Black man, White…..

(The Book of Amber, muistikirjan tekstiä vuosilta 2004-2005. Kuva/tekstit Antti Filppu.)

”America, the land of the free, they said, and of opportunity, in a just and a truthful way. But where the president is never black, female or gay, and until that day, you’ve got nothing to say to me, to help me believe” -Morrissey

”I never thought this one would affect me so much. Maybe it’s because of all that oppression throughout the centuries, the cry of joy that I hear. And maybe it’s the sight of all these happy people I’ve seen on television, that makes me feel so good. It’s the year of Nelson Mandela’s 90th anniversary. Did you really think I’d forget? The dreams of Martin Luther King have never gone away.” -written and originally published, with the quotation above and a picture of the new president, after the election of Barack Obama (in 2008).

I have been writing, or maybe I should say, preparing and beginning to write my ”new poems”, for quite a few years. In this day and age of digital streaming, people have been losing their sense of time. Whatever I have done in the name of art, it has usually taken years, if not decades. For Christ’s sake, both Tennyson and Goethe needed 60 years to complete their masterpieces, namely Idylls of The King and Faust (1-2). The poets began these works in their twenties, and were literally over 80 years old when drawing the finishing lines.

I am not comparing myself to them, or anyone for that matter, but I have never seen anything bad in it; if someone wants to compare himself / herself with the great masters. For why not? They were human beings like us. It reminds me of one Freud-looking psychiatrist here in Finland (who could not speak Finnish very well), who told me long ago that ”if you can’t sell them, it’s a waste of time, vanity”. He was talking about my poems. I was ready for having a conversation and needed some advice, but this kind of nonsense crossed the line. Who examines the doctors. I think it is quite sad, because we all need help.

There is this poem called No Mystic Love Songs. In it Muslims and Christians are having a cup of coffee together, thinking their way through the wor(l)dly affairs of love and hate. Of course, there will be a little bit of that old Sufi mysticism, too. A black man wandering in Estonia and Finland (paying homage to Omar Volmer and Jaan Kaplinski). One of the main themes is how everything is often all-too-human. But nothing or no one will take away the good spirit that sent you in the beginning, to wander ”among the shadows of earth”.

Oh my liquid muse Mocca Master
Now I can drink the best coffee in the world

”The text is from a note written in January 2000, when I bought my ’first one’, classic brown coloured, now retired from the service. But the machine in this picture is someone else. The place is Jääkärinkatu, Helsinki, in the spring of 2006. It was an interesting time. I want to send my good wishes to all of you whom it may concern. And if I have stepped on your toes in one way or another, please drink with me a cup of coffee for reconciliation. I was honest then as I’m honest now, and my aim was at the truth, nothing else. I had no intention to disrespect anyone. And I say this out of my own free will, that is, because I want to. Actually, the spell I’m talking about here has been on my mind for a long time, but I’ve been slow as usually.” -Note written and originally published in January 2010. There were many interesting people and good conversations during that time, and I still wonder, if all of them have received my greetings & apologies. (Photo by Antti Filppu, The Book of Lyrics)