Author: Ernie McCray

I was raised in a loving and alive home, in a black neighborhood filled with colorful characters in Tucson, Arizona. Such an environment gave me a hint that life has to be grabbed by the tail as tight as a pimple on a mosquito's butt. With no BS and a whole lot of love. So, from those days to now I get up every morning set on making the world a better place. On my good foot*, and I hope my writing reflects that. *an old black expression

Getting Away from It All with Ahmad Jamal

 Ernie McCray  July 7, 2023  4 Comments on Getting Away from It All with Ahmad Jamal

by Ernie McCray

Sometimes when
I need to momentarily free
myself from humanity
and all its insanity,
I’ll listen to my man, Ahmad Jamal,
tickle the ivories
as only he can,
captivated
with the way|
he can finger the keys
in a tinkling fashion

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A Note to ‘the Luckiest Guy in the World’ — Bill Walton

 Ernie McCray  June 30, 2023  3 Comments on A Note to ‘the Luckiest Guy in the World’ — Bill Walton

by Ernie McCray

Hey, Bill,
loved “The Luckiest Guy in the World”
30 on 30 documentary.
It reminded me
of when I first saw you play
in high school,
in a game
where you, excuse the cliché,
literally blew me away
as you and your crew
descended on some poor team
like a tornado,
with you
swatting their shots
away in ways
that made them
not want to take shots,

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Be-Bopping with Supersax

 Ernie McCray  June 27, 2023  0 Comments on Be-Bopping with Supersax

by Ernie McCray

I was
listening to Supersax,
superbly relaxed,
scatting along with the brilliantly constructed tones
they blow through their saxophones,
like I was Lambert Hendricks and Ross
and the Manhattan Transfer
all wrapped up in one,
their songs
ferrying me
deep into a 1940’s
state-of-mind,

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Feeling Hope with My Offspring

 Ernie McCray  June 19, 2023  4 Comments on Feeling Hope with My Offspring

by Ernie McCray

I dined
at a rather nice café
the other day
where a host,
in this lovely place,
in a very friendly way,
led me
and my twin daughters
and my oldest grandson
and his wife
and their three sons,
to an outdoor table,

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Feeling Glee Over a Witch-Hunt

 Ernie McCray  June 16, 2023  4 Comments on Feeling Glee Over a Witch-Hunt

by Ernie McCray

An ex-president
getting a portion
of his due
through an indictment
and now an arraignment
that are about as overdue
as a book checked out of the library
in 1892,
makes me want to dance a jig,
bad back and all.
And the claim
that the charges against him,
amongst other things,
have been
a witch-hunt, from the get-go,
makes me want to chuckle

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G.O.A.T. Talking to Ease My Mind

 Ernie McCray  June 15, 2023  1 Comment on G.O.A.T. Talking to Ease My Mind

by Ernie McCray

Pondering
some of what’s going on
in the nation
and the world,
I was in a low-grade funk
and then
I turned my TV on
to two talking heads
on ESPN
who were going on and on
about who was
the G.O.A.T.,
the greatest to ever play
in the NBA,

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Making Amanda’s Dream for a Better Us Is Up to Us

 Ernie McCray  June 2, 2023  3 Comments on Making Amanda’s Dream for a Better Us Is Up to Us

by Ernie McCray

Amanda Gorman
gifted us with
“The Hill We Climb”
at an
inaugural celebration,
a poem inspiring hope
which hangs on weakly
by a thread
in our nation,
a poem a parent had
removed from a school
because in her narrowed way
of looking at things

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Tina Turner: Simply the Best

 Ernie McCray  May 31, 2023  1 Comment on Tina Turner: Simply the Best

by Ernie McCray

Tina Turner.
Gone.
I first saw her on stage
around 1957
or ’58,
and it was love at first sight.
Couldn’t help myself,
if I tried with all my might.
Not with the way
she and the Ikettes
moved and grooved

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One Love Story Giving Rise to Another

 Ernie McCray  May 30, 2023  4 Comments on One Love Story Giving Rise to Another

by Ernie McCray

I was moving
my old bones
to the music of San Diego’s
Hoover High School Mariachi Band
which put me in a deeply responsive mood
for what was next
that afternoon,
a premiere of
“A Chicano Love Story,”
a documentary
featuring Linda and Carlos LeGerrette,
two of Cesar Chavez’s
most valued right-hand
woman and man.

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Lay Those Pistols Down, Ja!

 Ernie McCray  May 23, 2023  3 Comments on Lay Those Pistols Down, Ja!

By Ernie McCray

Hey,
LAY THOSE PISTOLS DOWN, Ja!
Enough of
all that jive foolishness,
flashing guns on videos
as though you’re a gangster wannabe
or some kind of an OG.
If it’s attention you want
you’ve already got that,
it seems to me,
because on a basketball court
your fans eat up
your razzle and dazzle
and wizardry and artistry
with unadulterated glee.

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Sleepover at Grampy and Maria’s House

 Ernie McCray  May 18, 2023  5 Comments on Sleepover at Grampy and Maria’s House

by Ernie McCray

Two of my grandchildren,
Lyric and Marley,
Lyric almost ten,
Marley, eight,
slept over
the other night
and things went great.

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Feeling a More Caring World

 Ernie McCray  May 12, 2023  0 Comments on Feeling a More Caring World

by Ernie McCray

Had a nice weekend at the
“The 2023 Annual Conference of
California Community College
Trustees”
at the
Monterey Plaza Hotel and Spa
with mi querida
who is a trustee.

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