La Forrest Cope
Acorns
We can’t be all things to our children
We can’t be their guidance counselors, their muses, their mentors, and their parents
all at the same time
but we can be acorns
for them to trip over and keep in their pockets
We can be the ones who see them for who they are
when they look to us
We can have hopes
but not too detached from their orbit of Mars
for they look at us from a future
we don’t belong to.
Our Song
1. Its Breath
The first time I heard you sing
light poured down through a hole in the clouds
Tears filled my eyes and
the wind held its breath
How can I build my hope in you?
I will sing in your choir
and watch you while you worship
No one will notice
2. In the Center
With just a little luck
we will be another story
The one that was meant to happen
The intended story
We will curl up in the stillness
in the center of the dark
where faith sings the tune
that we learned by heart
3. The Wreckage
We will become better than
what we are now
When they dig through the ruins
I hope they can use something
that we’ve left behind
Somewhere in the wreckage
our song will be written
by us, and by heart.
Sea Cliff Unplugged
I was there.
Lost in the crowd, standing up, sitting down,
drinking too much, watching MFA writers read,
not worrying—just wondering if.
If you got my text: A-r-e y-o-u c-o-m-i-n-g?
You text me back: I was the only one
I rub my cheek—and no, it doesn’t come off see?
I am the only one of us
here. It’s too late so I concentrate
on the chorus and join the parade; did I hear someone say…
you were there?
Now whenever I lose my keys
Or misplace a pen,
confuse north and south
with east and west
and beginnings with ends,
or any small snafu, I’ll name it after you
accompanied by a vow of at least
an intoxicating dream of that time when…
we were there.
Like two strawberries trapped
in two flutes of champagne. Separated
by glass, by people in the present and lovers
in our past, it fills me
with a longing
a touch of regret—a descending lassitude
I seem to always get
when my desire
is elusive. Nobody
told you and you never asked but…
I was there.
LaForrest Cope received the National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship to study composition at the Juilliard School, launching several careers, most notably, Whitney Houston’s first number one hit single. The fiery “YOU GIVE GOOD LOVE.” earned LaForrest (a/k/a LALA) a Grammy Award for Best R&B Song nomination in 1985. When she returned to her home in Queens, she was appointed Substitute Full-Time Lecturer in York’s English Department. LaForrest holds an M.F.A. in Creative Writing and Literary Translation from Queens College after graduating cum laude earning her English B.A. In 2016 opening on off-Broadway in Return to LALA Land with a performance piece that sold-out the 13th Street Repertory Theater solidified her as a playwright. LALA’s nonfiction book, SOULSHAKER will be published next year. Currently, she is honored to be asked to help build a brand-new soul and funk music licensing company with Warren McRae and Trevor Gale, Street Beats Music (SBM) Licensing for Film and Television. Clients such as T-Mobile, CBS Sports, OWN, and BET have already liked what they heard and signed licensing deals with SBM. It is just the beginning of the musical force LALA intends to work with others to bring back and digitally market soul and funk music in 2021 and the years to come.
