Aberjhani Quotes

The death of a dream can in fact serve as the vehicle that endows it with new form, with reinvigorated substance, a fresh flow of ideas, and splendidly revitalized color. In short, the power of a certain kind of dream is such that death need not indicate finality at all but rather signify a metaphysical and metaphorical leap forward. ~ Aberjhani

The fact that an African American sits in the White House at the helm of government in the United States of America on this 150th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation represents both phenomenal political symbolism and a victory of faith in democracy that should not be lost on any American. ~ Aberjhani

The dancing vortex of a sacred metaphor clashes horns and halos to make wounded music set to the tempo of a new era in brilliant labor. ~ Aberjhani

Know yourself fearlessly (even quietly) for all the things you are. ~ Aberjhani

What can bombs know of the illuminated fields so golden with heaven in your heart's sacred lands? ~ Aberjhani

Unless you are here: this garden refuses to exist.
Pink dragonflies fall from the air
and become scorpions scratching blood out of rocks.
The rainbows that dangle upon this mist: shatter.
Like the smile of a child separated
from his mother's milk for the very first time.
from poem Blood and Blossoms ~ Aberjhani

I called it a baptism in flaming ink that forced me to shed my shyness about recognizing myself as a poet and to accept the fact that life had never given me any choice in the matter. And then I had to discover exactly what that meant. ~ Aberjhani

Quote words that affirm all men and women are your brothers and sisters. ~ Aberjhani

The same hot lightning that burns your blood with passion–– cools your fears with peace. ~ Aberjhani

The instinct to tell our children that they are better than someone else's children, based on nothing more than the color of their skin, is now a fossilized aberration that serves no useful purpose. ~ Aberjhani

From her gospel-singing mother Cissy Houston, her legendary pop-diva cousin Dionne Warwick, and her Queen of Soul godmother Aretha Franklin, she [Whitney Houston] inherited gifts for skillfully interpreting lyrics and endowing them with new depth and jeweled nuance. ~ Aberjhani

The literary artist lends verbal depth to the visual. The visual artist provides visible articulation for the literary. ~ Aberjhani

The pursuit of excellence with unrestrained passion can lead to the accomplishment of wonders with unsurpassed joy. ~ Aberjhani

Peace is not so much a political mandate as it is a shared state of consciousness that remains elevated and intact only to the degree that those who value it volunteer their existence as living examples of the same ... Peace ends with the unraveling of individual hope and the emergence of the will to worship violence as a healer of private and social dis-ease. ~ Aberjhani

Now come the whispers bearing bouquets of moonbeams and sunlight tremblings. ~ Aberjhani

I place my fingers upon these keys typing 2,000 dreams per minute and naked of spirit dance forth my cosmic vortex upon this crucifix called language. ~ Aberjhani

Learning to cultivate an awareness of the known and unknown within one's being often leads to a healthier and more realistic sense of self. ~ Aberjhani

While many people like the idea of exercising unconditional love, most eventually find it too draining and impossible to sustain, often because the attempt to practice it is misunderstood, discouraged, brought under attack, or made a target of willful abuse. As sad as it may be to admit, in our modern world people are far more accustomed to hearing news of war, genocide, murder, disasters, famine, and disease than they are to hearing anything about acts of love or grace. ~ Aberjhani

Passion presented with a greater challenge achieves a greater goal.
from The Sexual Side of Spirituality ~ Aberjhani

Aberjhani is an award-winning poet who is featured in our first DREAM REACHERS book. An awesome talent. ~ Betty Dravis

As goes love so goes life. ~ Aberjhani

And therein shines one major definition of what it meant to be Clinton D. Powell: someone who looked for, trusted in, and helped empower (if you will) the best in others. It takes a lot of beautiful love, uncommon sincerity, and spitfire courage to do that. ~ Aberjhani

History dressed up in the glow of love's kiss turned grief into beauty. ~ Aberjhani

Just above our terror, the stars painted this story in perfect silver calligraphy. And our souls, too often abused by ignorance, covered our eyes with mercy. ~ Aberjhani

President Obama appears to me to have elevated and implemented the artist-activist concept to the role of empowered servant-leader ... ~ Aberjhani

Even when muddy your wings sparkle bright wonders that heal broken worlds. ~ Aberjhani

Then came the healing time, hearts started to shine, soul felt so fine, oh what a freeing time it was. ~ Aberjhani

Within the universe of the extraordinary, those qualities we designate to human concepts of gender are often shared, exchanged, or even completely obliterated. Because of this mixture of traits, these twins called Genius and Madness often appear to be the same thing. They both have a tendency to blur the lines of what we call norms, or established reality. They both, when we study that grand tapestry known as history and modern-day society, tend to stand out in much bolder relief than other figures.
from Dancing with Madness, Dancing with Genius ~ Aberjhani

Beauty from another world gave birth to your voice
sent to rescue scorned hearts from traumatized nights. ~ Aberjhani

Searching for a mind long lost I found it shaping colors and history near the cliffs of your heart. ~ Aberjhani

True lovers earn their genius in schools of blood, prophecy and dust. ~ Aberjhani

When we vote we participate in the construction of a context ... ~ Aberjhani

A bridge of silver wings stretches from the dead ashes of an unforgiving nightmare to the jeweled vision of a life started anew. ~ Aberjhani

The image titled "The Homeless, Psalm 85:10," featured on the cover of ELEMENTAL, can evoke multiple levels of response. They may include the spiritual in the form of a studied meditation upon the multidimensional qualities of the painting itself; or an extended contemplation of the scripture in the title, which in the King James Bible reads as follows: "Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other." The painting can also inspire a physical response in the form of tears as it calls to mind its more earth-bound aspects; namely, the very serious plight of those who truly are homeless in this world, whether born into such a condition, or forced into it by poverty or war. ~ Aberjhani

We are not born to accommodate tyranny over our hearts, minds, bodies, or souls. We are here to confirm an abundance of love-inspired possibilities greater than such restrictions. ~ Aberjhani

Dreams dress us carefully in the colors of power and faith. ~ Aberjhani

As life in general constituted much pain in the form of struggles against poverty, disease, ignorance, and emotional anguish, what more civilized way for people to alleviate the same than by giving themselves to one another as brothers and sisters in deed as well as in word? A society of people hoping to become politically superior needed first to become spiritually valid. ~ Aberjhani

Naked flights of art unshackled and incandescent songs of poetry undiluted return to the soul what hate, ignorance, fear, and violence steal from the heart. ~ Aberjhani

As painful as life can be at times for people all over the world there is some component of existence, or nonexistence perhaps, operating to implement a balance and give us an opportunity to turn the horrors we've forced upon each other into something more conducive to sustaining at least minimal degrees of sanity and love. ~ Aberjhani

The ecstatic beauty and soulful grace of Rumi's poetry inspires human hearts to believe in possibilities beyond the predictably fatal. ~ Aberjhani

Varieties of angels, like varieties of love, are many. ~ Aberjhani

Most of the more celebrated names among African-American authors, poets, and artists are known to the world because of their association with specific cultural arts movements. ~ Aberjhani

This rose of pearl-coated infinity transforms the diseased slums of a broken heart into a palace made of psalms and gold. ~ Aberjhani

Where humanity sowed faith, hope, and unity, joy's garden blossomed. ~ Aberjhani

There is in Albert Camus' literary craftsmanship a seductive intelligence that could almost make a reader dismiss his philosophical intentions if he had not insisted on making them so clear. ~ Aberjhani

In this quiet place on a quiet street
where no one ever finds us
gently, lovingly, freedom gives back our pain.
from poem In a Quiet Place on a Quiet Street ~ Aberjhani

If life is a birthday cake let my face be smeared with its icing of cognac and kindness. ~ Aberjhani

Such are these places where lovers of bliss behold the angel of peace ~ Aberjhani

The birth of a true poet is neither an insignificant event nor an easy delivery. Complications generally begin long before the fated soul carries its dubious light into whatever womb has been kind enough to volunteer the intricate machinery of its blood and prayers and muscles for a gestation period much longer than nine months or even nine years. ~ Aberjhani

As history has demonstrated many times over, change may arrive slowly or quickly but it is the one constant, in one form or another, on which we can all count. ~ Aberjhani

Life possesses an amazing array of profoundly sad faces. ~ Aberjhani

Millions of tears have fallen for black sons, brothers, lovers, and friends whose assailants took or maimed their lives and then simply went on their way. ~ Aberjhani

The reality of a serious writer is a reality of many voices, some of them belonging to the writer, some of them belonging to the world of readers at large. ~ Aberjhani

Humanity is not without answers or solutions regarding how to liberate itself from scenarios that invariably end with mass exterminations. Tools such as compassion, trust, empathy, love, and ethical discernment are already in our possession. The next sensible step would be to use them. ~ Aberjhani

Someone had to embrace positive beginnings before anyone could celebrate successful conclusions or continuations. ~ Aberjhani

At its most dynamic, faith evolves into powerful applicable knowledge. ~ Aberjhani

Upon the lips of babes asleep I saw light embracing light and so allowed my syllables to rest there as a prayer they might sing in their dreams ... ~ Aberjhani

The words 'I Love You' kill, and resurrect millions, in less than a second. ~ Aberjhani

Authentic inspiration endows individuals with mental or spiritual energy which they are then able to transform into positive action. It can make all the difference between a man, woman, or child allowing despair to permanently paralyze any dreams they may have for their lives, or, exercising sufficient strength of will to make those dreams a reality. ~ Aberjhani

In an age when nations and individuals routinely exchange murder for murder, when the healing grace of authentic spirituality is usurped by the divisive politics of religious organizations, and when broken hearts bleed pain in darkness without the relief of compassion, the voice of an exceptional poet producing exceptional work is not something the world can afford to dismiss. ~ Aberjhani

Poetry, like jazz, is one of those dazzling diamonds of creative industry that help human beings make sense out of the comedies and tragedies that contextualize our lives. ~ Aberjhani

Overall, my books represent a kind of shared communion and meditation with my fellow human beings ... The books are also a part of what I call the great continuum of spiritual literary dialogue that I feel has been in progress since human beings first gave in to the urge to pray to their sense of something greater than themselves and interpreted certain signs or events or silences as responses to those prayers. ~ Aberjhani

It becomes more and more difficult to avoid the idea of black men as subjects of not just racial profiling but of an insidious form of racial obliteration sanctioned by silence. ~ Aberjhani

The passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 represented precisely such a hope - that America had learned from its past and acted to secure a better tomorrow. ~ Aberjhani

In my head this cruel unspeakable truth: that we battled and we cursed and we spilled each other's blood, we relished our taste of hell and strangled heaven's love. ~ Aberjhani

Millions cheer the warriorspilling blood across the ringwhile the one who stands for peaceis ridiculed and shamed.Must hearts forever sufferfrom ignorance and greed?Can bombs heal our soulsor set our spirits free? ~ Aberjhani

'Mixtape' is a very appropriate word to include in the title of Goran Hugo Olsson's film because it includes a rich mixture of cultural voices. They speak across different dividing lines such as those of haves and have-nots, youth and maturity, black and white, national and global, and the past and the present. ~ Aberjhani

With my ninth mind I resurrect my first
and dance slow to the music of my soul made new. ~ Aberjhani

This is what our love is––a sacred pattern of unbroken unity sewn flawlessly invisible inside all other images, thoughts, smells, and sounds. ~ Aberjhani

In your hands winter ... ~ Aberjhani

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 laid the foundation for the Voting Rights Act of 1965, but it also addressed nearly every other aspect of daily life in a would-be free democratic society. ~ Aberjhani

In your hands winter is a book with cloud pages that snow pearls of love. ~ Aberjhani

Everywhere we shine death and life burn into something new ... ~ Aberjhani

This fire that we call Loving is too strong for human minds. But just right for human souls. ~ Aberjhani

A world without poetry and art would be too much like one without birds or flowers: bearable but a lot less enjoyable. ~ Aberjhani

A river is nearly the ultimate symbol for the very essence of change itself. It flows unceasingly from one point of being to another, yet continuously occupies the same bed or pathway, and accommodates life's endings with the same musical grace with which it accommodates life's beginnings, along with all the muted and explosive moments that surface between the two extremes. ~ Aberjhani

Shine your soul with the same egoless humility as the rainbow and no matter where you go in this world or the next, love will find you, attend you, and bless you. ~ Aberjhani

Writing for me is a form of spiritual discipline and creative vision, a means of being in the world and giving one's love to it without compromise or dilution. ~ Aberjhani

Freedom rings bells to wake us from the comfort of beautiful dreams and empower the efforts that turn them into reality. ~ Aberjhani

Happy World Poetry Day: 'The American identity has never been a singular one and the voices of poets invariably sing, in addition to their own, the voices of those around them. ~ Aberjhani

Ours is an age in which thousands are driven daily from their homelands by the unforgiving brutalities of war, terrorism, political oppression, starvation, disease, economic piracy, and the relentless suffocation of that singular breath which makes human beings individuals. ~ Aberjhani

We knew how to combine our strengths in order to overcome our weaknesses, and how to live off faith when nothing else was available. ~ Aberjhani

The act of writing itself is much like the construction of a mirror made of words. Looking at certain illuminated corners of or cracks within the mirror, the author can see fragments of an objective reality that comprise the physical universe, social communities, political dynamics, and other facets of human existence. Looking in certain other corners of the same mirror, he or she may experience glimpses of a True Self sheltered deftly behind a mask of public proprieties. ~ Aberjhani

You were born a child of light's wonderful secret - you return to the beauty you have always been. ~ Aberjhani

Feet sandaled with dreams tread paths of vision leading to wisdom's sharp peaks. ~ Aberjhani

Un-winged and naked, sorrow surrenders its crown to a throne called grace. ~ Aberjhani

Change is one of the scariest things in the world and yet it is also one of those variables of human existence that no one can avoid. ~ Aberjhani

There is a great new work before us, which is to replace with true knowledge the ignorance that has destroyed human minds. We will construct unity in a world [which] has been brutally torn apart by false divisions of race, religion, gender, nationality, and age. We will heal with unconditional love those souls whose hearts have been disfigured by hatred and loneliness. ~ Aberjhani

The issue, perhaps, boils down to one of how perceptions or misperceptions of racial difference impact various 'individuals', or groups of 'individuals', experience of freedom in America. Some would argue that it goes beyond hampering their "pursuit of happiness" to outright obliterating it. ~ Aberjhani

In honor of Oprah Winfrey: Even greater than the ability to inspire others with hope is the power to motivate them to give as much to the lives of others as they would give to their own; and to empower them to confront the worst in themselves in order to discover and claim the best in themselves. ~ Aberjhani

Love is our most unifying and empowering common spiritual denominator. The more we ignore its potential to bring greater balance and deeper meaning to human existence, the more likely we are to continue to define history as one long inglorious record of man's inhumanity to man. ~ Aberjhani

Love taught me to die with dignity that I might come forth anew in splendor. Born once of flesh, then again of fire, I was reborn a third time to the sound of my name humming haikus in heaven's mouth. ~ Aberjhani

We can cry for years but sometimes gotta smile too. ~ Aberjhani

Here are lips of flame eager to be extinguished by love's liquid sigh. ~ Aberjhani

Hearts rebuilt from hope resurrect dreams killed by hate. ~ Aberjhani

Literary genres and techniques tend to take form in one's mind somewhat the way computer templates provide form for different computer tasks. ~ Aberjhani

Poetry looking in the mirror sees art, and art looking in a mirror sings poetry. ~ Aberjhani

You are the hybrids of golden worlds and ages splendidly conceived. ~ Aberjhani

Love, Mercy, and Grace, sisters all, attend your wounds of silence and hope. ~ Aberjhani

The people of the city of Savannah within their collective conscience could follow previous examples in history and forgive the atrocities of actual slavery committed against slaves themselves. But what was it [the city] to do with the knowledge that children completely unaware of the greater ramifications of slavery were led to the Civil War slaughter in its name? How does one acknowledge with forgiveness such an unforgiving mutilation of one's own mind, body, soul, and legacy? ~ Aberjhani