Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth: “The Guide and The Guided”

Update: I took a picture of this poem while I was visiting a cousin of mine and I thought it was fitting for the theme of my blog and afrofuturism that is emphasized with the the images of Saturn and stars in the background, the procession of black people with flames over their heads, and […]

Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth: Langston and Lucille’s Magic of Simple

This month, I attended two poetry events, David Mills’ dramatic performance of Langston Hughes’ works and Elizabeth Alexander’s conversation on Lucille Clifton’s mystical, shaman-like poetry, reminded me that so much magic can condensed into few and sometimes simple words; they made magic out of the ordinary. Below are some poems from Hughes and Clifton as […]

Modern Griots Tribute: RIP Amiri Baraka

If you have seen the top of my blog, you would see that the tag line is a quotation from Amiri Baraka (LeRoi Jones), “the future is always here in the past,” which was one of the last lines in his essay, “Jazzmen: Diz & Sun Ra.” So, as you can see Baraka was an […]

New Year’s Treat: I Am Singing the Ishmael Reed Blues

I am nervously posting these since I have not recorded and posted myself singing anything for a few years now. But I was reading Ishmael Reed’s (author of Mumbo Jumbo) collection of all his poetry and noticed that he wrote a number of blues poems. While reading them, I felt compelled to sing them and […]

Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth: Poem in Process – “A Mad Man with a Box”

Last week, I received some inspiration to write a new poem. I was watching an episode of Mysteries at the Museum and saw I segment on Henry “Box” Brown, the enslaved man who mailed himself to freedom. For some reason, the story stayed on my mind. The next morning when I watched a Doctor Who […]

Moving on the Wires: Colored Girls Hustle Hard Mixtape and Afro Aliens Video Premiere

After watching their Colored Girls Hustle videos, I wanted to give special highlight to these two women and artists, Taja Lindley and Jessica Valoris and their Colored Girls Hustle artistic creations, including jewelry, poetry and music. I am definitely attracted to their positive message and mission of self-affirmation and self-expression for women of color, whether […]

Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth: Prentice Powell + Marshall Davis Jones (Verses and Flow) + Kysha Brown Robinson

Below are two more poets from Verses and Flow: Prentice Powell – “The System” His stylizing of the poem is like a another version of Hal 9000 from 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth: Poets Verb + Reggie Eldridge

While watching the past two episodes of the spoken word series, Verses and Flow, on TV One, two poets stood out to me, Verb and Reggie Eldridge. Verb spoke a critique of our current dependency on hi-tech technology and it reminded me of Louis C.K. rant on smartphones. It does make you think about how […]

Modern Griots Reviews: Sekou Sundiata Tribute at Summerstage

Although we the audience were subjected to downpours on Wednesday night, the sun seemed to come and shine, even for a little bit, for the three songtresses, Toshi Reagon, Sandra St. Victor and Nona Hendryx, who hit the stage in honor of late poet Sekou Sundiata. The singers, along with their bands and special guests, […]

Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth: Anthony Joseph

“Aranguez” from The African Origins of UFOs While looking for Caribbean afrofuturists, I found this poet, novelist and musician, Anthony Joseph. Joseph, who has been featured in the anthology Dark Matter, is Trinidadian-British man and has written three books of poetry as well as an experimental novel, The African Origins of UFOs (click on link […]