The Wattree Chronicle: THE EULIPIANS

Saturday, November 08, 2014

THE EULIPIANS

Beneath the Spin * Eric L. Wattree

THE EULIPIANS

So once again I indulge my ritual. I sit here in the womb of the night, serenading the birth of a new day by contemplating, and celebrating, my youth. I think of Watts, of the Jordan Downs, the Imperial Courts, and the Pueblo Del Rio Bricks a few clicks down the tracks. I think of the 60s, of Dashikis, and the sweet sounds of Miles caressing my young consciousness as proud and beautifully Afro'ed sisters strut across the landscape of my mind - Hey, Gil, there's a morning thought.

But what I think of most, are those older brothers, the ghetto griots, who constantly sought to enlighten our minds; who introduced me to Bird, Dex, Miles, and Trane, and who laid the foundation that colored the rest of my life. They planted a seed in my soul that has continued to flourish, and now bears the fruit from many days past. These, were the Eulipians; nameless heroes, ghetto scholars, and the custodians of Black wisdom.
.

So all these many years later, this one’s for you, good brothers. I bring it full circle - from you, back to you, because I was listening, and I continue to walk in your wisdom:
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The Eulipians
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Some of the greatest minds I've ever known held court while sitting on empty milk crates in the parking lot of ghetto liquor stores. At their feet I embraced the love of knowledge,
And through their tutelage defined self-worth
In my own terms.
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These were the "Eulipians" — writers, poets,
musicians, painters, and uncommon drunks —
those shade-tree philosophers who
contemplated the fungus between the
toes of society; Who danced with reckless abandon,
unfettered by formal inhibition
through the presumptuous
speculation of the ages; Who live in county jails, cardboard boxes, alley ways, and luxury Apartments.
Insignificant here in Great Bruteland,
but of ultimate significance in the eyes of God.
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While these obscure intellectuals
stood well outside the mainstream
of academy, I watched with astonished delight as
they sang, scat, scribed, and pontificated
their wisdom and various philosophies into the
mainstream of human knowledge.
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Their philosophy?
knowledge is free, thus,
will transcend attempts
to be contained through barriers
of caste or privilege,
leaving man's innate thirst
for knowledge free to someday.
overwhelm his lust for stupidity.

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THEY SAID, FREE YOUR MIND, AND YOUR ASS WILL FOLLOW.

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The Hood Rat