Monday, September 24, 2012

Chicken Scratch Airing on Olelo October 3, 2012

Disclaimer:
This video has raw footage of an unrehearsed poetry event.  It is a LIVE performance!
There were no rehearsals; except for the Chicken Dance  which was staged before filming. The special guests are not paid.
In that spirit, I am pleased and inspired to launchChicken Scratch: Bridging the Gap/ A Poultry Poetry Slam http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ccXIgfIgEY
Airing on Olelo in October
10/3/12  11:00-12:00 pm channel  49
10/4/12  8:00-9:00 am   channel 49
10/5/12 3:30-4:00 pm  channel 52

Chicken Scratch:Bridging the Gap, a Poultry Poetry Slam


**Extra special Mahalo to Professor Bob Barclay from Windward Community College's Journalism Department for loaning us Rain Bird's  Mascot- Katsu! We couldn't have done our chicken dance without him! ROCK ON!!


"I would like to dedicate this video to all the men and women still suffering from Addiction. We can all use some help now and again, sometimes it comes from friends and family, sometimes from a stranger, reminding me of the old series Highway to Heaven starring Michael Landon; the life you touch may be your own. I'm leaving my light on." ~Cornelia  Connie D. DeDona

Saturday, August 11, 2012

Las Vegas 2012



Lost Wages
Sin City
The Ninth Island
to us
Hawaii islanders
you gotta love it!
It’s the only place where you can
WIN BIG MONEY
and come away with all sorts of vices.
I mean if Jesus had that kind of pull,
the Republicans would be leading in the polls.

Over the last thirty five years,
I’ve been there at least a dozen times
probably more
only some of those times
I don’t want to talk about
if you get my drift

The dry heat
is another benefit
It’s the only place
that women my age
actually pay money to get to
and then spend more money
to moisturize through.


The top seller this year  is NAIL ART
for the low, low price
of $169.00
you can give yourself nail tattoos
AND DO YOUR OWN NAILS.
I mean for a child of the sixties that is HUGE!
I can actually paint my own `effin designs and flowers and GET THIS,
give myself a FRENCH MANICURE in like
FOUR DIFFERENT COLORS!
I have to admit
I was beside myself,
but I told all those pretty young girls and guys
wearing the painted nails
gold leaf togas and collagen
that I would have to get back to them.
FACE it,
I said to myself in the mirror
back at the hotel room
THERE IS NO MAGIC CURE TO AGING
If Ponce de Léon couldn’t find it in Florida
I would BET
it sure as hell ain’t in the desert.

What they DO HAVE lots of is DESSERT!

Desserts that come in all shapes and sizes
and then there’s the FOOD.
If all the homeless people in the world went to VEGAS,
it would solve the hunger problem.
DON”T TELL MONSANTO!
The locals already know this
that’s why they have signs that say:
I’ll admit it--I need a BEER.
These people are not stupid.

My excuse is
I love the shows.

This year we saw
Celine Dion,
and I bought a T-shirt,
The Jersey Boys
I bought a T-shirt,
AND
ABSINTHE,
and I took pictures
and bought
the raunchy underwear!
VEGAS, baby!

Next year I’m
visiting FAMILY
because frankly
all this
human trafficking
indulgence
and disgusting SEX
is exhausting!

Friday, July 27, 2012

Remembering High School


Remembering High School

We asked for birth control
they gave us crowd control.
We blew their minds
rewrote the rules
retraced the chalk lines
FAR the FUCK OUT
Can you dig it?

We grew up with Nixon, Tricky Dick
Bob, Carol, Ted and Alice
We explored our feelings, ignored curfews
experimented with drugs, sex, rock and roll
So sure
we could change the world
hanging out
in our string bikinis
down by the town pool
drenched in iodine and baby oil
SO RED,
SO BROWN,
SO COOL.

Here’s to
hanging out
on the wall in front the High School
checking it out
as streakers flashed by
as red necks chased queers for fun
to draftees sent to `Nam with a gun
from the hippie that dodged to Canada and split
to the trailer trash DICK-- screwing jailbait chicks
naïve chicks
that bought the white picket lie
and snatched a rotten slice
of  the American pie.

Here’s to Peace
the Beatles, the Rolling Stones
the fuel rationing in ‘73
the boy who stole our heart in September
the one they drafted in November
when we were so groovy, gullible.

Here's to the good old days
chilling at THE WELL
the local dive
where we danced past two with Three Dog Night
and got over on the old man and old lady
MAN-- they were SO UPTIGHT!


Here's to
forging excuses
detention with good old Mr. C. 
Here's to cold dead frogs best not inhaled
but if you must
only after the LSD and beer keg chaser.

Here’s to
smoking Marlboro red
inhaling
Pizza and Diet Coke
Hamburgers and Diet Coke
Chilidogs and Diet Coke

Here’s to cold
white-faced corpses
sixteen and seventeen
on the DRUNK and HIGH-way to graduation
from FUCKING HIGH SCHOOL.

Here’s to
Dream on
Sock it to me
Black Panther pride

In Your Face
Mood rings
New York East Side

Here’s to
belly buttons, bell bottoms
and gold pierced lobes
two inch heels,

and that was the guys,

banana seats
and hip-hugging roads
miles and miles
of tall dense pine
poking
through third eye mind
learning to deal, as life unwinds.


Flash forward
here we are
in our fifties
fighting
our bulging hips and waistlines
thinning hairlines
CANCER
Finding Jesus
poking
through the dumpster
high on Spice
fresh out of fish and followers.

Now I ask you, is this expanding your consciousness?

Because If it is
I want to roll over and consider
the psychedelic spider web in my brain

or better yet

the really huge one
on top of the kitchen cabinet

reconsider the pros and cons
the gravity of my CHOICES
explore my inner Zen voice, some more.
So I’m asking JESUS,
what’s it all about
tell it to me straight, I can handle it!
BTW Man, are you done bogarting that joint?

I’m just saying…

Our Route 66, our Highway to Heaven, our Good Times
our COOL, our COPACETIC, our CRAZY
we DID define!

Can you dig it?
©Connie DeDona 7-25-12

Sunday, July 8, 2012

Chicken Scratch:Bridging the Gap A Poultry/Poetry Slam






Chicken Scratch: is Poetry, Dance, Music and just plain FUN!! 

"Why did the Chickens cross the Bridge? To get to the Poultry Slam, of course!" 
"Why do Chickens scratch dirt? Concrete is too hard on their nails" ~ Connie DeDona

Chicken Scratch is also a PSA on GM (genetically modified) food

Protect yourself; YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT!! Choose Non-GM food
There are four major GM foods: soy, corn, cottonseed, and canola. They entered our food supply about 12 years ago and are likely contributing to the deteriorating health of Americans. Without any human clinical trials or post-marketing surveillance, we can't tell which declining health statistic may be due to these foods. But we also can't afford to wait to find out. GM foods must be removed from our diet now. To learn which foods are genetically modified and how better to protect yourselves, visit:http://www.ResponsibleTechnology.org

Saturday, June 9, 2012

Good Old Anger


Live not for Battles Won.
Live not for The-End-of-the-Song.
Live in the along.
Gwendolyn Brooks
The Pulitzer winner was born on this day in 1917.



Good Old Anger

I do know this
that’s 
never going to happen.

We can write about it
until Venus comes back
but basically
we are a warring race
of mother fuckers
and there is no getting around it.

We will be fighting
raging
and 
shoving our fists
down each other’s throats
until the end of time,
WHY?
Because it’s profitable

And because LOVE
doesn’t enter into the equation.
SURE 
we know about love 
we hold it up
we show it off
we share it 

We read about it.
Wonderfully pithy
aphorisms are written every day
to make you feel 
all warm and fuzzy.

We draw it as we see it 
or from memory
because we need
to measure it 
but then we lose faith 
we forget that it’s still there.

We need to keep checking it 
to analyze it
for weak spots.

Its good old anger
that gets you through the rough patches
Anger
bitterness
and irony
is how we do battle 
to overcome those demons
that come trekking 
out of the dark places
the swamp
trekking their mud
across your brand new white rug
caring
not at all
about how much you LOVE that rug
or about how this may
alter the grand scheme
of your Zen-ness
NOPE!

So it’s going to have be
anger 
that wedges its size seven wide
down your craw
and takes the crowbar
and uses it to open up your eff’n cranium
you sick twisted
bastard.

How’s that
for being in the 
ALONG?

Thursday, May 24, 2012

Chicken Speak--To Be Or Not To Be


TO BE OR NOT TO BE
that is the question.
Whether tis nobler to walk
on egg shells
or rather
to boldly strut
cock fierce.

To plant one foot in the hen house
and the other
at the foxes lair
exhibiting
super Gumby
flexibility
and strength.

Or to simply roost
in the nearest Mango tree
dreaming
of Iowa corn fields
sinewy stalks
crunchy kernels
liberally sprinkled
with red lipped white grubs.

And to fertilize
with flair
that extra special egg
the one
that stands out from the rest.

The good egg

that breaks the mold
that breaks wind
with a certain HEN NA SAIS QUOI!

That one egg
that exemplifies
everything
chicken.

That one egg
that the others
defer to
when things get
scrambled.

That one egg
that flies in the face of
adversity
and comes out
smelling
like a ham.

Thursday, May 3, 2012

Fresh Meat




We
and I say this loosely
who start anew
later in life
like in our 50’s
realize the ramifications
of our actions
but we proceed into deep space anyway.
We press on with resolve and courage
because we know
that time
keeps running ahead
and the best that we can do is
try to keep up.
Call me
fearless
and something other than normal.

I just need
to go over the hurdles
a little slower
and every once in awhile
I enjoy
a good swift kick
to get me started
because the doubters
bring big suitcases
build shells
then like to tuck them
into deep niches and hang out
demanding telescopes and mirrors
with plenty of extra batteries
to focus beyond the present
into the blacker than black void
to ping in mathematical sequences
and then to listen
with a bit of trepidation
for some sign of intelligence and wit
so they can  share
the miracle of
a verse
or some meaty prose
with their friends. 

Not forgetting  the remnant
who exist in the outer reaches of space and time
who are voracious  for new material.
who act as if they have not heard a good story
in eons.

The ancient ones
who have endured
for centuries
like birds of prey
on dry carrion
who will continue to exist
long after
our dusty bones
lie frozen
on a cold dead planet
hurtling through space.

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