Category: From the Soul

by Ernie McCray

The words,
“Be excellent to each other out there,”
that I read on a Facebook post recently
really struck a chord with me,
especially considering
how too many of us
treat each other these days
on social media,
attacking a fellow human being’s very person
rather than challenge
a specific point-of-view intellectually,
the very opposite
of treating someone
the way you want to be treated.

by Ernie McCray

Regarding all that’s being said
about Anthony Fauci’s
handling of the Covid-19 pandemic,
what he did or didn’t do
to keep us safe,
we, as a nation,
have to come to understand
that science, inherently,
is a mixture of failures
wherein an approach to a problem
put into use one day
might require dismissal
the very next day
based on new data
that has come into play,
something I noticed
without a real grasp of the situation
as a child at play
when people in charge of public health
deployed all kinds of do’s and don’ts
that had me asking my mom an array of questions
about why the pool was closed

by Ernie McCray

With the tragedy
at the mosque
still on my mind
I’ve been thinking
of a wonderful book
I just finished,
“The Future is Peace,”
written by Aziz Abu Sarah,
a Palestinian,
and Maoz Inon,
an Israeli,
who, rather than focusing on their ethnicities,
choose to view themselves
as human beings
who are trying to cultivate

by Ernie McCray

I experienced an evening
in these times of cares and woes
just a short time ago
that was ever so heavenly,
like sweet music to my ears,
beginning with a Lyft ride
in a car
whose radio,
speaking of music,
was playing
a Sonny Rollins’ song
in memory
of him
now that he’s gone
and the bebop phrasing
coming from his tenor saxophone
those deep rich strong tones
for which he’s known
set the tone
for a dinner
I was going to at the home of my friend,
Cecil Lytle,

by Ernie McCray

Attending a
Community College league of California
Trustees Conference
with Maria, my querida,
a trustee,
I happened upon
a session that very much interested me,
one regarding
protecting campuses
from ICE
who a while back
became a concern
to Santa Barbara Community College
when agents, nevertheless,
although they didn’t harass or arrest
any students,

by Ernie McCray

My heart weakens
when I see my city
seeking to make catastrophic reductions
in arts funding,
as I feel,
in my very being
that the arts
should be at the center
of all things
since from humankind’s beginning
the arts have been essential
to a human being’s
wellbeing,
a means of communicating emotions,

By Ernie McCray

I’ve been an 88-year-old
for a few days now
and I’m still rocking,
however, not to my surprise,
to the same vibe
I was moving to during
the waning moments of my 87 years
of life,
dealing with the little aches and pains
and minor discomforts and irritations
that come with aging
and having to continue
fighting off a president’s lies
like a man
shooing and swatting flies
in response to a war
to which he gave rise,

by Ernie McCray

I, along with a room
of other people,
just spent
“An Afternoon with Josefina Lopez”
who just happens to be
an award-winning
highly acclaimed Chicana
playwright and screenwriter
who gave to the world,
early in her career,
the play, “Real Women Have Curves,”
which later
became adapted into a film
and then
a Broadway musical,

by Ernie McCray

I’m nearing 88 years
and along with that
there are, of course,
a few fears,
anxieties rising
just from seeing
all my meds
set in front of me
on the coffee table
where I used to place a few knick-knacks,
and there are the
aches and pains
suddenly appearing like hoodlums
crashing a party,
and the loss of the ability to do
things I once
did very well
like getting up
and sitting down
without making a sound,
and I am constantly using my cane

by Ernie McCray

Oh, I wish so much of the news
didn’t give me the blues,
as hearing Dolores Huerta weigh in
on Cesar Chavez’s sexual abuse
of women and minor children
with allegations
of situations
he put her in
darkened my soul
like midnight
on a moonless night,
making me weep
as I read of her emotional pain,
of how she has kept quiet
over time
so as not to bring negative attention
to the United Farm Worker’s struggles,

by Ernie McCray

Say what?
Students are facing
being suspended from school
for standing up|
against ICE’s
muggings and
cold-blooded killings
of citizens?

Based on what?
Doing the right thing?

I mean if I was still a principal
of a school
and my students
decided they wanted to make a statement
about some goons
who had never heard of
or cared about the Golden Rule,
I’d be out there with them,

by Ernie McCray

What in the hell is wrong with you
Republican Congressmen and Congresswomen?
How have you
come to losing your way
so dishonorably,
like a ship without a rudder
in foggy weather,
wandering aimlessly,
trapped in a web,
like helpless insects,
at the mercy
of a demented madman of a president
who has you, for one thing,
for instance,