Category: Columns

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

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

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.

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.

by Ernie McCray

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

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.

by Ernie McCray

On the subject of racism and guns
in our nation
I can’t get Ralph Yarl
out of my mind,
how he,
a Black teen,
got lost one day
and, as people in such a situation do,
he knocks on a door

by Ernie McCray

Made it.
85 earthly rides
around the sun.
And most of it
has been a ton
of fun
but this aging
has been no
stroll through the park, Jack,
or anything close to that,
as parts of me, like my back,
up and quit on me a while back,

by Ernie McCray

I’m at an age
when my life
consists of mostly memories
and sometimes these remembrances
come to me
suddenly
and randomly,
as I can, in one moment,
remember
a time when I was
down, up against it,
overwhelmed
with cares and woes
like a man adrift in a dark churning sea,
a swallow away from drowning,

by Ernie McCray

Wow!
Somebody
finally
indicted
a man
who can’t open his mouth
without committing
a major crime,
after a lifetime of thuggery
of all kinds,
and one of his attorneys
is talking about
how we
should be
bothered by

by Ernie McCray

I’m almost 85.
And with more years behind me
than ahead of me
I am thankful
to still be alive
and to have been brought to life
by a mother who
loved and befriended me
and guided me
towards a nice path
to take on my life’s journey,
a voyage
I’m thankful for
just for the gifts
that have been bestowed on me:

by Ernie McCray

How silly are we,
as a society,
to talk about
getting rid of
drag queen performances
to shield the productions
from the view of our children
as though our kids
sneak out at night
going to drag venues
and strip clubs
and the like.

Yikes.
Are homo sapiens’
brains on strike?