Beneath the Spin * Eric L. Wattree
THE EULIPIANS
Eulipian is a word that came out of the jazz culture, coined by Rahsaan Roland Kirk. It describes independent thinkers who dance to their own music and avoid becoming a part of any group. Eulipians don't indulge in group-think, or care anything at all about common wisdom, custom, trends, or traditions, nor do they care what other people think. The only thing important to a Eulipian is what he or she thinks. So if you tell a Eulipian, "Well, Malcolm said thus and so." A true Eulipian will tell you, "I'm sure Malcom did say that, but you're not talking to Malcolm, you're talking to me."
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ODE TO THE EUPILIANS
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ODE TO THE EUPILIANS
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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.
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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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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,
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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.
Insignificant here in Great Bruteland,
but of ultimate significance in the eyes of God.
.
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.
.
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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AND THEY INTERWEAVED BLACK HISTORY INTO THE
THEY SAID, FREE YOUR MIND, AND YOUR ASS
WILL FOLLOW,
AS BEAUTIFUL SISTERS SWAYED, HARRIET
SMILED,AND THEY INTERWEAVED BLACK HISTORY INTO THE
SOULFUL PROGRESSIONS OF
BIRD, MONK, MILES, AND TRANE.
THEY PUT OUR JOURNEY IN TRUE PERSPECTIVE
WITH ALL THE UGLINESS OF OUR BEAUTY IN TACT.
"YOU CANNOT GROW WHILE TRYIN' TO BULLSHIT YOURSELF -
THAT'S WHERE AMERICA HAS COME UP SHORT."
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WITH ALL THE UGLINESS OF OUR BEAUTY IN TACT.
"YOU CANNOT GROW WHILE TRYIN' TO BULLSHIT YOURSELF -
THAT'S WHERE AMERICA HAS COME UP SHORT."
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AND MY YOUNG MIND SOAKED UP EVERY DROP.
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THEY DID IT THUSLY:
Eric L. Wattree
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Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does.