Big Ass Lady

(Rebooty)
I’m my kind of Kanye
cheering my inner Beyonce

-2015

big update

photo of Anne & My Friends (Hank Bordowitz, Anne, Larry Solomon)

big

here I am sitting with the bums and pigeons at Herald Square.  Some “businessman” drops his habitual DAILY NEWS in the garbage (it’s 8:30 a.m.).  A wiser businessman scoops the NEWS out of the can—there’s waste in American industry.  And I can see the top of The Empire State Building.  I was just up there for a minute looking, and then I started crying, ‘cause Manhattan’s not that big.  I could see cars and buses clearly in detail going up some avenue.  I could see bridges and clouds and tree branches in Gramercy Park with the bums and pigeons.  I could see the Statue of Liberty waving her torch at me, “Hey Annie, keep trying, keep trying.  You ARE on top of your city.”

We’re close to getting THE LEIGHTON EXPLOSION to the printer.  My editor/publisher Ken is making it look like I want it to look.  The book will come out soon.  Everyone will receive an e-version of the book in PDF format.  Please make sure I have your email. (You can write me via Anne@AnneLeighton.com).

If all goes according to schedule, you will receive your copy before September 19. If not it will be first or second week of October. By mid-September, those who pledged for the T-shirt reward will hear from me requesting your size and mailing address. I have an Anne Leighton-created font with a phrase that I can’t remember who created or helped me create—either Progsheet writer John Wilcox or my bandmate Larry Solomon.

Bandmate?  Yes! This is a photo of vocalist/bassist Hank Bordowitz and vocalist/percussionist Larry Solomon took with me at our first rehearsal.  We will be rehearsing and doing homework between now and November, and then figure out our playing schedule. The first two shows will be in New Jersey and the Bronx… There might also be a show in October somewhere in the universe…I don’t know.  

I will also be doing solo shows with local musicians… the first one will either be in Buffalo, Boston or Washington DC in May or June 2016.

Meantime, I’d love to hear from you and find out what cool poetry you’re finding from people in your hometown. Maybe there’s a collaboration in there? Maybe it's a chance for you to share.

Now with Courtney Barnett on the charts and a newly found Dr. Seuss book, WHAT PET SHOULD I GET, poetry is a big thing. So let's swing!

“The best people possess a feeling for beauty, the courage to take risks, the discipline to tell the truth, the capacity for sacrifice. Ironically, their virtues make them vulnerable. They are often wounded, sometimes destroyed.” -Ernest Hemingway

Papa is warning me

against my sensitivity.

Papa, I, also, love your kitties.

You don’t know that I do know

my muscles that you don’t want to know.

Papa’s pejorative push

makes me a survivor

amongst those grateful for my honesty. 

and now unfolds a true irony

haters stepping up their game to catch me

It used to be loyalty

included truth and sharing

even if misery’s prevailing

how come I feel Papa’s negativity 

but he doesn’t my positivity?

Papa, must value be defined

by money but not the times we shine?

It is you needing the learning.

You're educated but don't know it all.

Papa, listen, you don't know it all.

Papa, I stand up to you

The obstacles aren’t that hard

Those words paint you not believing in me

I’m telling you oh King Hemingway

powerfully clearly, hear me my way!

 

On The Boss’s Time

In Rockwell's defiant Rosie the Riveter painting, 

she knows to listens to herself, there's a time 

for sacrifice and a time for self-suffice with 

rolled-up sleeves she gives yields and builds 

alongside the guilds of Roses, Daisys, Lilys-the ladies

who miss their husbands so much they live in their

hardhats, assembly lines, sports and industry, using

his tools, mixed with the missed blessings of companions

over here, over here, please be here when he's over 

there are ways she will survive for her greater good

for she doubts of a whole union for him and her again

in Rockwell's defiant painting, Rosie the Riveter.

The painting, ROSIE THE RIVETER by Norman Rockwell, can be viewed here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosie_the_Riveter#mediaviewer/File:RosieTheRiveter.jpg

SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DORKS

Bashful blushes,

oh no, 'dey didn't

put me all over the Internet

who said I loved her?

well, I care for her

that, I am sure.

Bashful's hiding,

said, this site uses me

for psychology?

who says I'm a “type”?

please, give me pride

that's what I'd like

Sneezy sniffed

I can't handle this

'cause you're the best.

Doc and Dopey

Sneezy, Happy and Sleepy, 

even Grumpy agreed,

“we like you just fine

'cause you are kind

and have a great mind!”

hi ho hi hay

how you feel today

hi Bashful love you true

hey ho, i belong to you

you belong to me!

Bashful's a sweetie

They'll tease you

and unhinge you,

if you're being cool

But they don't know

and they won't grow,

but you, you're the star of your show!

hi ho hi hay

with your friends you shall stay!

REASONABLE

Mirror Mirror in my face,

what’s a reasonable way to trace

a reflection without intrusion of my intentions 

to another person’s direction?

It’s just to taste belief in the human race.

My Friend

"Find me on snopes," posted Baby Dragon.

"I'm not photoshopped by your Facebook friend."

She breathes out smoke, 

and tenderly moves it away from me, waving her thin wings.

She stands up to those monsterly women in the 'hood. 

"They need cigarettes to blow smoke," 

she gloats with a puff and shake of her lean lizard physique,

"Their clothes so tight, their breasts crease into four boobs!'

She flies as wind beneath my wings spiritually

snapping a portrait of me from so high,

"You smile," she delivers in a text,

"You, I respect, forget the rest."