Voice of a Poet...Shanelle Gabriel

Shanelle is one of the poets that made me realize that i want to be a poet, that I want to write if only just to emulate her in any slight way. Shanelle writes poetry that is easily universally appreciated across the board, as well as being clever, witty and always entertaining and intellegent. I'm lucky enough to be able to call her a friend; Point blank, I love her poetry and writing, she's amazing, and If you don't know about Shanelle, Know you know! Get familiar!

NaPoWriMo..16/04/2010

No idea what to call this one. but here's my poem for the day.


I find poems that i've written in the strangest places,
stanzas scibbled on the soles on my feet
on the inlets on my palms
i've found,
metaphors drawn on my lips
and sketched on my hips,
I seem to put poetry
everywhere,
so that I won't forget
its importance.
I went to the fridge the other day
and in between the milk and the butter
there was a poem about,
my vices and my lover,
I found one etched on my bathroom mirror,
drawn in last nites soap bar,
there are poems in my cupboards,
sometimes they spill into my bowl of cereal in the morning,
more then once i've swallowed letters
when I was looking for marshmallows.
I've seen them on the tongues on my shoes
and in the creases of my smile,
i even saw one once scrawled on a strand of my hair,
written with care,
growing with time.
and those, i love to find,
they have become my own personal hide and seek
players
and uncovering, and discovering their presence
only spawns more of their essence.

Voice of a Poet...Queen GodIs

You can't mention poetry without talking about Queen GodIs. Queen GodIs is a poet, mentor, teacher, leader and skillful artist. She has mentored the NY brave New Voices slam team, she's released an album containing her poetry and works, and to put it frankly, her art speaks volumes. And although this video isn't exactly her spitting any slam you still get a glimpse into the amazing gift that this beyond talented poet possesses. Enjoy

Death of a Beauty

Saw this image on tumblr and it inspired me to write my NaPoWriMo poem for 15/04/2010. So here it is.Its kinda short. i think i'll make it longer another day, but for right now, i'm hella tired. and i'm kinda satisfied with it for the moment. Word up to fight club, great film.



I felt like destroying something beautiful today.
So I strung my heart up on a bulls eye
And let the ills of the world pierce its membrane,
I let pain hit its core and tear the epitome of its charm,
And I aimed at it misery to hit it straight on..
I allowed ugly to shred its beauty and darkness to cover its light,
No more will passion boom from its over zealous beats,
Never again, will it become drunk with compassion, and spill over its rations to the reservoir of my soul..
My bow and arrow aim was perfect and ready.
And my usually unreliable hands were strong and steady.
my precision is never far from accurate so I know that there was fatality in the midst of its impact..
And the sad thing is,
It used to be so beautiful.
People used to marvel at its
Charisma,
Used to beg for its attention,
This heart had a fan club, received loved letters, and anonymous I love you's,
This was when it was bondage less and roamed free from life's issues.
But ever since its been captivity.
Its been useless,
Its worth has become less
And who wants to hold onto something that they no longer have use for,
Or that is broken abused and sore..
I mean they shoot horses don't they..
So why not hearts?

11/04/10

Here's my NaPoWriMo Contribution for today...its just a lil quick poem I wrote today while I was in the park. enjoy

Under the belly of cerulean skies,
I've learned that happiness is found in the wake of pain's demise.
In the pit of hopeful eyes, lies, answers to life's forgotten treasures,
Misused jewels,
And uncovering them is comparable to Bradford hitting Plymouth rock
or sir George striking the bermoothes...
Happiness..tells me frequently that
She isn't of the mysterious clan,
Or that she is hidden from the eyes of the common man,
She's evident, always present,
She just isn't always plastered on those who chase her,
Or grinned on the chin of those who waste her.
But always in sight when hurt has reared into life.
She's a mender,
A fix-er upper,
A problem stopper.
Happiness, the pursuit of which I find myself on the tail end of the chase,
But its not a race,
Happiness is like grace,
A blessing,
And always an option for
Open hearts..

Voice of a Poet...Alysia Harris

ok! so in Honor of National Poetry Month i'm going spotlight as many poets that I can onto this blog. They will be poets that I admire and am a fan of and hopefully, my readers will become a fan of theirs too.

To kick it off with the First "Voice of a Poet Spotlight" I'm posting a video of Alysia Harris who is a poet from Philadelphia. She has competed in the Brave New Voices Festival as part of the Philadelphia team she is also a part of Excelano Project which is a Spoken word group within the University of Pennsylvania.

Alysia's words, evoke power, she gracefully projects her poetry in a way that sounds like her heart strings are being played by a full on grammatical philharmonic. (If that makes any sense at all! haha) In any case, shes deep, shes amazing, shes a powerful artist. Enjoy.