Before the Garden

by M. James Cooper 

Love is paradise before paradise was imagined or given form.

In it we forget to cherish it, out of it we envy the ones within, hoping they make room for us or invite us in.

But this utopia is fad, or dream or illusion or something intangible and crafted from our imaginations, where color is too vivid, dimensions flat, and inflexible. 

If I am wrong and there is a heaven resembling this world I want to go. 

And yes I want it to be a better version, alternate in some but not all ways. 

I want dirt to stain and rain to fall and streets not paved with gold less I fall. 

Ill intentioned men, hungry eyes, unnecessary friction and hands with no healing the old world can keep. 

I want more love, for love is my paradise envisioned.

Second Time Around: Ode to follicles and strands I could not keep

 by M. James Cooper

My crown is now loc'd upon my head and I am satisfied.

Satisfied with the way it is and the way it looks and the ways it could be. No slipping through my fingers, no easy breezy flow.

Twisted, knotted, shinned and ready to make matted matters, because I and you matter brother and sister, we always did. I, and you too, wear the crown. 

Friend or Foe

by M. James Cooper 

You heard what I said.

You heard what I said.

Yes, you heard what I said.

Laying next to me,

Strolling beside me,

Tortured by the same things that make me mad.

You know what words mean.

You know what words mean.

Yes, you know what my words mean,

Choosing not to hear them

Not wanting to see me

Not caring to know me.

You are complicit, and I want to know why?

Lore 

by M. James Cooper 

My art is a kind of letter, a word, a script filled with names & places & situations. 

My art has a Title, an Author & Voice. It allows for interpretation & desires attention, but, you must bring your own imagination. 

My art does not want you to stare at its pretty colors & delicate lines, it demands a taste for dialects & places and creatures you never heard of. 

My art floats like an island, it burns under radiant sun & makes you wonder, makes you yearn for more after there are no more pages left to turn.

For Future and Fortune

by M. James Cooper 

...in the name of religion, power and rightness: Colonists, Missionaries, Enslavers, The KKK, Jim Crow, Apartheid, Separate but not equal, Jihad, ISIS, Boko Haram etc...

It is time to put down your holy texts, if even for a while. Put down your swords and your guns. Unclench your fists and let your prayer manifest, let peace take the place of war, in the name of...