Poetry Is...

Poetry is spirit
trying
to
get
at
something...

Like staying up
way late
in the night
playing tag with sleeplessness...














Poetry is passion rushing in and out of itself...

Like the hurried music of Baraka and Shange
Alive and soaring through space and back...

Poetry is pain not having a resting place
You can't hold it
Put it down
Or leave it
Because it's indefinite
And yet, you create it...

Poetry is anger raging through your veins
You can't hold it
Put it down
Or leave it
Because it's much bigger than you
And yet, you control it...

Poetry is pleading for resurrection
For love to come in...

And this time maybe
To stay...





Poetry is spirit...










...trying to get at something.*



Recent readings at Sister's Uptown Bookstore on Amsterdam Ave and 156th Street where Harlem meets D.R. This time Yaco (It's not Obama time, but our time!), Walter Goolsby (I hate you! I hate you! I love you!!!), Reynard Harris' harmonica and American slaves storytelling, Corey Spencer (You kill me, you make me!), Gregory Joseph Foster, Jr.'s Black Love Notes, along with our host and griot, Brother Steven, and then me trying to get at something...

Sister's Bookstore will be celebrating their 10th anniversary on Saturday, January 30th from 1-9p and owner (and Mother), Jannifer Wilson is inviting all performers and those who support them to come join in on this important event; important, not only for the cultural aspect of it but also and especially because of the number of Black owned bookstores becoming virtually extinct in the Community. Sister's is one of the very few spots still around that offers a space for african-centered poets, writers and storytellers to give their voice. So keep January 30th in mind. Support the arts. Support Us!




*From my first book of poems, The Dredlocks Tree