THE POEM OF YES

The Poem of YES

Gave up

Air pressure like an anvil

Forcing me to stop

Lie on floor

Wondering if my heart would stop

Cat there

Flattened

Why go on?

If you can't stand the Heat...

Then what?

A show of hands, please.

Who fucking knows?

Just lying there

Pretending it was good for me.

Then it came to me

After how long I don't know

"THE YES IS WHAT MATTERS"

And I saw

My Week

had too many

No's.

No, you can't do that.

No, I should do that.

No, we don't want that.

No, because she hates us.

No, because we hate him.

No, because I'm afraid of you.

No, because I just

can't.

Then I remembered a text from my friend

sent from his favorite place on Earth:

"I am always happiest when I am here..."

And I felt what it feels like to feel free.

Even just for a moment.

Because you feel loved.

And you are giving love.

You are wanted. And you are glad to be wanted.

I thought, "I need to write this down."

THE YES IS WHAT MATTERS.

I got up.

Rumbling.

Outside rain.

Sun shining.

Thunder.

So so hot still.

But wet.

And the lady across the street

Watering her lawn.

But I made it back.

And I am not afraid anymore.

Marlan Warren, August 2017, Los Angeles, California

#WonderWoman Poem By Carolyn Howard-Johnson: "My Woman-of-Steel Brand"

My mother Trudy Warren 8 months pregnant right after Hurricane Donna, Ft. Myers, FL

Perhaps I am remiss in not posting current national events and my relation to them as they happen. A couple weeks ago, I posted this poem by the extraordinary California poet, Carolyn Howard-Johnson about her inner "Wonder Woman." Now with Hurricane Irma bearing down on my hometown of Ft. Myers, I can't help but recall this picture my father took of my mother hauling away the multitude of fallen branches from the banyan tree we shared with our neighbors' yard. Eight months pregnant with my brother Monty. Mom played the piano the whole time the hurricane raged around our 2-story clapboard house. The tin roof blew off our neighbors' home behind ours. And they came into our house for protection during the calm of the Eye.

A toast to all Wonder Women everywhere. May your praises always be sung for your beautiful warrior spirits and loving ways.

You Think You Know Me Well

By Carolyn Howard-Johnson

I am Wonder Woman. You may have known 

me so long you remember

my original star-studded skirt

a la 1942 or still sigh over that skirt metamorphosed

to a bias-cut bikini singing

a patriot’s song to the female derrière
That would have been the same time 

it became hard to tell if I was born
to empower little girls or to mesmerize 

boys--the big ones and the small.

If that’s what you think

when you hear my name,
you’ve clearly not internalized
the idea of cruel waxing demanded by today’s
experts on grooming. (You should know

I didn’t do that. Somehow I was never convinced. 

Tights were another matter. I wore

them proudly--my woman-of-steel

brand-- lasso-wielding woman,

woman who bounced bullets
from magic cuffs, woman who didn’t need

D-cup implants
spilling out of her lamé bustier. 

Rogue Machine Theatre Hosts Staged Reading of Play by Marlan Warren with Ariel Kayoko Labasan

The work of the Crusaders, although obscure and unknown, was a means by which young people in confinement were able to prove that no physical boundaries could stop them from transcending beyond the 'barbed wires.' - Yuri Kochiyama (aka "Mary Nakahara")#YuriKochiyama
 

At the invitation of Rogue Machine Theatre in Hollywood, "Bits of Paradise: Kochiyama's Crusaders" will be presented as a staged reading on July 19 (3pm and 8pm) and July 20 (8pm). The play, by Marlan Warren in collaboration with Ariel Kayoko Labasan focuses on a women's movement founded by renowned human rights activist Yuri Kochiyama when she was known as 20-year old "Mary Nakahara" and incarcerated in U.S. concentration camps during World War II with her fellow Japanese Americans. Calling themselves "The Crusaders," the girls and women mobilized a morale-boosting letter-writing campaign that ensured that "any soldier missing a letter" would receive mail.

"The performances will be more 'staged' than 'reading,'" explained Warren, who co-produces with Labasan, and directs the play. "Some actors may not be holding scripts, and there will be action sequences, props and costumes."

Warren originally directed and produced "Bits of Paradise" as a Reader's Theater piece at The Marsh Theatre in San Francisco in 2008.

"Bits of Paradise places its footprint on the timeline of a much-needed theatrical examination of the Asian American journey."--Asian Week

Recently, the play was reworked and re-titled "Bits of Paradise: Kochiyama's Crusaders," after Warren joined forces with actor/playwright Ariel Kayoko Labasan, whose solo show, "Yuri Speaks Out!" played to packed houses at the Hollywood Fringe Festival. Labasan will reprise her role as Yuri Kochiyama, portraying the activist from ages 20 to 84.

L.A. Playwright Marlan Warren's "Chasing Sangha" Featured at Athena Cats New Works Fest (4/8/17)

Los Angeles playwright Marlan Warren's play, "Chasing Sangha," has been selected for Athena Cats' New Works Festival of 10-Minute Plays, and will be performed as a staged reading Sat., April 8, at the City Garage in Santa Monica's Bergamot Station Arts Center. The event ties in with SWAN (Support Women Artists Now) Day.

"I'm thrilled Athena Cats invited me to be part of this afternoon of 10-minute plays," said Warren. "Athena Cats--with its focus on women playwrights and directors--is like a dream come true for me."

Athena Cats is the brainchild of playwrights/screenwriters Debbie Bolsky and Laurel Wetzork. This collective of Southern California area female playwrights and directors formed to bring unrepresented works written by women to the stage.

According to the Athena Cats website, the statistics for female playwrights are grim. Twenty-three percent of plays produced during the 2011-2014 season were written by women, according to a Female Playwrights Institute study.

"Our goal is to redress this imbalance," said Athena Cats co-founder Laurel Wetzork.

When Warren's one-act "Bits of Paradise" showcased at The Marsh in San Francisco, it received praise from "Asian Week":

"Based on letters written between Japanese American girls and women in the U.S. internment camps and Japanese American soldiers during World War II, Bits of Paradise places its footprint on the timeline of a much needed theatrical examination of the Asian American journey."

"Chasing Sangha" focuses on a Night in Hell in the California winter desert where two brand new women friends try to achieve mystical enlightenment according to a Shaman Certification course one of them is taking, but Murphy's Law comes along with them. "Sangha" refers to the Buddhist concept of finding strength and protection by bonding with like-minded people.

Spotlight on "Friggin' Whatever" Roots Rock Vet Ron DeSaram: "He even pees like Keith Richards!"

The year is 1980. In the photo that remains, Ron DeSaram can be seen bent over his guitar, massive hair flying in unruly waves against the night sky, anger written across his face in defiant happiness. He looks like he’s wearing all-white, but no way to be sure in this black & white action shot.

“That’s the night they shut the power down on us,” explains Ron, 37 years later, “July Fourth celebration in Lake Worth, Florida. Noise ordinance. Every time they’d tell us to turn the volume down, we’d turn it up.”

Ron DeSaram with his Les Paul Guitar [Photo by Greg Fontenot]

His wife, Nancy DeSaram, adds: “They turned off the power, started up the fireworks and then the palm tree next to the stage caught fire.”

Women's March L.A. 2017

L.A. WOMEN'S MARCH 2017 - MY PHOTOS OF THIS LANDMARK EVENT

Happy Valentine's Day!

At last, I've figured out how to put my Flickr photos from the L.A. Women's March 2017 in a slider on this blog. My apologies that I have not figured out how to not have my other photos on here, which will be included in my documentary, "What did you do in the War, Mama?: Kochiyama's Crusaders."

The film is about human rights activist Yuri Kochiyama and the Women's Movement she started while behind the barbed wire of a Japanese American internment camp during World War II. The photos you'll see here that reflect that film are from a performance of the Purple Moon Project at the Japanese American National Museum and there's one of the wonderful woman we interviewed who was 11 years old when she participated in Yuri's movement.

The beginning photos are the March. I'm sure you'll figure it out.

"Power never concedes without a Demand. It never has and it never will."

Created with flickr slideshow.

Yuri Kochiyama Interview 2009 Segment: "What did you do in the War, Mama...

For the first time since I've been working on this film (since Dec 2008) I was finally able to find a way to post a segment to YouTube (7 min.) that shows the actual video. Very grateful to the Movie Maker software I've been able to put onto this aging computer--although there's no way for me to actually edit the footage yet., This helps anyone who is interested or has donated $ to see what the film would include. Here Yuri at age 87 reads missives from the correspondence campaign she led at age 20 from behind the barbed wire of a U.S. concentration camp, to lift the morale of soldiers and in so doing, lift the morale of herself and the women & girls who participated during their World War II incarceration. Won't you please take a look, leave a comment, donate or whatever moves you to do. Thank you! Many blessings! 
Movie Website:
http://tinyurl.com/YuriFilm