This eclectic compilation of poetry greatly ranges in terms of style and content. The author, Alton James, reveals a command of words, phrasing, rhythm, and sound in a way that penetrates the heart. Anyone can feel the emotions and images that he conveys through this magnificent collection of poetry. Mr. James evokes the language and ideas from early British and American authors. However, in the same vein, he calls on utilizing the edgy and straightforward writing of modern African American poets -and everything between the two. Along with his craft of language, Mr. James intertwines his musicality and musical identity into his work. His multitude of experiences gives a depth and breadth to his work that is salient and original. While the styling changes quite frequently within and between selections, one thing is for certain. Alton James presents a fresh form of poetry that is real, raw, and ready to be revealed and received.

Cerebral Sentiments

By ALTON MAXEL JAMES IV

AuthorHouse

Copyright © 2012 Alton Maxel James IV
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4772-8761-3

Contents

Active Comfort............................................................2Addition by Subtraction...................................................4Apothecary................................................................8As I Float................................................................10Being One.................................................................12Blackness.................................................................14Busy......................................................................16Chances and Choices.......................................................20Cosmopolitan..............................................................24Dominion of the Liberated Libertine.......................................28End of Time...............................................................32Epiphany..................................................................34Faces.....................................................................36Fragility.................................................................40Giving, Forgiving, Thanksgiving...........................................42God in Us.................................................................44I Quit....................................................................46If I Could................................................................48In Shades of Black and White..............................................50In the Gathering..........................................................52In the Wilderness.........................................................54Insatiable................................................................56Insomnia..................................................................58Invincible................................................................60Let's Put Tomorrow in the Past............................................62Limitations...............................................................64Living Fight..............................................................66Man's Privilege...........................................................70Me........................................................................72Memories..................................................................74My Plea, My Wish, My Prayer...............................................76My Test...................................................................80Queen Arthur..............................................................82Rebuild Me................................................................86Significance..............................................................88SomeBuddies...............................................................90Stagnant..................................................................94That Was Who I Am.........................................................98The Aftermath.............................................................102The Demon in the Closet and the Monster under the Bed.....................104The Door to the Left......................................................108The Holster's Sword, the Bullet's Gun.....................................112The Plight and the Blight.................................................114The Reason Why............................................................116Time Traveler.............................................................120Too Late..................................................................122Transparency..............................................................124Violence..................................................................126WWWW......................................................................128Your Voice................................................................130Youthful Vivacity.........................................................132

Chapter One

Active Comfort


"What is your purpose?"
How many times has this been said?
In genuine reflection ...
Or pejorative pain?

"What is the purpose?"
How many times has this questioned the world?
In interested inquiry ...
Or possessed pessimism?

"If you have nothing good to say, don't say ..."
Well, I'm sure you've heard the rest ...
Why not bring comfort to everyone?
When we can activate altruism

Be my comfort, be my strength
Activate my actuated action of affection
Let's be our, active comfort


Addition by Subtraction

My tongue slithered, cut, and torn
Severed, cracked and unearthed like an earthquake
Then finally ripped from its own place, mute, and voiceless
But the pain doesn't flee as every day the Amber of my blood
reveals my physical and emotional scars
Within my throat a voice wishes to speak
But it is beaten, raped, and manipulated
Just four simple letters does it wish to utter

But its unmerciful bondage binds it to its own misery
Enslaved by the revoked tongue and pain of running Amber
These letters bound for so long gnaw, rip, maul, and tear out
my throat
Now irritated, dilapidated, and frustrated it grows
submissive
A submission that only wishes to mutter just four simple
letters
For so long is it mute, blind to its audience, and deaf to its
own ingenuity
It seems endless ... as if 12 millennia, 15 centuries, 22
decades and 5 years
12, 15, 22, and 5 ... symbiotic with alphabetic articulation

Long lasting longing of life
Overly often overt in offering
Varying vitality vocalized in veracity
Every effort expressed in emotion

In time I come to find my audience my equal
Sharing in the abysmal wretchedness of my pain that flows
As we both are bound by cages, we seethe and growl like
animals
A cage, a cell in which we wish, we long to control but are
bound by
A prison of my being with no ceiling or floor, just
letters—four

And I fall, I fall, and so I fall
Two encaged, enraged, enslaved
Four times these two now double the pain
Eight walls, eight letters, eight months were tamed
Now things become clear, the knowledge I obtain
For my ignorance is lifted like a curse
One that plagues the body, heart, soul, and mind
Only to embrace in its cure

With the joyous removal of my ignorance
So goes trials, tribulations, suffering, pain
My tongue returned to its place
Its painful Amber outpouring now embraced, crimson
returning
As it supplements, gives life, and nourishes
I can see, I can hear, I can feel

The two are no longer bound, but free
The two are no longer inept, but enabled
The two are no longer slaves, but masters

As both were set free, we lay claim to our overseers
As our cages become a crib, rocked and pampered
As we were released we, now have control and freedom
The eight walls, the eight letters
Became the four walls, the four letters we now share in
Becoming the two of us
Which are now one


Apothecary

I fall to you ...

I run to you, for you hold what I need

You dangle it from on high and remind me of what I don't
possess

So you remain avail to taunt, tease, flaunt ...

Each new nuance you nurture in my nutrition

For you compliment and supplement simultaneously

I find myself unable to escape...