Fave Five: Nothing but good ol fashioned feminism

I recently found a great poet on Youtube. A firm and stern no-nonsense looking feminist that celebrates it all; she is an award winning writer, performer, educator and activist and on her website it states, “Her work is greatly influenced by her family's legacy in the Civil Rights Movement and by the idea that worlds make worlds. Her grandfather was a Hall of Famer in the Negro Leagues, while her aunt was one of the Little Rock Nine. She has always known she was a coloured girl. Her writing is a celebration of that. A former 1996 Olympic Volleyball star, Dominique has over 10 years experience as a licensed teacher, holding double Masters Degrees in Education and English Literature. With extensive experience in the arts and education fields, she held positions as the Program Director for Peace Jam and for the State Department.”

Dominique Christina is amazing. She is the type of woman I want to model myself after, the type of woman I want to be when I grow up; a sassy loud mouthed female with valid opinion about women, men and everything in between, an enthused mother – cautious of how she uses the responsibility given to her through parenthood and a conscientious free willed spirit filled to seemingly boundless proportions with a self-awareness so poignant.

Here are my Fave Five poems from this ferociously beautiful poet, mind and woman.

5.            Stargazer

4.            Emerging women

3.            Crushes suck and everybody knows it

2.            The business of womanhood is in your handwriting

1.            Period Poem   

Hughes Corner: Still Here

There's always someone somewhere trying to make the experience of life so much harder for the next person. There's always someone attempting to deter you from your dreams. Sometimes that person is outside of your life and other times that person is yourself. If you live to see another day tell the naysayers that no matter how hard they may try, you are still here.   

My hopes the wind done scattered.
Snow has friz me,
Sun has baked me,

Looks like between ‘em they done
Tried to make me

Stop laughin’, stop lovin’, stop livin’
But I don’t care

I’m still here! Still here!

Hughes Corner: To Artina

In the spirit of valentine's day, a sweet love poem. 

I will take you heart.

I will take your soul out of your body

As though I were God.

I will not be satisfied

With the touch of your hand

Nor the sweet of your lips alone.

I will take your heart for mine.

I will take your soul.

I will be God when it comes to you.

Fave Five: Slamming It!

Nothing soothes the spirit quite like a good love poem, regardless of the type of poem or any other such evaluation criteria. When you hear or read it, be it with a happy or sad ending, you can never ignore the likeness of emotion, the feeling of knowing, or rather identifying, there is a melody acquired from well-constructed metaphors and similes. The captive pleasure contained within a broken heart and the dancing clatters of a new romance.
A beautiful word has always resonated within me, what more of a bunch of beautiful words strung together to illustrate meaning and familiar emotional stances.

I’ve been watching a lot of American slam poetry on YouTube of late and on this post I list my fave five poets and poems, here goes:

5.            Dear Ex-lover by Jasmine Mans

4.            A lot Like You by Rudy Francisco

3.            40 Love Letters by Jeanann Verlee

2.            I Will Wait For You by Janette Ikz

1.            Before Bed by Zora Howard

Hughes Corner: Love Song for Lucinda

I’ve always been a sucker for a great love poem and when I stumbled upon this one my heart leapt out of my chest a little. Hughes speaks clearly of love’s irresistible charm and allure, its mystique and he also tells of how love is only for the brave. Since the beginning of time we (humans) have attempted to put into words what love is and what it means and I think these three little, basic sounding stanzas do a pretty decent job of summing up the feelings carried through by this abstract concept.

 I love love love this poem!

Love
Is a ripe plum
Growing on a purple tree.
Taste it once
And the spell of its enchantment
Will never let you be.

Love
Is a bright star
Glowing in far Southern skies.
Look too hard
And its burning flame
Will always hurt your eyes.

Love
Is a high mountain
Stark in a windy sky.
If you
Would never lose your breath
Do not climb too high. 

Hughes Corner: 50-50

Since the death of the Angelou Corner, I’ve struggled to find a poet I like enough to have as a permanent monthly fixture on this blog. I through many a name, I tried to pick based on gender then race, age then relevance and no one struck me hard enough to leave a lasting impression. I finally decided to combine my selection criteria and ended up with Langston Hughes; a black poet and author born in 1902 and died in 1967.

Hope you guys will enjoy him as much as I am right now.  

I’m all alone in this world, she said
Ain’t got nobody to share my bed
Ain’t got nobody to hold my hand—
The truth of the matter’s
I ain’t got no man.

Big Boy opened his mouth and said
Trouble with you is
You ain’t got no head!
If you had a head and used your mind
You could have me with you
All the time.

She answered, Babe, what must I do?

He said, Share your bed—
And your money, too.