Showing posts with label spoken word. Show all posts
Showing posts with label spoken word. Show all posts
Friday, January 31, 2014
Sunday, March 10, 2013
The Late Poet Gabrielle "Gabby" Bouliane: Don't You Dare Waste Your Time
This was the first post of The Inspired Word blog, exactly three years ago. It's a video of poet Gabrielle "Gabby" Bouliane. This is Gabrielle's final spoken word performance. It took place on Dec. 9, 2009 in Austin. She died of a rare form of cancer around two months later, in late January 2010, at just 43 years old. The power of this piece continues to move me, as I'm sure it will move you. The Inspired Word blog is dedicated to her. May she rest in peace.
Monday, October 1, 2012
NEWS ALERT - 1st Annual Spokenword Billboard Awards Names The Inspired Word as Country's Top Venue of the Year!
Thanks so much to the Billboard Spokenword Awards committee! We're honored - and inspired!
For the winners in all the categories, click here
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Videos - HBO Def Poetry Star Beau Sia @ The Inspired Word
HBO Def Poetry Star Beau Sia @ Mike Geffner Presents The Inspired Word, Thursday, Sept. 22, 2011, One and One Bar/Restaurant, Nexus Lounge, Manhattan, NYC. Hosted by Gemineye.
Spoken word poet Beau Sia has toured Europe and the U.S. and was one of the true superstars on HBO Def Poetry. He authored the poetry book A Night Without Armor II: The Revenge as well as the spoken word CD's Attack! Attack! Go! and Dope and Wack. His work also appears in numerous anthologies including Bum Rush the Page: A Def Poetry Jam, and he has appeared in several documentary films, Slamnation, Slam, and Race is the Place. He was featured in the 2000 ESPN X Games and on Hardball with Chris Matthews, Last Call with Carson Daly, Showtime at the Apollo, The Today Show, and The Tony Awards. His film career expanded to include Hitch, with Will Smith, and The Manchurian Candidate, with Denzel Washington. He is one of the original cast members in Def Poetry Jam on Broadway, a 2003 Special Event Tony Award Winner.
This event was funded in part by Poets & Writers, Inc. with public funds from New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency.
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
George Carlin's Spoken Word Gem "Modern Male"
"I’m a modern man, a man for the millennium. Digital and smoke-free. A diversified multicultural, postmodern deconstruction that is anatomically and ecologically incorrect. I’ve been uplinked and downloaded, I’ve been inputted and outsourced, I know the upside of downsizing, I know the downside of upgrading. I’m a hightech lowlife. A cutting edge, state of the art, bicoastal multitasker, and I can give you a gigabyte in a nanosecond!
"I’m new wave, but I’m old school, and my inner child is outward bound. I’m a hotwired, heatseeking, warmhearted cool customer, voice-activated and biodegradable. I interface with my database, my database is in cyberspace, so I’m interactive, I’m hyperactive and from time to time I’m radioactive.
"Behind the eight ball, ahead of the curve, ridin' the wave, dodgin' the bullet and pushin' the envelope. I’m on point, on task, on message and off drugs. I’ve got no need for coke and speed. I've got no urge to binge and purge. I’m in the moment, on the edge, over the top and under the radar. A high concept, low profile, medium range ballistic missionary. A streetwise smart bomb. A top gun bottom feeder. I wear power ties, I tell power lies, I take power naps and run victory laps. I’m a totally ongoing big-foot, slam dunk, rainmaker with a proactive outreach. A raging workaholic. A working rageaholic. Out of rehab and in denial!
"I’ve got a personal trainer, a personal shopper, a personal assistant and a personal agenda. You can’t shut me up. You can’t dumb me down because I’m tireless and I’m wireless, I’m an alpha male on beta blockers.
"I’m a nonbeliever and an overachiever, laid back but fashion forward. Upfront, downhome, low rent, high maintenance. Supersized, long lasting, high definition, fast acting, oven ready and built to last. I’m a hands-on, footloose, kneejerk head case pretty maturely post-traumatic, and I’ve got a love child that sends me hate mail.
"But I’m feeling, I’m caring, I’m healing, I’m sharing-- a supportive, bonding, nurturing primary caregiver. My output is down, but my income is up. I took a short position on the long bond and my revenue stream has its own cashflow. I read junk mail, I eat junk food, I buy junk bonds and I watch trash sports. I’m gender-specific, capital intensive, user-friendly and lactose intolerant.
"I like rough sex. I like tough love. I use the 'F' word in my e-mails and the software on my harddrive is hardcore - no soft porn.
"I bought a microwave at a mini-mall; I bought a minivan at a megastore. I eat fast food in the slow lane. I’m toll-free, bitesized, ready-to-wear and I come in all sizes. A fully equipped, factory authorized, hospital tested, clinically proven, scientifically- formulated medical miracle. I’ve been pre-washed, pre-cooked, pre-heated, pre-screened, pre-approved, pre-packaged, post-dated, freeze-dried, double-wrapped, vacuum-packed and I have an unlimited broadband capacity.
"I’m a rude dude, but I’m the real deal. Lean and mean! Cocked, locked and ready to rock. Rough, tough and hard to bluff. I take it slow, I go with the flow, I ride with the tide. I’ve got glide in my stride. Drivin' and movin', sailin' and spinnin', jivin' and groovin', wailin' and winnin'. I don’t snooze, so I don’t lose. I keep the pedal to the metal and the rubber on the road. I party hearty and lunch time is crunch time. I’m hangin' in, there ain’t no doubt and I’m hangin' tough, over and out!"
— George Carlin
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Video - Musician Robin Andre & Poet Erica Miriam Fabri @ The Inspired Word
Musician Robin Andre & Poet Erica Miriam Fabri (The Robin & The Lady Poet) @ Mike Geffner Presents The Inspired Word, Thursday, March 24, 2011 @ One and One Bar/Restaurant, Nexus Lounge, Manhattan, NYC.
The Robin and the Lady Poet are a hybrid-mix of music, poetry and performance. Robin Andre (musician, singer/songwriter and performer) and Erica Miriam Fabri (poet and performer) are NYC-based artists and partners in love. Their work embraces romantic and political storytelling and a touch of sexy humor and genuine heart goes into all that they do. For more info, please visit http://ericafabri.wordpress.com/.
The Inspired Word is New York City's hottest new spoken word poetry series happening every Thursday night in downtown Manhattan, produced by longtime writer/journalist and former Village Voice columnist Mike Geffner and hosted by 3-time Def Poetry star Gemineye.
Videographer: Elaine Delehant
Music by Toni Blackman, "Ha Ha."
http://www.toniblackman.com/
Video - Actress/Poet LaTonia Phipps @ The Inspired Word
LaTonia Phipps @ Mike Geffner Presents The Inspired Word, Thursday, April 7, 2011 @ One and One Bar/Restaurant, Nexus Lounge, Manhattan, NYC.
Phipps, actress, spoken word poet and educator, received a MFA in Acting from Brooklyn College and was last seen in "With Aarons Arms Around Me" at The Cherry Lane Theater. In 2010 Phipps debuted with her solo performance project, written and performed by Phipps, titled "Fishing in Brooklyn," last seen at the highly acclaimed Theater Row, featuring slam poetry, dance, drama and 16 humorous characters. Phipps is currently working on a book of poetry and short stories titled, "My Words Heal." To stay informed on "Fishing'In Brooklyn," or any upcoming projects email fiblatonia@gmail.com.
The Inspired Word is New York City's hottest new spoken word poetry series happening every Thursday night in downtown Manhattan, produced by longtime journalist and former Village Voice columnist Mike Geffner and hosted by 3-time HBO Def Poetry star Gemineye.
Videographer: Elaine Delehant
Music by Toni Blackman.
http://www.toniblackman.com/
Video - Poet Eliel Lucero @ The Inspired Word
Poet Eliel Lucero @ Mike Geffner Presents The Inspired Word, Thursday, March 24, 2011 @ One and One Bar/Restaurant, Nexus Lounge, Manhattan, NYC.
Lucero is a native New Yorker of Afro Dominican descent. He is a poet and a DJ. His work appears in the International Poetry Review (The University of North Carolina at Greensboro ) and in Barber Shop Chronicles (penmanship press). He has performed his work, all over NYC, The Bay Area, Eugene Oregon, Baltimore, D.C. and Honolulu. He has served as co-editor of the Acentos Review, an Urban Word Mentor, a facilitator with the Alzheimer's Project, Production Manager of the Bowery Poetry Club, and DJ/Poet/Series Consultant for The Inspired Word.
The Inspired Word is New York City's hottest new spoken word poetry series happening every Thursday night in downtown Manhattan, produced by longtime writer/journalist and former Village Voice columnist Mike Geffner and hosted by 3-time Def Poetry star Gemineye.
Videographer: Elaine Delehant
Music by: Toni Blackman, "Ha Ha."
http://www.toniblackman.com/
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Poet Charan P. Morris @ The Inspired Word
Poet Charan P. Morris @ Mike Geffner Presents The Inspired Word, Thursday, Feb. 3, 2011 @ One and One Bar/Restaurant, Nexus Lounge, Manhattan, NYC.
Videographer: Elaine Delehant
Music by Oveous - "Never Stop" (w/ Quetzal Guerrero)
http://oveous.blogspot.com/
Video - Poet David Lawton @ The Inspired Word
Poet David Lawton @ Mike Geffner Presents The Inspired Word, Thursday, April 7, 2011 @ One and One Bar/Restaurant, Nexus Lounge, Manhattan, NYC.
Lawton is an actor, singer, and performance poet who is the curator/host of The Inspired Word's sister series. the JujoMukti Tea Lounge Spoken Word Sundays. He studied theatre at Boston University, and appeared Off-Broadway in "Aven'U Boys" and "Goose and Tom Tom." For ten years he sang backing vocals with the legendary downtown band Leisure Class. He participated in the inaugural performance at the Yippie Museum Cafe with John Sinclair, Mulligan's Underground WordRock Fest, the first Inspired Word Night of Stars, and as co-host and producer of "Downtown Does Huncke for His Birthday."
Videographer: Elaine Delehant
Music by: Toni Blackman.
http://www.toniblackman.com/
Performance Poet Ayo The Nigerian Nightmare @ The Inspired Word
Spoken word artist Ayo The Nigerian Nightmare @ Mike Geffner Presents The Inspired Word, Thursday, April 7, 2011 @ One and One Bar/Restaurant, Nexus Lounge, Manhattan, NYC.
Ayo is a dynamic performance poet/musician living in Brooklyn, NY. He has two albums available on iTunes: http://tinyurl.com/3y4bnv8. For more on Ayo, please visit http://www.ayoinmotion.com/
The Inspired Word is New York City's hottest new spoken word poetry series happening every Thursday night in downtown Manhattan, produced by longtime journalist and former Village Voice columnist Mike Geffner.
Videographer: Elaine Delehant
Music by Toni Blackman
http://www.toniblackman.com/
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
HBO Def Poet Paul S. Flores @ The Inspired Word - Part 2
Spoken Word Poet Paul S. Flores @ Mike Geffner Presents The Inspired Word, Thursday, April 14, 2011 @ One and One Bar/Restaurant, Nexus Lounge, Manhattan, NYC.
This is the second of two parts.
Videographer: Elaine Delehant
Music by Oveous - "Is This Real?"
Tuesday Night NYC Open Mic Joint Set to Debut June 7 - Hosted by Nathan P.!
The Inspired Word's NYC Open Mic Joint makes its grand debut on Tuesday, June 7!
This will be a weekly Tuesday night series open to all types of artists - comedians, musicians, storytellers, singers, poets, fiction/nonfiction writers, playwrights, spoken word artists, performance artists, dancers, ANYTHING and EVERYTHING.
Hosted by the legendary Nathan P.
25-30 slots, 5 minute time limit.
Our goal: to be the BEST open mic variety event in NYC.
The venue: One & One (downstairs Nexus Lounge), 76 E 1st St (corner of 1st Ave), Manhattan, New York City
Phone: (212) 598-9126
Doors open for signup @ 6:30pm
Showtime @ 7:30pm
Cover charge: $10
NO AGE LIMIT!
Please follow us on Twitter @ http://twitter.com/NYCOpenMic and look for us on Facebook!
Saturday, May 14, 2011
HBO Def Poetry Star Paul S. Flores @ The Inspired Word NYC Spoken Word
Spoken Word Poet Paul S. Flores @ Mike Geffner Presents The Inspired Word, Thursday, April 14, 2011 @ One and One Bar/Restaurant, Nexus Lounge, Manhattan, NYC.
Paul S. Flores, one of the most influential Latino performance artists in the country, is a published poet, playwright, novelist, and co-founder of Youth Speaks. Flores was raised in Chula Vista, California near the Mexican border. He moved to San Francisco in 1995 where he co-founded the Latino poetry performance group Los Delicados: Poetas del Sol and recorded the spoken word CD Word Descarga (Calaca Press, 2000). His performance projects have taken him from HBO's Def Poetry to Havana, Cuba, Mexico City, and El Salvador. He is the 2003 PEN Award winning author of the novel Along the Border Lies, and his most recent play REPRESENTA! was directed by Danny Hoch, commissioned by the San Francisco International Arts Festival and presented by the Hip-Hop Theater Festival 2007. Flores holds an MFA in Creative Writing, and teaches Hip-Hop Theater and Spoken Word at the University of San Francisco. He is married with two children and lives in San Francisco.
The Inspired Word is New York City's hottest new spoken word poetry series happening every Thursday night in downtown Manhattan, produced by longtime writer/journalist and former Village Voice columnist Mike Geffner and hosted by 3-time HBO Def Poetry star Gemineye.
Videographer: Elaine Delehant
Music by Oveous - "Is This Real?"
NYC Youth Poet Laureate Justin Long-Moton @ The Inspired Word
NYC Youth Poet Laureate Justin Long-Moton @ Mike Geffner Presents The Inspired Word, Thursday, April 28, 2011 @ One and One Bar/Restaurant, Nexus Lounge, Manhattan, NYC. Host: Erica Bradshaw.
Long-Moton is an ambitious and talented writer/performance poet and activist. Born in Harlem, New York, and now residing in the Bronx, he has quickly become a force to be reckoned with on the spoken word slam scene. He has performed and competed in world renowed venues across the country, including the Apollo Theater, and such local places as New Amsterdam Theater on Broadway and Saban Theater, just to name a few. He's one of the six members of the 2010 Urban Word NYC Slam Team that took top honors at the Brave New Voices International Youth Poetry Slam this past summer in Los Angeles, the 2010 Knicks Poetry Slam Champion, and currently serving as New York City's Youth Poet Laureate. Now a 17 year old senior in high school, he finds himself searching for what it really means to be a man -- believing all life has a purpose. He prides himself for his courage and inability to bow down to life's obstacles. Next fall Justin intends on pursuing a degree in both journalism and English education.
The Inspired Word is New York City's hottest new spoken word poetry series happening every Thursday night in downtown Manhattan, produced by longtime writer/journalist and former Village Voice columnist Mike Geffner.
Filmed and Edited by: Laurence Wallace
http://www.laurencewallace.com/
Music by: Oveous
http://oveous.blogspot.com/
2 Videos - Spoken Word Legend Taalam Acey @ The Inspired Word
Spoken Word Legend Taalam Acey @ Mike Geffner Presents The Inspired Word, Thursday, Feb. 3, 2011 @ One and One Bar/Restaurant, Nexus Lounge, Manhattan, NYC.
Acey, a child of the Newark Rebellion, was raised by a single mother who was a member of the famed writer and activist Amiri Baraka's community organization. Acey is an independent artist whose work has been featured frequently on TV One and was selected as the original "number one thing you need to know about" on BET's countdown show, "The 5ive."
Over the years, BET has featured and aired roughly a half dozen segments featuring Acey. He ranks among the vanguard of artists who use the internet to connect with listeners. Likewise, his YouTube videos have been seen by more than a half million viewers and he has tens of thousands of social network contacts.
The Newark, NJ native's poetry has appeared in Essence Magazine and Susan Taylor, the magazine's Editor Emeritus, personally invited Acey to perform for an audience of six thousand at The Essence Music Festival in New Orleans. Acey was honored to be a guest of Congresswoman Maxine Waters for the Congressional Black Caucus' 2007 & 2008 "Young Gifted and Black" panels.
He has shared his work in several countries and approximately one hundred schools of higher education; including the prestigious Graduate School of Education at UC Berkeley, where he delivered a lecture on contemporary Spoken Word.
He has recorded more than a dozen CDs and authored four books. Additionally, films that include his work have garnered an Audience Award (2002) and a Special Jury Prize (2006) at the Sundance Film Festival. He was featured in an acclaimed Radio-One London slam poetry documentary and Marc Smith, the founder of slam poetry, used Acey's work in his definitive book. He currently resides in Baltimore, Maryland.
"You have so, so much inspired me with your Spoken Word," said the legendary Stevie Wonder, while interviewing Taalam Acey, during Wonder's own birthday celebration in May 2008.
For more info on Acey, please visit http://www.taalamacey.com/
The Inspired Word is New York City's hottest new spoken word poetry series happening every Thursday night in downtown Manhattan, produced by longtime writer/journalist and former Village Voice columnist Mike Geffner.
Videographer: Elaine Delehant
Music by Oveous - "Never Stop" (w/ Quetzal Guerrero)
http://oveous.blogspot.com/
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Video - Poet/Musician Tai Allen @ The Inspired Word
Poet/Musician Tai Allen @ Mike Geffner Presents The Inspired Word, Thursday, 2011 @ One and One Bar/Restaurant, Nexus Lounge, Manhattan, NYC.
Allen is a poet, singer, musician, designer and multi-talented artist. His influences range from Bob Marley and Aretha Franklin to Norman Connor and Gil Scot-Heron to the Beatles and Post-Modernism. His writing and essays have appeared in Bomb Magazine, Uptown Magazine Online, the NYC Underground (France) and the Daily Challenge. Tai's chapbook, Easy Readin, and companion CD, For Easy Readin, have been featured on BET/CentricTV, Soultracks and Nu-Soul Magazine. He is the National Poetry Awards 2010 Winner for best album and was a nominee for best single.
The Inspired Word is New York City's hottest new spoken word poetry series happening every Thursday night in downtown Manhattan, produced by longtime writer/journalist and former Village Voice columnist Mike Geffner.
Videographer: Elaine Delehant
Music by: maJOR LEAGUE, "ROC HORN SOUL"
www.keenentertainmentgroup.com
2 Vids! Legendary Performance Poet jessica Care moore @ The Inspired Word
Legendary performance poet jessica Care moore @ Mike Geffner Presents The Inspired Word, Thursday, Jan. 27, 2011 @ One and One Bar/Restaurant, Nexus Lounge, Manhattan, NYC.
jessica Care moore is an internationally renowned poet, playwright, actor, activist, producer and CEO of Moore Black Press. She is the author of The Words Don't Fit in My Mouth, The Alphabet Verses The Ghetto, God is Not an American, and a forthcoming book of essays, Literary Apartheid. She has performed her poems and solo theater shows all over the United States, in South Africa, and across Europe. From her Broadway performances at Carnegie Hall, or Harlem's Apollo Theater, London's Institute of Contemporary Arts, to New York's Jazz at Lincoln Center, moore believes poems belong everywhere and to everyone.
Her new show, The Missing Project:Pieces of the D is an international storytelling live art music show that features an experimental jazz orchestra and the work of graffiti artist Antonio "Shades" Agee.Her debut rock album, Black Tea will be out when it's finished! moore continues to push the boundaries of genre, with her first conceptual art installation, NANOC: I Sing The Body Electric, opening at Dell Pryor Gallery in 2011. She lives in Detroit, where she is completing her memoir, Love is Not the Enemy, and raising the 4-year old love of her life, King Thomas.
For more info, please visit http://www.mooreblackpress.com/
This event was funded in part by Poets & Writers, Inc. with public funds from New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency.
The Inspired Word is New York City's hottest new spoken word poetry series happening every Thursday night in downtown Manhattan, produced by longtime writer/journalist and former Village Voice columnist Mike Geffner.
Videographer: Elaine Delehant
Music by: maJOR LEAGUE, "ROC HORN SOUL"
http://www.keenentertainmentgroup.com/
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
GreenPiece: Eco-Activism in Poetry, Music, & Prose w/Host John Fugelsang - Thursday, April 21
In honor of Earth Day,The Inspired Word presents GreenPiece: Eco-Activism in Poetry, Music, & Prose - a star-studded fundraiser for the non-profit organization Rock 'n Renew http://www.rocknrenew.com/10/
Hosted by the wonderful actor/comedian/TV personality John Fugelsang.
Featured artists: Performance poet/multi-instrumentalist/singer/songwriter Ngoma Hill, musician Roderick Romero, Jarabe del Sol of The ReadNex Poetry Squad, the Strike Anywhere Performance Ensemble, singer/songwriter/ pianist Justin Baron, actress/performance poet/climate change activist/filmmaker Shetal Shah, husband-and-wife duo Lythion Music, The Glazzies band, musician Sean Lynam, and spoken word poets Caroline Rothstein, Ceez Liive, Nathan P., Alysia Harris, Natalagé Davis, and Jonathan Walton!
100% of the proceeds go to Rock 'n Renew.
Rock n' Renew will be providing green door prizes and green trivia winner give-a-ways throughout the night.
*****
Did you know that each gallon of fuel releases 20 pounds of carbon dioxide into the air?
Did you know that approximately 5 million tons of oil produced in the world each Year ends up in the ocean?
Did you know that the amount of wood and paper we throw away is enough to heat 50 million homes for 20 years?
Did you know that over 40% of all tropical forests have been destroyed and another acre is lost each second.
Did you know that more than 100 million Americans live in urban areas where the air is officially classified by the EPA as unsafe to breathe?
Please join us on this special night and MAKE A DIFFERENCE!
*****
When: Thursday, April 21, 2011
Where: One and One Bar & Restaurant (downstairs Nexus Lounge)
76 East 1st Street (corner of 1st Avenue)
Manhattan, NYC
Phone: (212) 598-9126
Doors Open: 6:00pm
Minimum Donation: $20 (though you're certainly welcome to give more).
*****
HOST BIO:
He received the award for “Outstanding NYC Monologist” at Lincoln Center from the Manhattan Association of Cabarets and Clubs. He’s been a contributor to CNN, FOX News, CNBC, NPR, Air America Radio, and FOX News radio, and has performed for American Troops on their humanitarian mission to Haiti.
He is currently developing a screenplay about Black Site Prisons for Inventure Films, writing a book about Christianity and Politics, and recently wrapped roles in the independent features “The Whole Truth” opposite Elizabeth Rohm and Eric Roberts and "Price Check" opposite Parker Posey. He is the son of an ex-Nun and a former Franciscan Brother/history teacher. He lives in New York City and Hollywood, CA.
ARTISTS BIOS:
Roderick Romero’s latest work is a collaboration with musician Laurie Anderson for the Novartis Campus in Basel Switzerland. He has designed and built over 30 Treehouses on four continents. Clients include- Sting, Donna Karan, Julianne Moore, and Val Kilmer. His band (with wife Anisa), Sky Cries Mary, has recorded over 12 albums and has toured throughout North America and Asia. In 1994 Sky Cries Mary was the first band to broadcast live on the World Wide Web. They then went on to play the Conan Obrian Show and the John Stewart Show.
Singer/songwriter/ pianist Justin Baron is a Pennsylvania native. A blend of soul, rock, jazz, pop, indie and classical define Baron’s music. As a child, he casually accomplished prodigious renditions of Debussy, Bach and Beethoven. Using his uncanny ability to seamlessly fuse different genres, Baron quickly joined the Philadelphia singer-songwriter scene.
Sean Lynam got his start fronting Chicago ska band A Girl Named Craig and, years later, formed alt. rock band, Speak Her Language. Following impressive releases from both bands, Sean has since emerged as multi-talented and well-rounded solo artist. Influences from Elvis Costello and Jackson Browne help in defining a sound that's uniquely his own; Lynam has made appearances on Mancow's Morning Madhouse and Q101 (chicago's #1 Rock station), executed a number of successful Midwestern tours, and opened for bands such as Nas, Motion City Soundtrack, Allister, The Toasters, Matt Nathanson, and Punchline.
Jonathan Walton is a spoken word performer raised in the rural town of Brodnax, Virginia, who attended Columbia University and was mentored in InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. The publishing of his second book (The Second Verse) prompted him to go on tour raising money for children in Northern Uganda and soon after he became a member of Poetic People Power and justice and poetry were fused together forever. Since 2006, Jonathan has been a member of World Vision's Speaker's Bureau and an Sponsored artists advocating for children around the corner and around the world. Now as the New York City Urban Project Director for InterVarsity Christian Fellowship he aims to create catalytic programs that will develop volunteers and students with the character and capacity that can change the world.
Natalagé Davis, a member of the 2010 Urban Word Poetry Team. She has frequently competed locally, and over the summer, participated in the 2010 Brave New Voices Festival in Los Angeles, where her team clenched the title due to her perfect score on her poem "Colors" in the final round, becoming the National Teen Poetry Team Champions. In her poem "Colors" she recreates a plea to an absent mother whose favorite color she has never known. Davis beseeches her mother, who loved “on a grayscale,” to allow Davis to be “the color that makes you smile. There is Technicolor lin- ing the inside of my elbows,” she continued. “So hug me, mom.” She was recently featured on the HBO special presentation, “Brave New Voices 2010,” a seven part series chronicling the teams journey through the festival and the final slam.
Made up of members Peter Landi on lead vocals and guitar, along with Gabe Burford on bass, The Glazzies are a band that tries to make every performance and recording of themselves as energetic and raw as possible. With some of Peter's main influences being Dinosaur Jr., The Vines, and Nirvana, The Glazzies sound as if their music would fit more in the decade that Peter and Gabe were born in. "Remember the name The Glazzies. A& R executives will soon be fighting to sign the band." - Page Six, New York Post
*****
*****
Mike Geffner
Founder/Producer
Brigitte Viellieu-Davis
Artistic Director/Associate Producer
Marvin Mendlinger
Assistant Director
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Poet Charan P. Morris @ The Inspired Word - Poem "Dismembered" & Pics
Dismembered
(Persona of veteran Lashawn Linton, who assaulted an air force recruiter at the 125th St recruiting office)
“Air force recruiter leaving work was brutally stabbed by a crazed woman in Harlem yesterday.”
Field reporters never tell the whole story
when its complicated, like how blown off
arms and legs of bodies
spray wings of
blood and fly
away
from them.
No ceremoniously folded flag
or factory made purple heart
will make the families of the ones
who didn’t make it back
in even partial living pieces
see honor sitting in their dinner table’s empty chair.
“Lashawn Linton the 28 year old suspect - served in the Air Force, according to her father.”
No reporters asked me what happened.
Why an air force veteran turned on her own,
just mention my weekly therapy appointment,
like half this damn city
don’t rely on therapy
to get by.
These fuckin’ low budget veteran therapy appointments
can’t begin to sop up the dead bodies flooding tsunami-like
in my sleep, or while idle on the subway,
or at the sight of my father cheffing my favorite home-cooked
meal, my face turning some camouflage color of green,
the woman who slept on the bunk below me
comes apart at the stomach, the skin of her torso
splays all open in a smile full of worms,
skin curling back, peeling until there are lips…
“Staff Sgt. Sara Charles, 27, of The Bronx, was walking from the recruiting center on 125th Street
at 1 p.m. when she was approached by Lashawn.”
for a second, all I can hear
is not the bullet curling up in the blanket
of my left thigh’s flesh,
not even her voice’s hoarse dying,
the dulling of it rising over her terror like quicksand
as we realize she will not be
sewn back together in time
to be bunk buddies
another night,
just the slithering sound of moist innards
moving snake-like to escape her body
pierces the thick film of shock
clogging my synaptic passageways,
as I watch her.
“Sources said Linton, who had just left her therapist's office,
apparently didn't like the way Charles looked at her and…”
When I saw her with 2 teenage boys outside that recruiting office,
my gut gurgled at her lips curling outward
sweet talking GI Jo patchwork personas
for those boys to paper doll themselves into,
they could have been
my cousins, my brother,
high school boyfriend
or best friend.
I know what a family is like when the child they
gifted to the war - teaming with life -
comes back a lemon of a body and mind,
the piercing look of devastation that eclipses
a parent’s face when first met
with their veteran son or daughter
“…the two began to exchange words, the suspect then whipped out a knife.
An eye witness said Lashawn then plunged it into the eight-year veteran's chest, stomach and leg.”
they entrusted the love of their lives with,
returning to them only
jalopied remains,
no explanation
will ever be
good enough.
When I saw that recruiter’s finger-nailed grin,
smooth with the talk of patriotism
tongue slithering out intestine-like
exposed for all its grotesqueness,
my belly started kicking out at her as if
wanting to rip itself open,
show her what she will be
responsible for when another
doesn’t come home.
My hand gliding through the air with the
rhythm of post-traumatic hysteria
for all the mothers and fathers who wake up
every morning from nightmares so vividly repulsive,
visions of the constellation of wounds their children became
under the middle eastern sky,
the wind working to make them
a new skin, patching wounds
with sand to stop
the bleeding,
mother nature the
only attendant before
their body’s nightfall.
no matter how pretty this government packages
cheap metal poorly painted purple,
no manufactured honor can fill
the chairs at kitchen tables
for families of the dead.
“Linton was charged with attempted murder.”
*****
Below are pictures from Charan's dazzling featured performance @ The Inspired Word.
Poet/Educator/Performer Charan P. Morris @ Mike Geffner Presents The Inspired Word
Thursday, Feb. 3 (along with spoken word legend Taalam Acey)
One and One, Nexus Lounge
Manhattan, New York City
Photos By: Holly Van Voast
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