There is nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has come. - Victor Hugo

I’ve encountered threats of violence several times in my life. One confrontation happened when I was a teenager. I gently stared back into it’s eyes, responded truthfully and walked away. He later became my best friend. His name is Seyed Zoghi.
I am excited to share the good news with you all. I have been accepted and invited to join a short-term delegation to Northern Iraq with CPT (Christian Peacemaker Teams) October 14th-27th. CPT is an organization that works towards peaceful solutions in the midst of places like Colombia, the Kurdish North of Iraq, Israel/Palestine and among the Aboriginal struggles of North America.
What’s in this for me? I have being growing in the ethic and practice of non-violence and undoing racism before I ever heard those words. From rural pasturelands to metropolitan cityscapes, I grew up in 15 different places between Texas, Colorado and Arkansas. I grew up around and had close friends of various backgrounds, races and worldviews. The Sahagians were an Armenian family our family was close to in Houston. I lived with the Mirahmadi-Zoghi’s, an Iranian/Cherokee family, when I moved out of my house at seventeen. I came to understand the difficulty of two cultures clashing and loved my way right in between. I grew up among thieves and drug dealers. I participated in this community of destruction. I have witnessed violence and racism in the south. I have listened to reverse prejudice in California. When I moved to northern California four years ago I was angry and disillusioned. It is here that I have come to know a peace deeper than circumstance. The desire to grow as a peacemaker has reached fruition and this is what has come into my life to follow that dream.
What is in this for you? Like so many great accomplishments for humanity’s betterment, it has come through cooperation. Like relief workers to disaster sites, some go and some send. I see myself as a hand, and you along with many others as the arm that stretches out to touch the lives of Kurdish families living in tent camps, displaced and longing to be at home. My knowing you is what makes undertaking this effort seem doable. I look forward to bringing the stories and images of the Kurdish people I meet back to you. To reveal their hope and their challenges that lie ahead, that we might share in both.
What is in this for others? The Kurdish people have asked for help. We will come alongside locals groups working toward peaceful solutions to their displacement and subsistence level living. Through our journeying and documentation, we will draw awareness to the marginalization of the Kurdish tent camp way of life. By spreading the news of what’s happening in these people’s lives, government officials, social groups and everyday folk will be moved to respond and help.
I want to extend the opportunity of partnering with me in a relational and economic sending. I have $2,900 to raise for the total cost of this trip. If you would like to contribute to this effort, the best avenue is sending a check made out to CPT (Christian Peacemaker Teams), addressed to:
Christian Peacemaker Teams. Box 6508 • Chicago, IL 60680-6508.
Please include along with the check a separate note indicating your donation is to Leland Grammer for the CPT Iraq delegation.

Thank you for your star of friendship in my constellation! Shalom Ya’ll!
~Leland

this way we get down

The world is your turntable.
your cross-fade struck the earth.
time's needle slipped. and
you changed the- mood of a foul
party -record.

Grooves stunnin. kingdom comin.
Warble and woofer. Solar flare
Pop trunk. Mothership crunk.
Celestial hodown.

Centuries change. Nations rage.
Still we rise. Cause you rose.
Plants pierce concrete. children
chant down the bulls of Babylon
on wallet street. an elderly
woman chains her neck to a
tomahawk missile. because you
took the worst the world could
ba rum pa bum BOOM!
and took it to your grave.

Death Bee, where has your stinger gone?
Death Bee, where is your satisfaction?

Now we know.
there is something worth
dying for.
and nothing worth
killing for.

AIN'T GONNA LET NOBODY,

Turn Me Round.
Turn Me Round.
Turn Me Round.

AIN'T GONNA LET NO PRESIDENT,

Turn Me Round.
Turn Me Round.
Turn Me Round.

AIN'T GONNA LET INDIFFERENCE,

Turn Me Round.
Turn Me Round.
Turn Me Round.

AIN'T GONNA LET NO RICHES,

Turn Me Round.
Turn Me Round.
Turn Me Round.

Peter drew his weapon.
to save his love from harm.
blood was shed. then given back.
with a shout to disarm.

Now we are...

Live by the Spirit, die by the sword.
Live a resurrected now, wearing handcuffs.

We give our money away.
to have heaven flowing
round our feet.
kingdom of YHWH hydrant.
flooding the street.
we get down.
suit and tie.
anarchist. simpleton.
porn star. gladiator.
childfolk. and elder.

come celebrate this swarming nest of rebirth.

Our heart is your beat.
and it sounds hard.
we hear a new heartbeat
and Yah, it sounds hard.
Mercy and justice kiss
on the corner and Yah,
love sounds hard.
An iraqi needs a friend
carrying their cross and
Yah, that sounds hard.
the hungry and hurting
need a place at our table,
not the leftovers in our
trash and Yah, that sounds hard.
Creation groans for liberation
and the living turn and breath
dirt over the living and Yah
that sounds hard.

Wake us up and we will follow you
into the night of scorching days,
where Love...

conquers hatred without resorting to aggression.

releases the wounded and imprisoned caught in our
cross-fires.

lifts up every New Orleans and pulls Mt. Rushmore
down on it's face to see who our neighbors all are.

A haggard and bedraggled squirrel with a dingy
wooden mixing spoon went to the United Nations
and spoke to the leaders of the world:

"You create a fine sounding recipe, you just can't yet appreciate
a cake eaten on an earth without borders and flags."

HLY FCK

Gibraltar cries out. just cause-
us humans went hoarse. screaming
like husbands and wives. at each
other with dialects of G-D.

I AM fool. that Almighty clown.
Foolish enough to wag my tongue
of G-D. Knowledge speaks but the
wise listen. so that woman
covered in Solomon's pearl. is Ya'll.

GLISTEN AND CUP! LISTEN UP! LIGHTEN UP!

We unite in death or live apart.
We've been down this road before.
Just ask that Old Sweet Beggar
bout the Queen. They both got hit
by the same GRT LHT.

Capitals were never able to band
or aid our states. What law was
ever able to govern Spirit. Organism!
How great is our love! I declare
the Independence of humanity.
-
A prison system. And we are the bars.
Lined up in rows. Cement our cells.
in blocks. Baton strut back and POP!
Keep your eyes on the Warden!
Stand. Still. Empty of communion!

My man sporting furs.
pussy conquistador.
Scared furious at surrender.
My girl, hungry with power.
Lonely heart and claws razor.
A leopard preying on a predator.

In this traffic jam of skin.
He's playing to exhausted fumes.
She don't know if he erect in heart
when he sticks it in. Call him
muffler. the way he emits.
Reigning King of the Rock. he cut
and cook woman. to inject a
constellation of stars. scrape that
womb G. of all nectar. her milk and
honey. bottled drink from a vending
machine. cause promised lands we
lack. Sacred hips and lips hosanna.
forgotten. dance of the Ancient.
We could never esteem the skin
disguise of Creator in the eyes
of a HLY FCK

picturesque

taken from our pane
made into stained glass
all our cracks
all our colors
glow in the mystery
of the GRT LHT
that now appears

revolution Today

If I could do one revolutionary act today
... I'd listen
If I could do one revolutionary act today
... I'd give my possessions and my friendship
If I could do one revolutionary act today
... I would mind the gap between household and nation
If I could do one revolutionary act today
... I'd give my lovingkindness one more time to 'the undeserving'
If I could do one revolutionary act today
... I would love those who love me
... I would love those who don't love me well
... I would love those who don't love me at all
If I could do one revolutionary act today
... I would close my lips to argument
If I could do one revolutionary act today
... I would give my lunch to one waiting on a paycheck
If I could do one revolutionary act today
... I would work an extra shift so someone could travel the world
If I could do one revolutionary act today
... I'd give my patience to that one annoying person
If I could do one revolutionary act today
... I would encourage those who encourage
If I could do one revolutionary act today
... I would ask my neighbor 'how are you eating?'

If I were the revolution today
... I would be the peace meal of a slain people, shared between the survivors and the killers in places like Rwanda, in Israel/Palestine and in the Americas

If I were the revolution today
... I would be the extended hand, no matter how different.

If I were the revolution today
... hanging in bedrooms of palaces and white houses of power I'd be the dreamcatcher retelling the nightmares of suffering in labor camps, sweatshops, prisons, deserted places of empire and the ghettos of wealth

If I were the revolution today
... I'd be the change of mind in the deathdealer to give living a second try

If I were the revolution today
... I'd be the renovated structure of sex trafficking and drug peddling turned organism of food gardens and no cost housing where 'the haves' and 'the have nots' find a common rhythm to live by

If I were the revolution today
... I'd be the pulse of the doctor who practices medicine among those who will never be able to pay the bill

If I were the revolution today
... I'd be the better world maker's thoughts spray painted in the sky so empires won't crush their heart with a dream no one can afford

Today
... someone will forgive regardless of the wrongdoing

... someone will leave a soon to be dead life behind for a resurrected now

... an unwanted child will be taken from the trashlands and raised to birth love

... a peacemaker will leave a fresh change of heart for an angry mob to clothe their nakedness with

... someone will lay down the way of the gun for the fruits of the Spirit

... a household will harbor refugees

... a family will have enough food to share with their hungry neighbor

... an addict will be released from their chains

... someone will throw a birthday party for a prostitute

... prisoners will bless a cruel guard

... someone will sing jubilee calling for another world in the face of the emperor's sickle

... an aged and dying person will be cared for and instilled with dignity until their last exhale

... a hopeless leader will see a way of peace and hope thriving in the lives of obscure and weak people

narrative story out of Psalm 126

* WHEN THE LORD BROUGHT BACK THE CAPTIVE ONES TO ZION, WE WERE LIKE THOSE WHO DREAM
Unable to sleep, wild-eyed with visions of earth-turning possibilities. We saw the Messiah speaking marvelous things from the mountainside, of a kingdom enchanting us to love our enemy and beat our swords into plowshears to feed the hungry at our tables. Next, we saw our very hands hoisting a cross up, our deliverer fastened by nails, and I couldn’t understand. Then he rose to life. Surely, now we know, there is something worth dying for and nothing worth killing for. Sights so strange and illuminating, they drifted on the edge of absurdity. Silence only made us giddy.
* THEN OUR MOUTH WAS FILLED WITH LAUGHTER AND OUR TONGUE WITH JOYFUL SHOUTING.
All along the road home from exile and in our great city’s streets, people would stand and stare, as if we were walking through the red sea again. From every crowd someone would raise their voice exclaiming
* THE LORD HAS DONE GREAT THINGS FOR THEM.
It became so common, we would simply shout back,
* THE LORD HAS DONE GREAT THINGS FOR US, WE ARE GLAD.
At which point we would turn to each other and smile knowingly.
Time slowly lurched forward. The elation slipped from my brow and nightfall found me with handfuls of salty tears, as I thought about my nation, my city, my own village. So filled with ego, inflated with an unquenchable rumbling for more and eyes forever flitting toward shame. My Creator, my God of cosmic impossibilities, You have been reduced to a trinket in our surplus gift shop. One phrase loops inside me.
* RESTORE OUR CAPTIVITY, O LORD. RESTORE OUR CAPTIVITY. RESTORE OUR CAPTIVITY, LIKE STREAM BEDS.
Turn the ever-changing wilderness of our moody heart into inhabitable dwelling places.
This is the legacy of my Ancestors. This is the story my father spoke of to me. And as I look out my window, momentarily lost in the blue white canopy, I recall all that the Lord has done for me and where he has brought me from. When I look out over this time called America, not much has changed behind the wizard’s curtain of the twenty-first century, with it’s cars and technological advancements. I see the pride, the wanting of it all, the scandal of my father’s ancient city. Aggressive and judgmental I want to say ‘Wake me when I’m free, I cannot bear captivity.’ Then a tear catches my eye as I hear my mother say, as if the very words were ringing in my ears,
* THOSE WHO SOW IN TEARS WILL REAP WITH JOYFUL SHOUTING.
And she would hand me a bag of seed and add, ‘Today…small things with great love.’
My days in the field and the sweat spent toiling with rows and rows of dirt are now concrete and people with their own plot. So I tell the children on my block,
* HE WHO COMES AND GOES WEEPING, CARRYING HIS BAG OF SEED WILL COME AGAIN WITH A SHOUT OF JOY, BRINGING HIS BUNDLES WITH HIM.
Now every morning before I go out I cram every pocket I can find and stuff my mouth with mustard seeds. Another world is possible. It whispers to us. Love is more powerful than hatred. Violence can be mirrored without imitation. There is enough for everyone’s need but not everyone’s greed. The struggle is a gentle revolution that dances on the laughter of children. Delicate dreamers, of such pure nonsense, that the good news of one man could actually erase the entire shoreline of humanity’s bad news.