Write On! Wednesdays is about the art of writing; therefore, we are introducing a weekly topic for discussion. This week's topic is: takin a solo/ a poetic possibility/ a poetic imperative. Please read the excerpt from an ntozake shange essay on writers and the importance of a singular voice. Feel free to post any feedback, thoughts, or opinions you may have. If you can't make it to Write On! Wednesdays, we will read your comments to the audience throughout the night. BUT your presence and voice would be greatly appreciated! AND we welcome your suggestions on topics...
Butterflies and Asphalt
The Artistic Union that brought you the Sanctuary Literary Café
is proud to present
Write On!
An intimate open-mic
We're taking it back… a really nice quaint spot… some cool music… maybe a nice piece of something sweet… and some words that stir your soul… makes you think… Poetry. This is an event for those who believe in the art of writing and the power of expression. We will workshop, there will be a live interactive monthly book club (you've got to see this), games, and we, even, require that every audience member brings a dollar to tip a working poet… Yeah- it's gonna be a good time!
WEEKLY TOPIC: takin a solo/ a poetic possibility/ a poetic imperative
Hosted by: Malik and Kim "kimotion" Salaam
When: every Wednesday
Where: Desserts by Latrell
581 Edgewood Ave
Time: Doors open @ 8pm show starts promptly @ 9pm
Cost: $5.00 (for everybody… including you superstars)
ALL PERFORMERS MUST CALL OR EMAIL IN ADVANCE TO SIGN UP!!!
NO EXCEPTIONS!!!
For more info or to sign up: call 404-768-3000
email k1motion@hotmail.com
or visit www.myspace.com/kimalik
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ntozake shange's essay: takin a solo/ a poetic possibility/ a poetic imperative
found in her book: nappy edges
we, as a people, or as a literary cult, or a literary culture/ have not demanded singularity from our writers. we cd all sound the same. come from the same region. be the same gender. born the same year. & though none of the above is true, a black writer can get away with/ abscond & covet for himself or herself/ the richness of his or her person/ long before a black musician or singer cd.
now why is this? we don't understand the beauty of language? that cant be true, according to dilliard and smith we make up a good part of contemporary American language/ on our own/ cd it be we assume a collaboration with any blk writer/ who attempts to re-create blk English/ blk culture/ cuz that's ours. we were there. we know abt that. & that poet/ that novelist/ that playwrite/ happened to be there at the time/ when some other somebody just like me/ waz sayin or doin/ exactly what i say & do. that means there is absolutely no acceptance of blk reality. if you are 14, female & black in the u.s.a./ you have one solitary voice/ though you number 3 million/ no nuance exists for you/ you have been sequestered in the monolith/ the common denominator as persona. what i am getting to is the notion that as a people we have claimed "the word"/ we don't even pay attention to who is speakin.
…
we have poets who speak to you of elephants & avenues/ we have others who address themselves to worlds having no existence beyond the word. that's fine. we live all those places. but if we don't know the voice of a writer/ the way we know 'oh…that's trane'/ something is very wrong. we are unfortunately/ sellin ourselves down river again/ just cuz we don't know or care to recognize our particularities/ wont nobody come/ cuz don't nobody care/ if you don't know yr poets as well as yr tenor horns.
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cuz we don't ask a poet to speak personally/ we want a poet to talk like an arena/ or like a fire station/ to be everywhere/ all at once/ even if we never been there/ but especially if we've never been there/ we expect a poet to clear a space/ not her space/ not a secret/ not a closed room/ but the town. we assume the poet to be the voice of everywhere we are not/ as opposed to bein 'everything we are'. though what authentic musical criticism of our artists that exists/ always allows them the space to be themselves.
…
my basic premise is that poets address themselves to the same issues as musicians/ but that we give musicians more space to run with/ more personal legitimacy than we give our writers.
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we assume a musical solo is a personal statement/ we think the poet is speakin for the world. there's something wrong there, a writer's first commitment is to the piece, itself. how the words fall & leap/ or if they dawdle & sit down fanning themselves. writers are dealin with language/ not politics. that comes later. so much later. to think about the politics of a poem/ before we think about the poem,/ is to put what is correct before the moment. if the moment waz not correct/ it still waz.
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when i take my voice into a poem or a story/ i am trying desperately to give you that. i am not trying to give you a history of my family/ the struggle of black people all over the world or the fight goin on upstairs tween susie & matt. i am givin you a momen/ like something that isn't coming back/ something particularly itself…
…
we shd give you a moment that cannot be re-created/ a specificity that cannot be confused. our language shd let you know who's talking, what we're talking abt & how we cant stop sayin this to you. some urgency accompanies the text. something important is going on. we are speakin. reaching for yr person/ we cannot hold it/ we don't wanna sell it/ we give you ourselves/ if you listen.