Impossible to Get the Tour on the Road...?

"It always seems impossible until its done."

Nelson Mandela

I should have left already but I am still in Los Angeles, preparing to leave on my "Impossible Tour." I have said goodbye to some people so many times it is beginning to be embarrassing.  The people up north waiting for me are beginning to wonder if I am ever gonna get there. I am 3 days behind schedule...A few minor snags have slowed me down, most notably this cold that refuses to part ways with me despite my making it abundantly clear to said cold that we are not compatible.

Another delay concerns my co-pilot, Michaela, the Bunny. She was scheduled to fly to the West Coast before my departure but due to various factors, she is still in New England, faring the awful Blizzard of '13 with her caretakers Tiesha and Mimi (angels these two). Between Sandy and the blizzard I am beginning to feel like I left Providence in the nick of time!

Over here in Cali we have all been complaining about the record cold weather which in fact is only in the 40s at its worse. Meanwhile, New Englanders are dreaming of 40 degree weather...and roads that are visible...and power to turn on the heat.

One of the things I hope to accomplish on this tour is the completion of my poem, Survivor (title subject to change). It is a positive alternative to all the poems I have started to write (and failed to/refused to finish) in response to a certain incident that occurred in Florida on 8-9-10. People have asked me to write about it, I have been invited to give lectures and talk about it at various universities and I think its about time to finish that poem...

The following (somewhat angry) poetry snippet will likely NOT make it into that poem, but it gives you some idea of what I am working through to get to the other side and why it has taken me so long.

 It is in some ways, an impossible poem to write.

You weren't there
So you don't know
And there aren't enough words
To tell that story
Not enough colors
To paint that picture
Vivid enough to break your heart
Like it broke mine
but
You ought to try

Thank goodness for meditation and time and good friends and distance...


I have so much to write, so so much to write on this tour. I will be working on my superduper intriguing  spiritual book about past lives and multiple dimensions and all kinds of weird and fun stuff (stay tuned-more to come on that). I will also be working on my next album, The Impossible Album.

Check out my reverbnation site for videos, audio downloads, and my mailing list


Also, while you are at it, why not go to my facebook fan page and hit "Like"?

 It will make my day and surely cure my cold!

Impossible to Fail

 "All that is necessary to break the spell of inertia and frustration is this: Act as if it were impossible to fail." 

Dorothea Brande, author of Becoming a Writer

Plans for the commencement of the "Impossible Tour" are coming along nicely. Got the "Impossible Tour Mobile" on Friday. A frisky, used, environmentally friendly Toyota Prius, Blue. Named it Emlet after my great-grandfather who did great things. 

Robert Emlet Vest was his full name. He caught a train from Kentucky to Indiana when he was still a child, built an empire, sent for this family and eventually owned a whole block of houses and businesses in the late 1800s. And he did all this as a Black man in Jim Crow Indiana. His mother was a slave. He had no formal education. He was self-taught. He became a community leader who everyone consulted. He was a good and kind and humble man who was ever curious and  fond of inventions. My father is named for him.

I am hoping to follow in this man's footsteps. In fact I have always hoped to. My whole existence is informed by this man's life. I have know his story my whole life. It was told to me, repeated to me again and again so I would know from whence I came... and for that reason I have never ever had any excuse for failing. What a dishonor I would be to Robert Emlet's memory if I let anyone or anything get in my way...

I wonder sometimes about the impossible journey that my grandfather went on at the age of 12. What made him think he could jump a freight train late at night with only the clothes on his back, travel north and make a life for himself? How did he manage to buy a house for his mother and then one for himself and his wife? How did he bring his whole family up from the South? How did he buy all those houses? The barber shop? The Indian motorbike business?

What were his hopes and dreams for his descendants? --for me, his great-grand-daughter? Did I make him proud by getting a PhD? by becoming a professor?  an activist? by writing and publishing my works? 


If he were here would he want to read my books? 
(He was, I am told, an avid reader).

I have never met an obstacle I could not overcome nor ever have I been willing to abandon a dream just because people claimed it was not achievable. I suspect I owe those tendencies to this man. A true impossibilist.

Thanks, Grandpa! I will not let you down.

The Impossible and the Absurd

"In order to attain the impossible, one must attempt the absurd."

Miguel de Cervantes

Not everybody recognizes this fact about pursuing impossible dreams. Absurdities are sometimes necessary. They come with the territory... and the territory is not chartered. Things one finds oneself doing in uncharted territory often appear absurd to those abiding in known and well-trod lands.

Spending two months traveling about, writing books and performing poetry. That is the plan for the "Impossible Tour." Leaving a tenured professorship to do that...is absurd.

I am shopping for my travel car, lining up quiet and peaceful residencies (with friends and at spiritual retreats)where I can write, and drawing on maps...

Some of us are born into impossible bodies. Some of us are born into impossible families. Some of us are born with impossible social limitations. Some us are are born looking and acting like someone or something that has never been seen before. And some of us live lives that are nothing more than a series of absurd journeys...

Who is willing to attempt the absurd? To look absurd? To have all of one's dreams laughed at? Doubted? Who is ready for the impossible journey?

I AM

Baldwin Said it Best

James Baldwin once said:

"Those who say it can't be done are usually interrupted by those who are doing it."

So, I decided to make Brother James the spokesperson for my Impossible Tour. Seems appropriate since he is, after all, one of my all-time top writer/activist/human being role models. 

As a fellow writer and impossibilist, I think he would not mind obliging me this small request...