 Hello, my name is Larry we're Junior and me hello, my name is Larry we're doing and me and my sister Me and my sister are gonna call us this evening Introduce Linda Brooks bird in the branch manager Introduce Linda Brooks bird in the branch manager So this year is a little different we have two young co-hosts these are Larry where's son and daughter precious and Larry where junior and My job is to introduce Larry where who has been doing this poetry program for 17 years So without further ado, I'd like to introduce to you Larry where a poet in his own right, please give him a big round of applause Thanks Thank You lovely people this evening and it is indeed an honor and a pleasure to Have the wonderful tradition of this poetry program continuing I actually started this program in 1979 in this very room. So this is our 27th year doing this poetry and 16 on cable TV and let's give our camera woman a great round of applause Him and his staff are coming out to cover this event every year They really do a wonderful job and Linda We greatly appreciate all of the hard work and effort that you and your staff do here every year to make this it's This a wonderful event and other events that happen in this branch and the wonderful work that you and your staff are doing here and This is a special very special because Presses in junior when they first there was little tiny babies when they Was grabbing a mic now they can stand up in front of the mic, but As always I would like to Before we get the program going I'd like to pay a special tribute to some very special people This program will be dedicated to the following Reverend Lumpkin's wife mother Lumpkin mother Brown with the Breakfast kitchen Miss Maddox who had the beauty shop down the street Mr. Finley of Bayview mortuary Mr. Sam Jordan my aunt Catherine and Georgia and People who in the arts that inspired me like I would like to pay special tribute to August Wilson the playwright Oscar Brown jr. Ray Charles And also a mother bull eggs another wonderful lady here in the community and miss Taylor and There's many more we love you we remember you and also we pray and dedicate this program to the victims of Katrina and Rita and all of the Disasters around the world and We remember you and we pray for you and we pray for peace on earth We pray for peace in our streets and our families in our neighborhoods and we're gonna get this program underway and I will start it off with a poem and Then I'll introduce the co-host and they're gonna do some poetry as well To my two little ones my two little teddy bears here a freshest This poem this poem for you guys here and all of you young people out there I Y'all present in our future and I dedicate this poem to you all Young America we need the light People of the world, please listen to me I am the youth of America and as the beauty of wisdom unfolds and uses the tools of knowledge and time To begin shaping and rounding our character and personalities Let the hands of wisdom hand off the batons of knowledge as generation after generations Run the eternal marathons of life Let them run into the beautiful horizons spreading the righteousness of life the master plan The way the great Creator meant for it to be today's youth are tomorrow's leaders Let them be groomed and endowed with eternal fires of wisdom and life as they Become knowledgeable and equipped with the tools to build taking leadership roles today Preparing us for tomorrow's world as they positively and constructively affect the qualities of life Exerting the necessary direction leadership and guidance So that there may be a better world today and tomorrow for all of us to live in as their thoughts for progression Pyramid to the sky touching the Sun life source of energy as hearts of desire become inspirational Sensations may the wings of life take them in the pitch of perfect flights as they quest for the dreams of their heart as Endever span the universe taking them near and far Have no fear my friends for the wings of life will take your hearts and minds on an adventurous journey beyond beyond Let us not complicate life's constructive process and become a society of hybrid thinkers trying to rule a universal airwaves of communication True we need the super minds but as eternal fires of our love desire and inspiration in our hearts that help this world We live and grow truth is the light of justice. Oh the beauty of balance May there always be light to guide our souls young America. You are the light young America Please be the light young America. Let the light shine because young America We need the light. Thank you Thank you right now The co-hosts Larry junior and precious they're gonna introduce all of the poets. So maybe one day they might put me on a show Our next play is Tiffany filler and Jesse Wally is the next poetry Man just This this first poem is dedicated to To no one in particular I'm gonna read it though. It's called Collectively Picasso picture peccantly picturesque Picasso portraits perfectly painted Cubist renderings from blues to roses invisible geometrical poses post-impressionistic strokes of genius Baroque to Rococo collages of women colliding in conflict over who Pablo Diego and Frida belong to I Choose those who paint songs on canvas two-sided storyboards as Kandinsky and wintry Moscow Draped in the afro magic warmth of works by Ringgold Imagine freshly finished frescoes fermenting arabesque manifestos of watercolors pictures and egos peoples places and patterns Broken concrete forms and abstract landscapes with deliberately languid lines and lost lives found by those who seek a prize of answers from Curators as curious as they of the meaning of what exactly Osawa Tana was trying to say Teach me how to play the banjo and I'll lick each string until my heart reaches a resounding crescendo of quaintly crescent moons Broken into kaleidoscopic shards of sexual innuendo Mirrors or mementos and mosaics or mysteries I walk on when time traveling through periods where change is only a brush stroke away Each vision our vanity a vast variety of volumes of voice vividly painted burn etched scoped it photographed quoted and grafted Crafted from the crack of creation let there be innovation and let it move and bend and stretch and fit and Litten lift and evolve involve even the artist as heathen revolving around the sun until the seasons change in tandem Hold the moon at Sun point at random for untold rancors of realism Expressionism paint brushes and canvas from Kansas to canyons cannons of cool call them collectively Picasso painting peccantly picturesque portraits perfectly Thank you Strong J strong J Why why why alright this final poem is called names numbers horses colors and okatua This one is dedicated to all the women who didn't want me, but now they all on me a 9 to 5 is never enough to satisfy her 5-foot 4 inch testimonial Painted Azur aquamarine Alice or cornflower the son of Marigold Naray She a miracle in mind. She walks through the Everglades eating Neapolitan ice cream and Manolo Blonix White wines green teas and other miscellaneous juices and tonic strewn throughout her custom design Luella or Isabella fiori purse her while it's scented with Franklin's cologne the Avenue her catwalk a neck grow Negro now American Afro woman royalty woven in her womb her inhibitions are threadbare and she trash where only wealth wears perfume Walks into a room wearing around her neck midnight's pinch pendant She has a pension for turning heads and studies tantra and comma is her forte a 9 to 5 ain't enough to satiate her 5-4 frame So I parlay my two week gain on one million and one eyes on the first four that after six or seven furloughs My sophomore will be coordinated with triple crowns to buy her terracotta colored gowns with black diamond crowns and platinum Sequins so she can parade about the brownish orange square each sequence of bound with vanity fair Dressed to the nines and plum red two winch Jimmy choose that talk a two blue argyle top that halts right above her 32 be bosom her back exposed and expose of skin and exposition of five four beauty 360 revolutions around the Sun a runway Star Wars the pinnacle and hallmark of high fashion Slutting down shy town's magnificent mile with marigolds in her eyes Brows waxed in cold miracles jutting out from her now five foot six inch makeup that needs no makeup Cheers as organic as an ochre orange days white streak turquoise sky before the violet night has to wake up to relieve Apollo her form as apropos as equality and equally as fitting as victorious secret beneath her two blue Argyle top and terracotta gullard gowns with black diamond crowns and platinum sequence 360 degree spins around the dancing floor affecting men and women both like none before Five never enough to satisfy so my dream from six to eight becomes my reprise Never enough time on furloughs names or euros to assure her renown So now let me count each way she astounds Surround me with her song so the sound inundates my soul Behold she is my ochre tour completion. Thank you our next poetry is Troy Alexander Roy will be up shortly Let's give her a Troy great round of applause that and let me introduce myself. I'm Donald And I'm going to be performing with Troy as well Got a treat for y'all. How you guys doing today? That's good. That's good. I was just trying to get some power real quick on the stereo um I got two pieces for y'all The first piece is called what we have is much more than they can see I wrote it for my little daughter and the second piece we have is a Basically about like street life and stuff, you know how they say all those youngest young folks don't know nothing about What we go through but most of the time when we talk about what we go through we don't talk about the right stuff But uh the second what we're gonna talk about the right stuff So y'all just bear with us on that. I don't just a minute Thank y'all some of y'all must know the song Y'all remember that old school song just sing with it. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. That's that one I know y'all remember that one, right? That's LTD He uh, he let me use the sample so it was cool. That's when I did that one But this don't want to bother about the streets. We finna roll with this one Say through my review. I see pain through my review. I see pain It's so much pain and through my review. I see change and through my review. I see a change But it's still the sign Thank you It is this program for my for my daddy's mom on dirty mint show And and Sammy My dad's nephew How y'all doing This this poem I just wrote today just about an hour ago, you know It's called in my eyes. Can you see it in my eyes enough? Here you go In my eyes. Can you see it in my eyes? Pain suffering anger danger at times of spice No, my life is the one that's to high rise It's all on I as I look at two with these eyes ready to die wondering why eyes is so real I see lies these eyes drive my mind as I lie on my back Seeing past the sea sealing the roof in the sky My world is my reply to myself because I got the tiger's eye No hate in these eyes purified hate is I'm identifying these eyes All I realized I'm 22 years young strong and bold But it's on hold from heart and broke times still at the same time signed and most nothing like my clothes All through these eyes. Oh, jeez. Tell me yams. You got a long ride Moms died hustle crimes missions for more dimes Can you see me seeing you with these violent intentions of force raised upon you from Problem and doing stress relentless evil wrongdoings I'm pursuing control losing things ruining my eyes Sometimes show what everybody in the world is doing After that's some gill scott heron stuff there Oh, okay Next poet is gonna be uh, oh jai Let's give oh jai a great round of applause How's everyone doing all right this piece is called Solar sonar is this inspirational thing all right Seeing stars in the sky every moon lit tonight while vibrant ultraviolet sun rays of day shine so bright We sightseeing recipes we write as our fruits of our labor ripening with the rhythm of life onto new horizons Birthed in the dark, it's in the workings of the heart once finished this dark I'm so journey sweet and bark emotion with moments of an ultimate opus minds open focus get the notion of the yoga lotus sitting in contemplation mixing colors illustrated emotions accelerated from suspended animation Satellites in your constellation gathering data through observation Adenated adaptations gaining information It's solar sonar that goes far ascended the stars on our radar It's self-explanatory health and wealth is mandatory victorious explorers warriors in our glory Drumming up serums as fluid movements transmute appearing entrance lucent liquid mirrors fountain of youth Interstellar messengers breaking sound barriers better when the sun Better when the conducts of our characters under pressure Opti motor of the cosmos optimal type of what you are so glowing gold ultra so we are more than we know Yeah, it's like I thank y'all for your time This friend is a good friend of my daddy's Say, let's give her a great round of applause Miss Mary gricker and let's give her a great hand Let's give this wonderful lady a great round of applause. Let's round for way back here Hi, everybody. I'm Mary Booker. I'm going to read Two of my poems for you one I wrote um April 27 2004 and I I only mentioned it because I've just Repeated the same procedure that calls me to write this So I'm going to read it to you. It's called Holdin signs Holdin signs on third street stop slow go Trying to look necessary as if we were the one who was making the big dough I don't even see us digging the holes in the ground You would think a few of us should be us in this part of town What happened to Promises of meaningful jobs for this community economic benefits for this vicinity As I drive down third street corridor. I see faces I've never seen before driving Machinery digging holes. I know none of these people are what we call next door But we stand holdin signs looking uncomfortable sometime stop slow go As I see them digging holes. I look around and I worry about the people in this part of town Beautiful homes being built from shorter short places. We can't afford to live no more stop slow go These words seem ominous and cold I perceive they unspoken goal for us not to live here anymore Light rail complete changing the face of third street changing faces changing faces changing changing Holding invisible signs stop slow Go a lot of time for people I work with And I wrote this one for one of the girls in Our production group. It's called reflections of yesterday and today How did I make it through the biggest crisis of my life? A divorce nearly destroyed me it drove me to my knees and made me see I needed a spiritual mate living inside of me The dream The dream the dream Of how marriage should be the betrayal the betrayal Hurts untold Led me into a life that literally scarred my soul Finally bitter And lost I cried out to god lord. I need you to heal my broken heart I have a son to rear. I must become mother and father up in here He heard my cry Changed my life Although i'm single i'm all right I'm just a little leery of relationships organ becoming a wife I'm still on my journey in the pursuit of me I don't know what the final me will be A mystic woman told me to just close my eyes and if a clear crystal lake I could see I could visualize things to be I paused for a moment And I closed my eyes And then to my surprise I didn't want to open my eyes. Yes Oh, yes, I cried I see the lake. It's calling me. The water is crystal clear as far as I can see I rest there and by its back. I sat down feeding water so I could think Why don't you wait in the water? A quiet voice said no, I'm just fine. I don't know how deep it is. It may go over my head It is peace here It is quiet Drop all your fears and come inside. There are things you need to know And you'll never learn them if you remain on shore So Here goes Okay, okay And then I'll bring your co-hosts back on Again stressed importance of education to our young people because you are the leaders today and our future Tomorrow, this one is entitled Projected destinations Knowledge is the fuel for the fire that inspires our deep creative desires It gives us inward depth and outward perceptions Elevating our levels of thought and as a wave of inner self expression beautifully flow Let us seek to realize as we visualize the dreams of our heart Let us treasure the pleasures of life for not living we would never know what life was And as we master the tools of knowledge, we become the architects of our own destination Then as the beautification of the inner self progress We become endowed in the midst of our enlightened visions as we begin to instill and assimilate the golden ways of life The sign of life is paper in our pockets Mind power equals green power spread the bread feed your thoughts inspirations and desires Thank you poem and and then we're going to introduce Reverend Bruno and It's going to come up after that. So I would like to introduce these two Young wonderful people here this young lady precious unique my daughter little princess She's going to come up and do a poem. So come on baby. Come up and do your poem there Precious unique Princess precious come on now You got it. You can do it baby. Just read your poem there. Oh, what the title say you got it Hi, my name is precious. I will be reading this poem called nature. We have neither summer Nor winter neither autumn nor spring We have Instead the days We I mean When the gold sun shines on the lush green Camp fields Magnificent say magnificently Stage right on daddy We're doing we're doing it together. Okay, magnificently The day is when the rain beats like Bullets on the roof and there is no sound but the Swish of water in the gullies and trees struggling In the high jamaica winds Also, there are the days when leaves fade through All gondol trees gondol trees And the reaped cane fields and the reaped cane fields lie bare and Fallow to the sun But best of all There are the Days when the mango and the logwood Blossom when the bushes are full of the sound of bees and the scent of honey when the tall grass slaves And shivers to the slightest So I can hear you Of air when the buttercups have paved paved the earth the earth With yellow stars and beauty comes Suddenly in the rains Have gone My brother is coming out to do some poetry now Hello, my name is layware junior I'm going to be ringing In daddy orms. I am tall In daddy's orms I am tall a clothes to the sun a worm In daddy's orms In daddy's orms I can see Over the fence Out back I can tilt the problem Leaves of the Big mobile tree in D's yard In daddy's orms In my daddy's orms The moon is closed Closer at night Time when I can almost teach it When it grows back at me from winds Take it was In daddy's orms. I am tall taller than Bundy age my friends Edge gorge taller taller Then oh billy a best of all I am ball even stubborn With me my big brother Jimmy In my daddy's orms I am Stores a dark like him a longer helper Jen Duck circus slowns with red pants green When daddy's When daddy Springs me round A round The wall world Is carried Up or down I big in strike a brown him In daddy's orms my daddy. I'd like to introduce Reverend Bruno. Let's give him a round of applause. God bless you bro. I hope you're enjoying yourself We'll put a stop to that We have to carry two glasses, you know, I got one pair of glasses for writing reading and the other pair for reading writing Sometimes I don't know what I'm doing But I'd like to read a a couple of poems for you something that I Well Anyway, that poem that Mary Booker read stop slow go It's one of my favorites. I think I wrote that but I'll let her get away This first poem is called I can't see it I can't see as I as I stand here alone Shout out we figures that don't really belong They say things are changing for the betterment of me Well, if they are it's a betterment that I can't see I can't see rail cars and buildings all bright and new I can't see retail businesses where rip shacks used to do I can't see palm trees traffic control and street lights that blink back I can't see coffee shops and boutiques filled with people that ain't black I can't see calm nights and parkways where children safely play I can't see no no violence. No drug deals on the corner every day I can't see bubble and ray ray her seam and jamal I can't see shamiya La Crescia or Tanya at all I can't see none of these things that used to be My soulmate whispers you're blind. You can't even see me Our next poem is called Tell me a story Tell me a story of long long ago Muggings and killings and drug deals, you know Now when I walk down 3rd street, I see Men women boys and girls that don't look like me Tell me a story. I'm longing to know Not of train rails and stop lights where gangsta rides used to flow Oh, tell me the tale of the 1st and 15th Sacks of McDonald's and the kernels of ribs. Oh, so sweet Where have they gone all the players and such? When did they leave and just what was their rush? We lived on the hill only 20 years or more Never owning anything not even the corner liquor store Where is the group that hung out every day? Polluting the schoolyard where little kids tried to play How can I sleep without gunshot in my ear? How can I live day to day without nagging fear? Tell me a story of black is beautiful and true Where the hero not the villain looks like me and like you I got one more poem here. I don't know. Okay. Uh, thank you This one is called on a bench Moonlight bathes shadows feel my time one cup As my musical foam chime. Hey pick up I stirred from my slumber on a bus stop bench Down the last drop of sweet wine tossed the bottle over a fence Who's this? I think I heard my tired voice say The reply was a whisper shouting. This is judgment day I fell off the bench and rolled around on the ground Seeking the cause of my demise, but none could be found I can't be dead. I screamed shaking with fear I've only been loaded 11 months of this year I've got lots of living to do and great plans in my head To see the hood changes color from dirty blood red To bright greens of progress yellow hues of health Purple pills of corrections from poverty to wealth But what is this that my bloodshot eyes start to see? That bright rosy future is not planned for me The powers that be have planned their take over well And they've uprooted and displaced me from the place I once held So close to my heart on this little field hill Where I waited in darkness to rob and to kill Where I jacked people's cars and stole their household dreams And refused to hear their moans or their screams I dealt in terror and ruled the night. I polluted and destroyed everything in sight I clawed at the hopes and the dreams of my brothers Murdered young men and young women and killed the dreams of their mothers Now I'm wine soaked and drilled out at the bottom of the whale In a gutter under a bench sliding down into hell Our next portrait is Sheila Cole Let's give Sheila a big round of applause I just want to say I Larry's an old-time friend long ago back a long way And I ran it to him and he asked me to do come on and do a poem I have two and this is a wake-up poem for everyone to get a check up Because you don't know what may transpire Especially women's about cancer This is first one dedicated called lifeline. It's a program about breast cancer Live your life because you have just one Integrate God's word into your family time of fun Fill your life with happiness and add some cheer Eliminating stress whenever it's near Learning to live and cope and be strong It would only be a matter of time before a cure for cancer I hope it won't be long Nothing is more important to me than when the day arrived Everyone will sing praises. Thank God I have survived Everyone will be saying when that's fine when they find that cure Now, I know I'll be alive My next point is called uh cancer creep creep Cancer enters your body Sometime as soon as you are asleep Nothing is more delightful cancer to catch you unaware He'll smile Then laugh at you because he just doesn't even care He has left so many people in tragedy and feeling in despair Everyone should take my advice. Tell someone to get a check up every year if you dare Remember, you will be saving life Inspiring a lot of tears You can help fight this battle of cancer By telling people starting this year Let's give this young lady another great round of applause there Robin here Oh precious We're gonna have a little praise dance here precious and oh she's gonna do a short praise dance So uh coming up oh she you and precious uh Sure, that's that's okay. I'm on a uh Do another poem You know, oh, um Before I do this poem like I I would like to uh Another person that's very important to all of us that uh, you know, it's so important for us to uh Chronicle and document our history And a gentleman who has chronicled and documented our history for over 60 years I would like to have a special dedication to him Mr. John Johnson of ebony and jet Let's have a silent moment of prayer for mr. Johnson This gentleman has chronicled our history for over 60 years and been a great inspiration to me as a writer and researcher and you know, uh He's touched all of our lives in one way or another with chronicling our history and um This this poem here in particular to me and that king co is the greatest entertainer of all time and uh He was like the mardin with the king of entertainment And uh, I wrote this poem which is actually a song. These are the lyrics to a song that I wrote And uh, when you hear it, you'll the words you'll understand why It's entitled uh Velvet splendor warm and tender Oh my love You came to me so softly so warm and out of a velvet dream And like the midnight moonlight shining at sea Your eyes begin to sparkle like a sea of beauty on a summer evening Oh my love Dreams of you and me romancing dancing Wining and dining in the evening moonlight Building sand castles by the sea Just you and me Love for love together as our hearts walk the soft white sandy beaches of paradise The mellow sweet soft summer breeze of your love touches my heart in a warm and loving way And on our way home We got caught in the rain And each and every raindrops smiled after they touched your face And the warmer raindrops kissed your lips And when the evening lights go out i'm gonna love you through all the pouring rain from midnight until after the early morning showers Velvet splendor i'll always be in love with you Velvet splendor i'll always be in love with life Velvet splendor so warm so tender Dreams can be beautiful Dreams can become a reality If you let the love in your heart inspire that which you feel deep inside Velvet splendor so warm So tender Thank you Our next port is gonna be janelle. Let's give her a great round of applause Good evening tonight i'm Well, I guess I should start by saying i've been going through a writer's block So hopefully tonight will you know get me started back into writing and You know I'm gonna read two poems for you guys and the first is Going to be um a poem called tamana ako which is It's not grammatically correct, but in to gala it when you say tamana it means enough already so if someone's pouring you like water you say tamana and um Yes, so basically the poem means am I enough? My radiance compels you The curve of my lips the curl of my hair My caramel colored skin shimmering underneath californian sun Mesmerizing eyes that take you to another planet and back with one glance I am the best thing since Leaving a sweet taste in your mouth you will never forget tamana ako I am more tempting than chocolate and strawberries more luscious than peaches and cream But how do I know Your amorous stare tells all a story of how you wish to be with me near me in me You ask yourself as I stretch to buy with pride not looking at my feet but looking at the sky Who is she? I am the alpha and omega of beauty the slant of my eyes my enchanting smile My exotic being forces you to your knees beseeching my attention When god created me he had the stars in mind because you stare in awe at the shape of my face Just as every man is amazed by the twinkles of space tamana ako My radiance compels you the curve of my lips the curl of my hair My caramel colored skin shimmering underneath californian sun mesmerizing eyes that take you to another planet and back with one glance I am better than champorado at matamis nagata I am more than enough For reference champorado at matamis nagata is like my favorite filipino dish. It's chocolate rice. It's kind of like a porridge and Sweet milk like the condensed but anyway The next poem i'm gonna read is a little bit longer and I hope you guys can bear with me It's called sounds of my struggle and I wrote this back in 2003 when I was away at school and I was organizing for the march on washington That you know thankfully won a little bit back for affirmative action at the u of m law school case Discretion advised the following words of wisdom must be exposed to youth play My sociological imagination is the root of my frustration forcing me to agonize over stop insert disc two To believe or not to believe in the system in which I was socialized is the question Between two rocks. I am stuck my family and me I am glued to the ghetto dreams of pistain concrete drip drip Detach drip drip Detach drip drip damn it's kibbon next track I'm back on my journey searching for paths doors that will lead me to shanta's cloud nine store yet All I find are liquor store slash fast food restaurant slash unsanitary grocery outlets slash checking cash places slash to meet a soul rejuvenating beauty supply store and salon The best shop on the block for those who have internalized racism Pause rewind repeat To meet a soul rejuvenating beauty supply store in salon the best shop on the block for those who have internalized racism pause rewind repeat for those who have internalized racism But once I get past all those places that represent poverty that represent exploitation that represent deterioration That represent the unequal country in which I was raised I finally reached shanta's where I can take down my braids or 18 years of struggle and pain No, relaxer here relaxation after struggle is what I want No more fronts no more politicians to bother me with caps that redunce interacting with pause quote I don't give a damn unquote republicans democrats and all other puppets with masks Can't plagiarize now. Can I? rewind play Interacting with I don't give a damn human beings to this sociologist is an extremely difficult thing I am switching back and forth from the eye to the me From the eye to the me from the from the from the eye to the me I am searching for answers within myself that would justify me slapping this so george wb Now president george dismantled brown versus board Okay slapping is still a possibility Next track trodsky and marx fill my void and reading their words soothing to my soul And I desire right now to overthrow the throne, but king bush prince chain queen laura red top What do you mean stop? Please listen. You already had messed it all up. So stop For the sake of the kids Did you listen to me when I said Please tell me please. Why can't my baby brother? Why can't my baby brother? Why can't my baby brother breathe with ease? Why does he not have the opportunity to achieve? I'll tell you why you believe loot you pollute poor neighborhoods with toxins because we don't have millions All we have here is the stuff you gave us I'll let you guess no not a community parks community center apart. What can't think of it They're called crack rocks kid It's killing us and only bringing separation and the lasting results community deterioration But those were your intentions so you can execute your plan Putting black and latino brothers and brothers and brothers behind bars making each feel like less than human. Why? Because you know like I know all will soon know you've played your last card Can't have an indignant militia after the rich now can we? I am sick of your standard english and done with your political theories I am tired of you raping women minority and poor of their dignity We more than anyone deserve as much as you But if you weren't but if I were in your shoes and you and mine you'd be outside screaming This is a crime And you would feel as I do But why can't you realize can't you get it through the thick shell that surrounds your mind? I would never do that to you next track I am on the verge of losing my mind. I want unity equality a community. What the hell how about communism? But my prayer of my prayers that I pray to her or him or it Is for a chance to live in a utopian society end of disc But wait, there's more play My prayers have already been answered because she or he or it Gave me a mind to think with gave me two lungs to breathe with gave me a mouth to speak with gave me feet to walk Gave me various languages to talk and I will go and tell the world that we need to fight for equality And I will go ask the proletarian. Are they sick of it? Are they tired of it the hypocritical mass political take my human rights and run capitalistic bullshit? because I am You you bad sister About the bus off in there with some hour green uh luther Teddy is something up in here What was that? You said sister, uh, tom tomonaka Tomonaka javusemi buku javusemi buku That was beautiful sister that was that was some yeah, uh, come on on luther and al Yeah, oh, okay. Oh, okay. You know, oh, we introduce the next poor. Let's give these my two young people a great round of applause These are my two little teddy bears here as y'all know so, uh Tiffany a is going to be the next port, okay Tiffany is going to be the next portrait. Tell me let's give her a great round of applause okay, I wasn't going to get up and do anything but Be honest, but I just uh felt compelled because everybody sounds so wonderful And it's just good to have be around my people and just feel inspired. So I'm not actually going to do a call. I'm going to sing It's beautiful to ask sister. Let's give her another great round of applause coming up next is the First lead singer to temptation the original Hardcore to god Let me see y'all know about the temptations Yeah What's that they call a temptation walk? Can you do it? Let me see y'all do the temptation. Y'all don't know nothing about no temptation walk. Let me see you do it Show me y'all can do the temptation Daddy is saying Okay, show them you can sing that show them y'all can dance too. Let's go Each day through my window I watch her as she passes by I say to myself You're such a lucky guy To have a girl like her Truly a dream come true Out of all the fellows in the world. She belongs to me But it was just my imagination Once again Running away with me It was just my imagination Running away with me. I guess you say my girl my girl My girl talking about All right. Okay. Thank you. Okay Donald thomas our next one is donald thomas give it up for donald thomas Good evening. Um I was inspired to get back up here and do a poem though like I have to hear so many wonderful poems and The name of this poem that I wrote is called young people wake up And I wrote this for the young people though because we are here dying right now And like brothers is getting killed left and right and like really over senseless like ignorance and And I was really just inspired to just get up here, you know And just recite this poem that I wrote as young people. We've been exposed to danger Shell drops And cockroaches in the chamber So recognize where you came from So recognize exactly where you came from because I think that we all going through the same struggle same Different day in the same hustle little cuzzle Please recognize that You have a life to live and don't jeopardize that I think that this poem is the truth And you please have to realize that Open up your mind and recognize that young people Just really recognize that open up your mind and recognize that that you have a life to live young people Open up your mind and try to visualize that Just create an image and visualize peace in the streets Just really open up your mind and visualize peace in the streets These young is just ruthless riding clueless with guns and toothpicks I want to be a doctor because my brothers is too sick ready to ship for shoes and new fits White tees and white beasts going dumb stupid. We trapped in the loop kid. So think outside the box How you gonna put your shoes on? Without your socks Just try to visualize that Please open up your mind and try to visualize that You got a life to live and don't jeopardize that So just visualize that We'll do Miss Mary Booker again Miss Mary Booker This poem is called a moment of silence And I think it will be self-explanatory Hunters point The view from the hill No one will ever know just how I feel Ships go sailing by planes up in the sky This time It was my son who died Too many failed to provide for the children in a land of plenty Enslave and then by the desires and addiction They are being herded like cattle into the system No love no morals murderers thugs good folks cry As they sit back and watch our young black men die Only for a fleeting moment. Do you mourn or cry a reflect upon their short lived lives? Untutored souls forever gone to only god knows where leaving planet earth where too few folks care I demand a moment of silence Silence for their tragic stories yet untold Silence for their misguided goals silence Silence silence Silence for our children who have ceased to be Silence many more will follow if we just let things be Silence don't try to justify this madness to me. We fought too hard to re-establish a family Tell me What is this madness? I see silent mercy lord We are dying lord Generations of babies having babies looking for love Supplying the people for the system to grind up Their wants but needs never met they fight and kill for turf trying to gain respect They mortgage their souls selling pot and crack cocaine buying clothes with brand names and souped up cars Trying to feel the gaping holes in their heart Silence mercy lord Only casual partners for sex Practicing all sorts of immorality leading them further down the road to death Silence Only from a distance do you say stop? This is not the way to life you sit back and act more racist than most white keep silence think Pray for guidance This problem is bigger than you think Fervently pray Ask god what you should do silence silence Silence Assuredly Is there is a way called wrong? There's a way called right Return to the moral standards of our forefathers and our foremothers And we may be able to save some of our sisters and brothers think about it Keep silence We need We need a moment Of silence We bring up uh revan brunner and jessia pressure's gonna do another poem. Let's give pressure's a Great round of applause there This is to my cousin ashia It's called listen To steal Very still and listen Listen to wings Latter than eyelashes Stroking the air Know what the thin breeze whispers On high To the coconut trees listening here Our next country is jelanda My name is yolanda katsalko And I wrote this poem for Thanksgiving. I had started to write one on katrina I wrote this one then I finished the one on katrina. So I have two poems tonight And just like I have two daughters that are twins one is in college and swans work. Thank you This is called dialectics thoughts signs posters prehistoric humanity fire language eggs tadpoles frogs creeks rivers waterfalls rise harvest soup humans tribe societies seeds tomato salsa wood fire carbon charcoal paper art creativity reality ideas ideas groups discussions winter cold government people heating rides storms disasters evacuations summer heat hurricanes katrina stan gamma water oil war oil higher prices global warming Kyoto conference united nations united nations elections world war two Africa third world Puerto Rico electronics unemployment technology unemployment no checks crisis new york san francisco education schools ideas soviet revolution people's government technology housing for all In the second one, I started writing it in the library. I my boyfriend and I will watch to the tv before Katrina during katrina and after katrina and here's some of my ideas and my thoughts on katrina And then katrina struck It wasn't the first time for a week the newscasters had declared a category five hurricane The highest category of all then were the newscasters having a bad week Did the listeners close their eyes and ears? It wasn't an election year The previous year the government heard for a two billion dollar check For ravage turned florida before hurricane yvonne struck The stories keep on 14 attempted suicides in aflorida propped up post yvonne tragic doom for closure travelers park trailers park the stories keep on This time hurricane katrina same old story December january deadline for hotels Find a place to call home in a month if you can If you have green cards that is What do people say come on ground luisi and a base group says cooperative base sustainable living community control Look us up at p www dot ptr.io dot org Liga revolutionaries for our new america to email your government to meet the demands of the hurricane victims Come and cause or ww dot Rural org that org or poor people's economic human rights campaign. Thank you You know, I think Well, listen at some of the poems from some of the young people now Nowadays and some of the things that they talk about It's kind of hard to Really grab it because I have memories but not those kind and A lot of people are at a loss As to what's going on in today's society I find that after three years old there are no children anymore You are finding different times and different things But for this poem that I'm going to do now I'm going to reflect And it takes me back Because that was a time when I wasn't this old But this poem I wrote for My brother my cousin actually but we were raised as brothers and It was a time when he had passed And his brother had passed just before him But it losing them Brought some things back to my mind about our childhood And I just like to read this is called when we were boys When we were boys, we had lots of fun Climbing the Sheridan street signboard and catching balls on the run When we were boys, we chased every dream And nothing was ever as bad as it seemed We were football heroes and cowboys and such We slid across home plate and came through in the clutch We drank from the pool of life with great glee And there were no limits for you, Vern and me When we were boys on the playground of the street We captured the hearts of everyone we did meet We were musketeers with wooden swords strong and true Then somebody discovered girls. I think it was you We became young men's on a different quest You stayed at home. I headed west Time and tide and many years in between Found us apart from each other and seldom seen But memories grow fonder and enhance the joys Of life and its pleasures when we were boys We'll soar together when our spirits take flight From earth's temporary darkness into god's eternal light And then we'll catch fly balls in that great by and by Just as when we were boys, you, Vern, and I Thank you Okay Preston June is going to do a short poem and then Jassy and then we're going to have And Sheila's going to do one for and then we're going to have some refreshments Okay, so Preston June. I want to do a poem Who y'all want to do this poem for Who y'all want to do this poem for That one there Who who who am I my dad Say speak loud speaking to the microphone Into my father's eyes And I seen an African sunset. We love you daddy My father Yes No Our next poet is going to be christian Miss christian The poem I'm going to be saying tonight is called dreams by Langston Hughes Hold fast the dreams for his dreams die life is a broken wing bird that cannot fly Hold fast the dreams for his dreams go life is a barren field frozen with snow Our next poet is going to be a Kathy Wiley, let's give her a great round of applause jessie sister Two poems my first poem is called movie screens As she has grown she has reaped what she has sown and because of this her voice has become louder As she has lived her life many have learned to doubt her She would have a child by the age of 16. They said and her husband would beat her She knew she would be someone else, but no one believed her She suffered in her childhoods and struggled in her teens But in the depth of her heart and in the back of her mind played movie screens Scenes of pain and a hard life Seemed ingrained out of spite, but why complain when you can make it right? I graduated from high school, which was a feat in itself. I'm still living and I have my health It doesn't seem that hard, but it's a big accomplishment where I'm from. I'm in college now I'm still surviving in the slums. I've quit smoking and revisited the lord Sometimes what seems so difficult really isn't that hard Twin doesn't have a title. I just wrote it actually Yes, I'm still here still striving to make a way out of what I have But they're still trying to take away what I have It's not much what I have But it's still enough to get me through the hot days and the cold nights To get me through the cold ways and the hot fights It's still enough when things get hard and I feel like giving up on life Yes, it's still enough when shit gets tough I acknowledge my knowledge because it's power and it's still enough when the ignorance that is so bliss turns sour I am above the hatred I'd rather love because that can be just enough for a young female thug Enough to keep me away from the books or keep me in the books enough to keep me from the drugs Enough to keep me from the crooks and my fellow thugs. I don't need much just enough love me not too much Just enough Okay, uh Our our next poet is going to be a sheila co. She's going to do some poetry that oh shea wrote So let's give her a great round of applause More of a story than the poems by a shea fin boy Young lady here in the french roll. So she was a little shy So bearable if I get a cover thing. This is based on a raisin in the sun Act two scene one beneath the by a shea finroy Dear diary Asajj is the man of my dream He has opened my eyes to a new side to to me is very spiritual I changed my whole image for this man Oh, yeah, I see the flaming spear Walked to act as As if he was in tune with the flaming spear He tuned up on the table like a villager in the Nigerian jungle I am fierce wild cat. I have the heart of a falcon Oh so do me I am one with myself and I am the queen of Nigeria I am I am beneath a strong black African woman. I am me He is not in tune with the inner black him Mom knows my people who wait for me in my homeland But for now I am sumay Benita Okay Jesse's gonna come up and do uh some poems and then we're gonna have a refreshments uh Uh-huh, okay Who all money who all money Who wants food Who all clothes Too bad. Are you getting to poem? This poem is called um, this is uh a poem that's about um The storm over in New Orleans as well as uh a new relationship Um, so hope you enjoy it. It's called chapters and levies We met before the storm our introduction already manifest and love missives and questions of music Our exchange of words the latent passion which would soon bloom into a foregone conclusion You were intuitive to my approach before I'd even decided to go there So when I arrived your door was already a jar So I spoke out to the silence that I wanted to go where you were you are so powerful and avrodezyak Ambrosia for my hunger my slumber becomes an enchanted summer with no chances of levies giving way No kisses too fast no kisses to pass until we pass the preface of this beginning each page another insight into our physical Spiritual and sexual mors how fitting our sexual clothes that we are naked with intellectual desire The waters of a sinking land rise higher and along with the levies people break and make haste for higher grounds until their panic is Appearsing streaking frightening fight to stay alive So a way they hide on rooftops with no room to exhale their grief They each become a thief of time until time stands still the seconds now minutes now hours the powers that prevail Days away from coming to the rescue you steal my time each time you call our voices enmeshed each time we speak I see solace soon after hopeless hopeful our congress is soon I feel inadequate warning you as awkward as protective barriers put into place to provide the populace protection in the wake of a storm Our introduction a product of placement Manifest the notes and epistles you wrote down your numbers So I wouldn't have to miss you when you were gone So I wouldn't forget you when your perfume no longer lingered in my nostrils like the ghosts of my great beloved grandmother So many men women children and lovers became ghosts when the levies fractured and the land became a rapture of water And the faster the flow the better for the city of people rafting through the thoroughfares looking for a detour through disaster No longer the masters and captains of their souls. They navigated the depths of death with fine tooth instinct So primal you can cock life out of thought I think this may be the brink of a reality. I've sought since your sense sent my loins greeting She's beating on your heart of all now is the moment you awake embraced by your mortality Nothing is more promising than those last seconds now minutes now hours in time that envelop us so so quickly The time so deftly moves you only know it is past when you have I have all the time man knows and that god allows to know your truth and laugh in the face of uncouth politics That is skew life and skew greed and screw the need of the impoverished until there is no need for help for the reaper Has already helped himself to soul sold on existence I know not the effects of her complex destruction personally and in the bigger scheme of things She has simply an event a country built in the backs of blacks could prevent but chose not to She got to the city of the fluidly in a blink mother nature robed in a swirling mass of red and pink Armageddon she was not that is indefensible gods rath pouring from the sky and invincible valley of devastation She knew her bounds you will reappear my wet dreams wearing cumulative winds and rainwater gowns My book of latent passion prolific and manifold with documented manifestos of knowing and understanding your sexual and intellectual Moors as I come to terms with the obliterated shores of new orleans All right Once again, uh, oh, I'd like to make a presentation To a precious uh unique and larry jr God bless you and daddy. Thank you very much and I would like to thank Tower records bravo pizza and barns and nobles for some gifts. I have some gifts for the poets and uh, you know y'all uh You two young people you know what you are to daddy Y'all my heroes you know that I love you and uh once again, uh once again, uh Once again, uh, thank you very much and, uh Thank you cameramen for Brad For this for coming out and covering this wonderful event and we'd like to thank dave and uh, rest of the staff and Thank linda for the wonderful jobs you're doing and you poets, uh, you make this program what it is And uh, it's about us. You know and and uh, and let's do it again and make this 17 28 and 17 So there's plenty of refreshments for everyone and again. Thank you very much and happy holidays and To all and thank you