The Nomadic Scroll ~ XII

[The Oasis Executive Staff]

The Nomadic Scroll

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Volume XII~ September 1, 2008

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Greetings From the Administration

Peace Poets,

Happy Anniversary Oasis!!! We made it through the first of many to come! We would like to thank Everyone for helping in making this a true Oasis for Nomadic Poets! There are so many new additions some of you may have noticed, and some you might not have:

Oasis Mood Music has been added to enhance your poetic experience with us! Just click Enter directly below our banner to indulge in your choice of Neo-Soul, R&B, Jazz, Hip-Hop, and Spoken-Word! Selections will be updated daily. Feel free to post your mood in your profile! Go to "Modify Profile". Scroll down until you see "Mood" in Personal Information, and share with us how you're feeling! We also hope you like the new emoticons. Find it easy to upload pics directly to your posts with our new imageshack uploader, located right above your message screen. Please join in our discussions in the newly renovated Socrates Circle. Be on the lookout for new, and exciting additions to The Oasis Lounge as the month progresses! We would also like to welcome MicheleThePoetess to the Oasis Executive Staff!


Congratulations to all the nominees for Poet of the Year:

Dasuntoucha

Lotus Lion

MaryJaneBurns

Poeticrebellion

She


And the winner is:


DASUNTOUCHA

***Look for our upcoming interview with Dasuntoucha in The Oasis Files

Happy Anniversary Oasis Family!

Peace and Blessings,

Hidden Poetress & WlkWlk3 (Administrators)

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Please visit The Oasis on Myspace, The Oasis on Facebook, & The Oasis on Black Planet, and add us to your friends list!

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The Oasis Executive Staff's Scribe of the Month

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Scribed by: Dasuntoucha

Almost...

The dreams and visions become stronger everyday. I can see grassland and tree lines covering a vast area where wildlife and man peacefully coexist in a sun drenched oasis. I see elders teaching the young while me and other men of our village fight against invaders that attempt to destroy our paradise. The celebration of our victory brought together villages from far and wide. The memory of happy faces, jollof rice, and the taste of yam fu fu forever teases my senses and taste buds.

Even though I was born in this new land as a slave, my subconscious takes me back to mama Afrika frequently. These cotton fields and threats can only hold me for so long. Now that sister Ann has started to teach us to secretly read, it’s like something has been awoken in me that I can’t explain. All I know is I need to be free. I make a plan for escape when the moon is highest and will follow the path set by the stars. I would tell others but they fear this thing called “freedom”, a word I have come to cherish with all my heart and soul.

I gather some warm clothes and a few scraps of food and as the cover of night comes, I go. First quietly creeping through brush and woods, then when I can no longer see the moonlit roofs of the shacks, I run faster than I ever ran before, not stopping for anything. If this is what freedom feels like then I will never stop running.

Unfortunately while my dreams can survive without food and water, my body cannot. I rest at a clearing by a spring. I almost choke trying to replenish my thirst, as the euphoria of being free causes me to drop to my knees and thank the ancestors for pointing me in the right direction.

My knee hits something hard…what’s this? An empty glass bottle. Ms Ann read us a story about a message in a bottle, so out of elation, I take out a scrap of paper, cut my finger and write on it, FREEDOM. I place the note in the bottle and find the top. I stand up and begin to toss it into the water hoping it will reach the ancestors when suddenly a hot piece of lead tears though my back and exits out my chest.

Another one hits my knee, shattering it, and causing me to violently hit the ground face first. I don’t move because I already know my fate. As the coldness of the gun barrel brushes up against my temple, I see something that I never saw before…a lone snowflake…not falling to the ground but riding on the breeze almost free.
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Oasis Spoken Word of the Month:

AOMuse

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voudoun priestess
whispering magic
gris gris sachets
behind husky alto
possessing my limbs
twisting tendons
and ligaments
into a frenzy
stretching
cardiac
muscle
that it might accept
each slow injection
of her holy water
birth me
a sun moon child
hum me ishi
in meditative tones
lead me alone
in wilderness
with knowledge
that i may always
return
om

wash my face
in indigo soul
make me
Krishna blue black
Ausar resurrected
Buddha enlightened
siphon off the pain
from the gas tank
of my soul
give me the fuel
i require
to rise up and go
break apart
my heart beat
with an ill placed snare
unnerve my being
with an unwavering stare
pierce my transparency
and call it insufficient
for one who deems himself
a devotee
until my gyrations
crush flesh and bone
and my motion
originates
from a place
soul deep
kiss me with
a screeching yell
bathe me
in the baptism
of your Banshee
call upon someone
to cry
today i died
like a Bennu bird
consumed by flames
surrounding
the opera house
as i danced
into ecstasy

ashestothewind!

the aoishi

Congratulations to the Hungriest Lions in The Den!

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1. Spirit 10-8 (Long Live The New King!)

2. Ol' Skool 5-6

3. WLK3 9-12

4. R.E.T.S. 2-5

5. Echo 1-6/Ms.Jones 1-6[/center][/font]

Congratulations to Our Four-Play Champions!

1. DreamCatcher, Flobo, & Spirit (Challenge 17: Women)

2. Journey & SexiBrownSkin (Challenge 18: Promises)

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We had some prolific pen pushing last month fam! Let's keep it blazing!!

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Board Of The Month

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Socrates Circle

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Have you been to the Socrates Circle? Have you been there lately? Speak on topics including Politics, Religion, Race Relations,or just the mystery of life. Come in and speak your mind!
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Straight From the Headlines!!!

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Gustav turns Big Easy into Big Empty

***Curfew set, looters warned; hurricane set to hit Louisiana on Monday***

NEW ORLEANS - With a historic evacuation of nearly 2 million people from the Louisiana coast complete, gun-toting police and National Guardsmen stood watch as rain started to fall on this city's empty streets Sunday night. Even presidential politics took a back seat as the nation waited to see if Hurricane Gustav would be another Katrina.

The storm was set to crash ashore late Monday morning, testing the three years of planning and rebuilding that followed Katrina's devastating blow to the Gulf Coast. The storm has already killed at least 94 people on its path through the Caribbean.

Painfully aware of the failings that led to much suffering and about 1,600 deaths three years ago, this time officials moved beyond merely insisting tourists and residents leave south Louisiana. They threatened arrest, loaded thousands onto buses and warned that anyone who remained behind would not be rescued.

"Looters will go directly to jail. You will not get a pass this time," Mayor Ray Nagin said. "You will not have a temporary stay in the city. You will go directly to the Big House."

Col. Mike Edmondson, state police commander, said he believed that 90 percent of the population had fled the Louisiana coast. The exodus of 1.9 million people is the largest evacuation in state history, and thousands more had left from Mississippi, Alabama and flood-prone southeast Texas.

Late Sunday, Gov. Bobby Jindal issued one last plea to the roughly 100,000 people still left on the coast: "If you've not evacuated, please do so. There are still a few hours left."

Louisiana and Mississippi temporarily changed traffic flow so all highway lanes led away from the coast, and cars were packed bumper-to-bumper. Stores and restaurants shut down, hotels closed and windows were boarded up. Some who planned to stay changed their mind at the last second, not willing to risk the worst.

"I was trying to get situated at home. I was trying to get things so it would be halfway safe," said 46-year-old painter Jerry Williams, who showed up at the city's Union Station to catch one of the last buses out of town. "You're torn. Do you leave it and worry about it, or do you stay and worry about living?"

There were frightening comparisons between Gustav and Katrina, which flooded 80 percent of New Orleans. Gustav was forecast to bring with it a storm surge of up to 14 feet, but there was no doubt the storm posed a major threat to a partially rebuilt New Orleans and the flood-prone coasts of Louisiana and southeast Texas.







What are your thoughts? Speak on it in Straight From The Headlines located in the Oasis Lounge.

Feedback & Questions

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If you have any questions, concerns, or feedback, please contact any one of the Executive Staff, and we will be more than happy to assist you. Thanks to each of you for making each day in the Oasis an amazing poetic journey!

Peace and Blessings,

Hidden Poetress~ (Administrator)
WlkWlk3~ (Administrator)
Babygirl~ (Global Moderator)
Ol' Skool~ (Global Moderator)
Poetic Rebellion~ (Global Moderator)
Michele The Poetess~ (Moderator)
StarChasr~ (Moderator)[/font]