild

Just like when you were a child

But document your progress, so

You can see just how you grow.

A skateboard sticker I have goes,

“GREEN IS GOoD.”  (Seedless should know.)

Not cash green!  I now suggest

We give our nature here a rest:

Each day, dance for all and me—

Surprise us—creativity!

No one needs to waste away.

‘If not fun, why done?’ I say.

Science tells us the best way

Most inventive, now, is play!

Sitting versus dancing, here—

Make the world reject fear!

Our planet wants to be known

As a kind place, be a safe home

To stay and dine, without rapine—

(Grabbing others, saying ‘They’re mine.’)

A-R-T ’s in Earth—so, get it?

Grow up, go save your life with it!

Make some noise with pots and pans—

You can grow some grown-up plans!

Makin’ music—olders like it—

Givin’ hope—don’t drive but bike it.

Get tattoos if you need ‘em, whitey,

Browns, you, too, can be delightey.

What’s the rhythm of the game? 

Lust is love, they are the same.

Appreciation, courtesy,

Are cool—they make humans to be

Friendly, optimistic, free

To help each other up.  You see?