Beware the “Ides of April” – A Poem of Dedication

Back in 2002, the mother of a friend of mine was murdered during a robbery that took place at the store her family owned. At that time, this was one of the first experiences I had involving death and though I’ve only met the woman once or twice, seeing her daughter (my friend) deal with the tragedy was an oddly influential moment for me. To this day I always remember April 15th as the day my friend lost a mother but began taking steps in becoming her own woman.

In 2003, when I first started recording I released a song called “Four Seasons Later”. It was an ode of respect, paid in dedication to my friend and her family. 3 years later (2006) I was compelled to redraft the whole thing, and the end product was something entirely different – a spoken word poem called “Ides of April” (a somewhat obscure reference to Ceaser). I discussed the piece with my friend Jacqueline, a fantastic musician and singer from California, and the next thing I knew, she provided a piano instrumental that moved me to record the poem. Last but not least we salvaged some of the lyrics from “Four Seasons Later” and produced the reprise of the song, which Jackie sang hauntingly and beautifully. The track eventually found it’s way unto my mixtape released in 2008, In Transition.

Last night I quickly put together a video, paraphrasing and highlighting the words of the poem/song. I’m not entirely sure why 9 years later this event continues to move me, but I found it appropriate to re-share the song via the new video. From a technical standpoint, there are a lot of imperfections on both the audio and video fronts, but it isn’t now, nor has it ever been about creating a perfect piece of work. At the end of the day the event(s) that inspired this were ugly and horrific but it has ultimately produced beauty via  the lives of the surviving family. I share a similar sentiment about this piece; it may not be the prettiest, most polished work you ever hear, but I believe it to be honest and moving in it’s own right.

And so I hope this may inspire you too.

RIP – 4/15/2002