Dance of Light by Artist Jan Betts
I invite you to listen to the recording of my poem “The Changes Changes” Just click the mp3 link in bold below. The music is also my own. I went a little jazzy-house beat on this one. Please feel free to dance to this poem. I include the words below, but it is more a poem for listening than reading.
“The Changes Changes” by Karima Hoisan.mp3
The changes changes, jingling change in my back pocket,
so shuffle the cards.
Seems I was a co-star in this movie before,
When I had my suitcase, and a big bruised ego blocking the door
and each day was a lottery that I didn’t play,
and each minute they never called out my number.
If I had a two, they called out a three, and it went on that way.
To state the obvious, I sometimes stand on red and sometimes black
and the little ball goes round, goes round,
and everyone says I’m playing it fine
but I see it stopping… I just see it ending… my bad.
Am I the only one who sees it stopping?..who sees it ending?
Then one and one makes three, and the game is over and I call a cab.
I think the changes changes the billboards and the play,
and along the vacant highway walls, workmen glue a new one up
before they take the other one away.
It begins to look like a collage of some pasted posters present- past,
and the artist wasn’t that good anyway
Then the shuffle’s in and I’m on the bottom again.
And the Director leaves and no one gives me my lines.
So this show is doomed to play out of town, sporadic, every off -Tuesdays,
and I lost top billing a few weeks back,
and could be out of work and in the streets tomorrow
crouching on the sidewalk gambling with my time.
Because the changes changes everything… I guess it’s all my fault… my bad.
Then one plus one makes three that’s how it adds,
and the game is over and I call a cab.
I know the changes changes how I see it all,
and what we think is relative, depends upon the flipping of a coin.
Contrary to what we were led to believe, humanity inside a burlap sack?
It makes the sack worth less and I agree.
Because that’s an old wise Spanish saying.
But I will take it home with me… every time.
I will nurture scorpions and snakes until my nose is bleeding and my tongue goes numb.
“I am a fool for love”, I shout it out, while I ride the karma wheel and the little ball goes round, goes round and I think it’s stopping,
but everyone says I’m playing it fine.
Then the changes changes my attitude,
so that it’s hard for me to clearly see.
I don’t see the point.
I don’t see the joke.
I don’t see much hope.
And I don’t see that spirit running around that everyone says
that they all see, still being very much a part of me.
Then one day,
when I am looking the other way, at dismal sepia-toned memories,
all of a sudden the changes changes everything.
I’m standing on black and and they call out “Black!”
Without buying a lottery ticket, I win. I win anyway.
I inherit a hope chest and it’s filled with hope.
Seems to be my good luck nowadays… so long…goodbye, my bad.
Then one plus one makes two, and I smile your way,
while you open the door for me, in the pouring rain,
and the driver says “Where to? and we share a cab.
The changes changes everything… It changes everything
Karima Hoisan
May 16, 2012
LINC Island SL
Digital Rabbit Hole 
I just wanted to comment, that once again I have chosen the beautiful Art of my RL friend Jan Betts, Entitled “Dance of Light” for my illustration. Please check out her website to see many more exquisite examples of her talent. You can find it on the blogroll, along the right side of my blog, called “JanBettsArt”.
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Another one for my playlist! 🙂 I haven’t been listening to you long enough to know what’s normal and what’s experimental, but here sound like you know exactly what you’re doing…
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Big smiles..thank you dale..for adding this one..I think you are my very first Itunes “collector” This was an experiment with rhythm in both my verses and the music..I got into it..and feel I would love to try a few more of these very upbeat poems, to balance off my sadder, more melancholy ones:) Trying to find a healthy balance for when I do my readings..Your feedback inspires me on……
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You ROCK Sissy-poo…smiles. Can’t get enough of that ‘funky stuff’; you’re making you’re very own genre which, like you, is undefinable, ever changing and always a juicy surprise. I can dig it!
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Aww Sis Diz thank you so much..Yes I can’t wait to do this live at Costa Rica Poetry Reflections…I was feeling a jazzy.smooth funky groove when I wrote this one. So glad you approve! Hugs Sis~~~
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You have become, yet again, the spokes-person for all of us with your amazing thoughts. You have captured a situation that all have been in since they were old enough to breathe. Terms like…”wrong place wrong time”…”just my luck”…”why me?” rear their head in this poem. But then, as in with anyone that keeps plodding along…For some unknown reason, things change…”Hitting the lottery without buying a ticket.” “One and one make two.” “Standing on black, and black hits.” ” A hope chest filled with hope.” ” A cab for two.” Brilliant…Just brilliant..(Shakes his head in awe).
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Thank you so much Hoyt:) I love how you broke it down into all the little scenes that rush by pretty quickly in this one.Yes and usually when you least expect it, when you are looking the other way, bang..it changes..The changes changes everything:):) I hope you felt a bit of power and hope in this one because that is what it is about in the end. Sometimes it does all seem out of our control.the bad rolls and also the wins. No matter how much we make our own efforts and that is also very important, luck plays too just like in the macrocosm..There is order and there is always random moments of unpredictability, and chaos invades:) Just remembering that the hard times will pass and move into better ones, can lift our spirits when we are down… smiling big..gracias ruco por tu apoyo siempre:)
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Wow-Hoyt nailed it perfectly! The luck of the draw. Really? Sure the game isn’t rigged? Well-it looks level enough. Hmmmm….Yes, we can win seemingly without buying a ticket. Hmmm….really? Even the rigged game has tweaks to insure it seems straight. Hmmm….Maybe the game overseers are really that clever. Or-maybe not. OK-WTF is this? The power of wishful thinking in humans is death-defying. Mind boggling. Stupefying. We want to believe it is true SOOOOO badly. We can create enough energy(a/k/a Geni) to make small things occcur. Not enough to get us into some serious trouble….just enough to puzzle over. Yes…we are in fact given enough leash to raise questions to ponder. Usually not enough to blow ourselves up with. Usually. Unless there is a valuable enough lesson to be had. (Watch here for bad bruises.)
That is crafted by unseen hands, too. You think all these things are mere accidents….have I got a bridge for you!!! Only slightly used..and a great buy! 🙂 Yes…the wheel keeps turning. We get exposed to luck, then no luck. Then luck again. If we are stupid-we curse God. If smart…we know simply it will continue to turn….’round and ’round. Count our blessing when things are good…patient when not so good. Our Heroine shows typical surprise. Poor Karima-life deals lots of lousy hands. But, she bounces back. (She is not bullet-proof but she does injure and heal) So-is the pain the lesson or is the bouncing back the lesson? And what’s up with the lessons, already? Nice job, Karima. Nice music, nice vibe. If you played baseball-they’re all out of the park! Oh yes- tip the cab driver. Good Karma. It’s the small things that matter! And eyes are indeed watching.
Tube
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Holy Moly, Karima! Yesterday you implanted this song in my head, damn, lol. Our major project has to wait a bit. The changes changes changed my mind:) You said the poem isnt silly, thats right, but it describes the silliness of life… badabum badabum badabum…ups and downs and downs and downs and downs and downs and ups….
No matter, there always is another day, another game to play and another prize to win.
Sooo…eeeehm… let’s walk the walk..badabum badabum badabum….ahahahaha..omg that song is sooo cool…
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Ha ha Nat:) See I told you The Changes changes everything,,The :Big Guy” is on hold again,,sure Let;s do it!!!
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This really does change everything. You are wonderful, Karima. ~*~
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Aww Luna..big hugs.,,thank you!! Hope that “badabum” of change made you smile:)
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Love it! The rhythm, the cycle of it, the looping back, the gathering to resolution … you are masterful at this particular trick. It’s like watching a ball that is not round rolling perfectly, unevenly, in the hole.
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