The cool thing about this art form is that, you know, it's a labor of love. Someone once told me that it's important to find something that you would do for free. And the trick is doing it so well that people are willing to pay you for it. And I find myself, you know, here in these spaces performing sometimes for crowds of five or ten and then other times for crowds of five hundred to a thousand. But you make sure that you give the same energy.
The same love and the same light. No matter what stage you're on. No matter who's in front of you. You never know who needs to hear. Your words. Who needs to share your light. And earlier I heard. You know. passionately talked about the youth and and how important it is to empower young people and so part of of what I have been doing for the past couple of years is mentoring and teaching and using poetry as a catalyst for literacy and student validation and empowerment.
Even in moments when you didn't necessarily mean to. But sometimes being you. Most times being you. All the time being you is enough. But it's up to you to believe it.
So dear Javante I See you hiding behind bars and hooks because that crook stole your hearts daily is a chance to start over Take it We create the pages and stages to our lives like like pins to paper like like bass drums to heartbeats reminding us that we are alive Dear Jame Put your mirror away True beauty lies inside you see parents collide To get atomic bombs like you because it is so so talented we just share them with family and I know
Trust me, I know the seas of this life may get rough. All depending on the wind decides to blow. What I'm saying to you is blow back. There's a well of emotion inside. It's waiting to be released. Dearest Catherine, I looked up the word false the other day. And the word means development or support of something inherently known as good. So see, you've only been passed around, been shuffled around, been moved around so much because everybody needs a little bit of what you got. You see, you...
You pass it out like candy on Halloween. And no, I do not want to build a snowman. But I will help you build your future. The scars. I know it's hard, but hold those books close because now you can write your own story. And to Shibora, I hope these words find you well. Star, don't mute your light. Don't wait to fight. You see sighs.
it's not characteristic of stamina or legacy or stronger than you know plant your roots and grow i mean i mean blossom even i've seen roses go from concrete and names and stain destiny and to trade may your days become longer than your nights may your fights with the abuse of yourself cease you see we are our own worst enemy we don't truly believe the words that we speak
Continue to link your words and ideas on the paper showing the world what you can become. And to will. Do I hear you or no? And I mean, nah, brother, I do. And I see you too. Keep your head held high. I mean, I know it gets heavy, but there's a blessing on your life. There's family created out of passion and similarities. There are keys to locks you never knew existed.
there's twisted fate that leads you here right now you are the sons and daughters i never had a proud dad of seeds that did not plant but continue to water Anyway. Dear me. I see you hiding behind your words. On days, feel free to get out of bed. For friction at your feet. Doubt in your daily. Fear of frozen in your chest. Don't rest. Don't quit. Keep spinning into your mouth. Fun to dry. Keep trying. to be all you say that you can because you can and dear you the world is waiting
The world needs more of you. Thank you. We feed your mind, we feed your body We feed your soul, your soul, your soul, your soul You are at the, the, the, the Poetry Cafe We feed your mind, we feed your body, we feed your soul, your soul, your soul, your soul. Hello and welcome to the one and only P-O-E-T-R-Y Cafe. I'm your host with the most...
Josephus, sit back, relax and enjoy. Here we build. We share our arts, our gifts, our passion, and our joy. Inside the one and only Poetry Poetry Cafe. Yes, yes, it's like you are at the, the, the. Poetry Cafe We feed your mind, we feed your body We feed your soul, your soul, your soul, your soul You are at the, the, the, the Poetry Cafe We feed your mind, we feed your body
We feed your soul, your soul, your soul. Poetry Cafe, y'all. Nobody does it better. All right, so, each artist that comes to the stage tonight deserves as much love and energy as you can give them, so. um i want you to applaud and yell and scream and stomp to share these artists love tonight in the microphone is that cool Yes, yes. So coming first to the stage tonight here at the Poetry Cafe. Make some noise for Debrita, y'all. Coming to the stage next here at the one and only Poetry Cafe.
What's going on? Passionate. Okay, so I am Debrita. I also go by Wild Perfection if anybody has ever heard of that name. And I came all the way from Raleigh to be here with you guys tonight. So glad to be here. So excited. You guys have the best energy ever. So yeah, I'm gonna just get into this poem. Daddy, I want you to know that I am in love with someone.
For the first time, I understand that love is not about falling, it's about levitating. Feeling the weight of failed relationships lifting off of my shoulders, they were so heavy they started breaking skin. He helps me clean the wounds and makes me feel like the most beautiful woman in the world. I wish I could say that you helped me to understand my value but instead I paid for it in other ways.
allowing men to walk all over me like welcome mat it took me this long for me to understand what a home from my heart looked like I never wanted you to call me a princess I just wanted you to give me some idea of what being treated like royalty felt like. Instead of giving me hieroglyphics to understand, you've given me broken images in stone that I keep trying to push together but only seem to spark flames. You could have been smoky.
teaching me how dangerous the forest fires of love could be, but you were smoky, constantly waiting for next Friday to never tell me how near long I was. And I feel the revolt of Chris Tucker in my system. Haven't had a decent role in years, so now I'm a crackhead for attention. Looking for a tall glass of validation with the wrong ice cubes. No wonder I hear bye Felicia more than I hear I love you.
What was the D-boat in your soul when my heart needed you to handle its light work? What were your violin strings when love became a terrible musician? You see, my love life has never been smooth jazz accompanied by saxophone with bass drums on my soul. It has always been Eric B. and Rakim, unrelenting.
I should have known the ledge. Hard hitting bars that cut like they were stolen from jail cells. I can't expect to know what the freedom of love feels like when I watched you hold my mother's heart prisoner for years. It makes sense that I would willingly bail out the men who were guilty of breaking into my heart. I remember when you told me that the beer you drank was medicine. I guess the 40 stood for how many micrograms you needed for the dosage.
You seemed to OD on it until you fell asleep. Maybe to avoid the necessary father-daughter conversations. Maybe communicating with me properly made you sick. Sometimes I wondered if for a little girl. Having a father who was emotionally absent was just as bad as him not being there at all. As if your gifts for me were a fair exchange for your affection. Opening a box of new shoes would never feel the same as unwrapping the words, you are beautiful, from your mouth.
to put onto the soles of my self-esteem instead. I walked the decks of relationships alongside pirates that knew I was an empty treasure box that my daddy didn't know how to fill. And they took whatever they could salvage. I wish you would have kept and hooked me under your ribs for protection. Elise taught me how to Peter Pan my way out. Elise taught me the jewels I carried so I knew what I was worth before I was black bearded.
and i'm not saying that you're a bad father i'm sure if your mother would have loved you like they do in fairy tales you would have never been seen as a big bad wolf and i would have never been little red riding around in hoods that i did not belong in i just I finally understand why it is that he speaks to me in the language of love and I can't understand what he's saying because my father never taught me how to conjugate properly.
You could have been a better Rosetta in stone. I don't need your apologies. Just tell me you love me like it's been waiting to be regurgitated from your mouth. My hands like broken wristwatch waiting for the right time to embrace right now. Daddy, I finally found the love that I feel like I have been missing. I just wish you would have taught me what it looked like so I would have recognized it sooner. Thank you. Okay, I'm not new to writing but I'm new to the stage So that's why I have my phone
I wasn't expecting to do this, but why not lift our kings when they're lifting their queens? So, this is my why. In my darkest hours, you were there even when I didn't want you to be. You held my hand and gently loved me from a distance because you knew my heart couldn't stand the pressure. The many cracks that had formed over a period of time you repaired them with so much finesse and precision. At times I didn't recognize dark from day. You were my one constant light.
I was blinded by so many trees. You simply cleared a path for me. Many times my faith was frozen and I couldn't believe. You reminded me daily that you were praying for me. Not once did I hear you complain. You were my knight in shining armor. Many years ago, I was just too blind to see. But everything works according to his plan. God knew I wasn't ready for what I had been praying for. He had to break me, teach me, then rebuild me.
For my TMOG. That's true man of God, if you didn't know. This is just a portion of my why. I love you. Make some noise if Pride comes to the stage next, y'all. Give it up for Percy, aka Pride, coming to the stage next. Okay, so my name is Percy. Yeah, I'm a corny dude, my bad. my name is percy i also go by pride i am a complex artist so and i'm not saying like i'm very complex that means i do a lot of different types of things but i'm very shy about it so
Yeah, but I was vibing, y'all. I was vibing with y'all this evening. That was dope. Sorry. um okay can y'all um they say y'all can follow right okay all right Lord, please save my soul. I know. I know. Lord, please save my soul. I know. I know. Lord, please save my soul. I know. I know. Lord, please save my soul. I know, I know. I take this time.
just a rhyme simple lines no simple grind a steady shine even the darkness parts of my mind my soul is gifted lifted shifted drifting tell me that i'm tripping flipping say i'm skit so yes it's drifting how I'm flipping baby time will tell if you smell the fire that burns and when I inhale inhale but Heaven's so close Baby can you just hold me close And we'll go Wait Lord please save my soul I know I know
Lord please save my soul I know, I know I ask God so many questions like what's the lesson when we be stressing they say i rhyme too much i take my time too much did i forget the touch forget the love forget the lord above but what's really faith when you put your life at stake and they want to beef they hate when you ride through the streets they hate they hate when you talk no peace but still have peace when you be going through the streets my life is Lord please save my soul I know I know
One last question Like, why? I think like hip-hop, you know Nas Or Jay, see ya bae Like a bee honey through trees you feeling me when I'm seeing you really seeing me this destiny You love it when I run to a beat cuz my heart just beats these One question like, ayo God.
Is music really so close? Cause it took one of the angels that held you close and put a soap down and felt so low. So really what's the pain of our souls? What's this cost? What does it mean to be a boss when you feel like you take a loss? So many L's are blunt to face, don't have to trace the times you sip and drip Sorry I, I flip But Lord please save my soul I know, I know
and pray, real talk. I was asked today about, I'm about to end, but I was asked today, why is Samson one of my favorite books in the Bible? I said that and the prodigal son. Simply that's why I go by pride. You feel me? So I'm going to know. I just want to talk to y'all for a second. What's your strength and what's your weakness?
Everybody has a different religion and everybody has their own mental defense. So like, what are you scheming and how you dreaming? Then you just turn around and ask yourself. Please save myself. Come visit us at Bunbury & Associates, where we take pride in accounting for you. This is my first time being to the Poetry Cafe because Joe wouldn't let me come until I turned 21. And I just turned 21 in October, so...
Aha, Joe, I made it. This poem is fairly new, so I'm going to read it if that's cool. Okay. And on the eighth day, God said, let there be mothers. And legs spread to let out a flow of waters in the form of sons and daughters. We call them oceans and lakes and rivers forever. They flow into each other naturally.
And on the ninth day, God said, let there be grandmothers. And the willows grayed themselves out and hung when the wind blows. You can hear them sing songs of their creator and brush your cheek lightly with a thousand roots comfortably stretched through the...
keeping the original history of the seed growing until all she can do is sprout a million branches that all weep once the bark has rotted and died but still it holds them together and the apples never cease to not to not grow too far from the tree. defying gravity and on the tenth day god said let there be black girl and a new era of the world began a revolutionary creature of epic proportions was born of sea and tree branch alike with
A creature who can stand against the wind and blow back because she can hear willow war cries even when the wind becomes tornado. The black girl has hair that defies gravity and skin that changes color seasonally. but year around the black girl be holy hair so disaster she is so natural water damaged like her mother lets out showers of love and hate and they both dangerous she like tree branch strong She like her grandmother strong. The black girl weeps.
for the black boy as they hustle their lives away to man like they ain't never had a mother nature to keep them grounded the roots are uplifting like cotton picking hands like grandma's hands reaching for god like a growing tree god said black girl was good black girl was with god and black girl was god and jesus wept at the sight of her and she was queen and she was the word
And ain't that good too. The Piedmont Blues Preservation Society presents the 33rd Annual Carolina Blues Festival Saturday and Sunday, May 18th and 19th in downtown Greensboro. Gates open at 2, the blues start at 3. For tickets and info, go to CarolinaBluesFestival.com Again, you're here at the Poetry Cafe. Thank you all for being here. Next to the stage, make some noise for Ziti. Y'all come to the stage. Next, give it up for Ziti. Come to the stage here at the Poetry Cafe.
Peer pressure is something else. I had no intention of coming up. Yeah. So my full name is Zitobile Leslie Zodwan Romalo. I was born in Swaziland, which is also known as the Kingdom of Eswatini. This is the only remaining absolute monarchy on the African continent. And when I was four years old, my parents decided that they wanted to move us to Greensboro, North Carolina, of all places. So I grew up here, but I am definitely an African woman, and I am an American woman.
So this is a poem that I wrote in 1999, so 20 years ago. At the time I was part of a spoken word poetry group called Organic Vibe and I started writing because I loved it and as soon as managers and all the things got involved somehow the love got drained from it and so it's a poem called superstar it was relevant then and it's relevant now It used to be that I would write to see if I could just get one to fill me. Not to entertain, but to simply gain one's compassion for my pain.
I put my pen to paper in preparation for poetry, pouring my heart's pulses for perfection in patterns of prose. But what if my story won't entertain? What if the pieces of thought in my brain don't hold enough flair to maintain a crowd stare at my lips as they tear sound waves through air? Careful of how much of me I should bear to a pool of people who dare critique. my measure. I used to write for pleasure. I liked crying tears of ink onto my personalized college rule tissue.
Entertainment, not an issue. I just built up enough strength to share my story with you because mine didn't always have to rhyme or start on time or end at someone else's drop of a dime. Words were sublime, subconsciously stopping the hands of time to tell all I knew to the few who wanted to listen. I was my own piston. Providing pressure to myself and for myself content with the poems I put on my shelf in my room and doom came to those who chose to test the boom cuz my fuming
Doom came to those who chose to test the boom. Yeah, it's gone now. Assuming my fuming was a joke, so your contracts and deadlines, you can toke.
Cause I choke and spit for the love of it. My high comes from all the hugs I get. I hit points of passion in my joints. With fashion, I anoint masses. Cause lack of love for lyrical labor clashes with... what's real I don't want to be a superstar thank you They make some noise for left y'all get up a left come to the stage next here the poetry cafe Okay I'ma let it build it just a little bit more, then we gon' come and say one, two, one, two.
Kick back, relax, and let yourself go. Get cap free when you get down on the dance floor. If you're shy, get some juice. It'll get you loose. Let your body move and express your truth. You're still, you're getting it for still. Free 99 if you're so still real. Now let's take a look at the wrong still.
real huh let's take a look at the room still we got cool cats and big dogs like it was petco freaks on up to let you suck on they neck bone and the reciprocal we getting wild tonight off the juice yeah yeah that's what the vibe be like see it's the energy for a tranquility mixed with the juice
Ability to catch the vibe or any beat that's bumpin' I gon' catch a groove, baby girl, gon' move Somethin' is change, you ice will get you right Put you in a mood, make you one dude, son Gon' put some mood, gon' groove, or something's change
You ice will boost your night. You ain't too cool, now you're just smooth, crying. Going for some move, going groove or something. Break it down, going, going, break it down. Break it down, going, going, break it down. Break it down, going, going, break it down. We the kings in the town, so you know we break it down. Break it down, go on, go on, break it down. Break it down, go on, go on, break it down. We got the juice tonight, and the vibe is right. So you know I'm about to get on down.
Once again, it's the diabolical. The kid that swagged up to his last hair follicle. The one with the juice just roaming in his molecules. The mastermind behind everything that you've hopped into. Your honey mustard, never been a buster. The visionary that always seemed to be up to something.
Wait a minute, let it marinate, plug on the vibes, go and elevate Let the music just put you in a better state And all together now, that ain't my better state Never hesitate to put a racist in their place, tell them that they so rich I'm punching Nazi in the face, cause we ain't second rate We're the originals, now step back and let me just show you what a cranky do
You ice will get you right, put you in a mood, make you undo something, gone bust a boom, gone groove and something to shake. You ice will boost your name, you ain't too cool, now you're just smooth. Let me show you how I really do this I step up on the mic spitting that fire like it's fluid so it's more like high five now call me a high five but not a young pyro or a young spyro Dragon of the West you can call me young Iroh cause I'll be the best
and my enemies can die slow. So don't try me unless you want to die, bro. L-E-F be the name. Top five like Dylan. I just be rhyming. They don't know me. I just come back and there's words on the street. You don't even know this is all off the dome. But this is how I knew I ain't even in my home.
so comfortable doing what i'm doing and i know that they love me so i had to Goddamn, feelin' like the goddamn man Got the work in my goddamn hands I am left and I do this Y'all don't understand, my words be the truth Comin' just like it's true And y'all don't know how I do it, but I'm doin' it This is how I go and I can't breathe Goddamn, wish I had some That was a Nice Alright, this is what I need y'all to do. Say J-U-Ice. I said J-U-Ice. Say J-U-Ice. And I'm done.