Rosa Clemente

Tonight I opened for Rosa Clemente OMG!!!!!!!!!!! I didn't even know what I was walking into and boy was I nervous. She is the most wonderful and intelligent down to earth person. MAN!! Pic coming soon hopefully if she emails it to me. She said she would. SO I took the liberty of posting some info of hers I got from WIKI!! MAN I am floored is all I gotta say.


Rosa Alicia Clemente (born 18 April 1972) is a United States community organizer, independent journalist and Hip-Hop activist. She is the vice presidential running mate of 2008 Green Party Presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney.[1]
Clemente was born and raised in South Bronx, New York. She is a graduate of the University of Albany and Cornell University. Clemente has been delivering workshops, presentations and commentary for over ten years.
Clemente's academic work has focused on research of national liberation struggles within the United States, with a specific focus on the Young Lords Party and the Black Liberation Army. While a student at SUNY Albany, she was President of the Albany State University Black Alliance (ASUBA) and Director of Multicultural Affairs for the Student Association. At Cornell she was a founding member of La Voz Boriken, a social/political organization dedicated to supporting Puerto Rican political prisoners and the independence of Puerto Rico.
Clemente has written for Clamor Magazine, The Ave. magazine, The Black World Today, The Final Call and numerous websites. She has been the subject of articles[citation needed] in the Village Voice, The New York Times, Urban Latino and The Source magazines. She has appeared on CNN, C-Span, Democracy Now and Street Soldiers. In 2001, she was a youth representative at the United Nations World Conference against Xenophobia, Racism and Related Intolerance in South Africa and in 2002 was named[citation needed] by Red Eye Magazine as one of the top 50 Hip Hop Activists to look out for.
In 1995, she developed Know Thy Self Productions (KTSP), a full service speakers bureau, production company and media consulting service. Seeing a need for young people of color to be heard and taken seriously she began presenting workshops and lectures at colleges, universities, high schools, and prisons. In the past ten years she has presented at over 200 colleges, conferences and community centers on topics such as "African-American and Latino/a Intercultural Relations", "Hip-Hop Activism", "The History of the Young Lords Party", and "Women, Feminism and Hip Hop". KTSP now includes an expanded college speakers bureau which has produced three major Hip Hop activism tours, "Dare to Struggle, Dare to Win" with M1 of dead prez and Fred Hampton Jr.; "The ACLU College Freedom Tour" with dead prez, DJ Kuttin Kandi, Mystic and comedian Dave Chappelle; and the "Speak Truth to Power" Tour a collaborative tour of award winning youth activists.
In 2003, Clemente helped form and coordinate the first ever National Hip Hop Political Convention that drew over 3000 activists who came together to create and implement a national political agenda for the Hip-Hop generation. 10 days after Hurricane Katrina ravaged parts of the south, Clemente traveled to the areas as an independent journalist and her on-the-ground reports were broadcast on independent radio stations all over the world, including Air America, NPR, Pacifica Radio, Democracy Now, Indymedia, Hard Knock Radio and many more independent and mainstream media outlets.

2nd Verse Oct. 10th Recap

October 10 was another successful night of poetry under our belt. SO far so good!!
2nd Verse has become the answer to my prayers, supplication, and intercession all that WOOSAA! I must say again how good it is to have a local poetry spot I can come to and feel at home. No drama just good vibes and love.

Tonight we still had a packed house despite having to move our regularly scheduled program to a Friday night… further proving that San Antonio loves it’s poetry.

So here’s How, Who and What of the night in no particular order:

I (Vocab) kicked off the show accompanied by Zach on the drum with Speak of Woes.
Chris Ford read 2 and came back later with another piece later in the night
Zach read 2
Vunique read an excerpt from her up and coming book and came back with a short piece
Candice read 2 and man she was preaching to me with that second poem
Monique (Purobaby!) read 2 and came back for 1 more later in the night @ my request
Glo with A Womans Scorn ( I love that damn poem)
Isis Blue came through and did Cooley High Harmony still love it!!
Hill who I haven’t seen in years gave us 1 poem
Kiri dressed to the nines gave us 1 poem
Black Lotus (from H-town) gave us 3 pieces in total and got the standing ovation!! WOO
W.C. came up and did an impromptu piece with a “male muse” at her side modeling
Supa the “male muse” did a song called Passion after he finished being eye candy lol
C.W. Deuce our other other white poet hit the mic w/ a poem on a palm pilot high tech!
Kinton (even hit the mic wow!! I been waiting to hear you again)
I (Vocab Andrea whateva)closed out the show at the end of the night with one last poem.
*Midnight Radio came thru and unveiled a new song and new cover tune as a part of our set!

So when it was all said and done we had 15 poets with about 21 poems and two musical sets WOW WHAT A NIGHT. And to think I was so nervous cause when I started there was only 5 poets on the list and 1/3 of a crowd by the middle of the first poem the room was full and so was the list. I swear people came out of no where ha ha.
See you next month November 8th for another addition of 2nd Verse.

Winestyles
16535 Huebner Rd. Suite 112
San Antonio, Texas
8pm
Free for out of town performing poets.
Blessings see you soon!!

Haiku 4 You

Cleaning Haiku
#1
Wipe down the toilet
Spray bottle clicking so quick.
Cleaning can feel gross.
#2
If I have to haul
one more bag to the dumpster
I will just collapse!

#3
I discovered me!!
plastic bags filled with poems
these words are my life.

#4
Tears frenchkiss my eyes
we have a makeout session
full, deep... without lips

#5
My sister walks in
catches me crying and thinks
poems cause the pain.

INSOMINIA HAIKU
Keyboard in motion
TEN O'CLOCK I'M STILL AWAKE
I WILL REGRET THIS


Why I don't write more haiku... haiku

I hate counting you!
Syllables are tricky things
I messed up haiku.

Sept 13th 2nd Verse

Greetings Loved Ones,
I just wanted to thank everyone that came out to make The Official opening of 2nd Verse a success!! We were packed with standing room only our opening night… despite hurricane and evacuations. The turn out was a blessing from on high and Glo, Kinton, and I are overjoyed by the response from the community.
God held the rain from San Antonio but words flooded our souls and the wind of wisdom blew from poetic lips with ease. Special thanks to DJ Scef, Element 615, Edwin, and Angie G for enduring the possible threat of bad weather to be with us from out of town. Shout out to our microphone “virgins” Camille and Liz for enduring the jitters and speaking from your soul. Kudos to my band Midnight Radio for gracing us with music AND with the accompaniment of Rene Ford on saxophone I would venture to say we rocked the house soulfully. In no particular order this is what happened:

Midnight Radio opened the show with our new song Belvedere, and Angel:

Poets read NOT IN THIS ORDER:

T.S. Alex (FIRST ON THE MIC did 2 pieces from his respective chap books)
Chailyn Kavi 2 poems brand new piece about becoming a fire fighter and love poem
Edwin Deleon did a piece thank you for the good male energy on the mic
Edwin (from ATX)
Element 615
Glo did her piece ‘her house smells like death’
Kiri did her piece about loving poetry
Liz did 2 pieces gave a shout out to Chipotle
Camille gave us a bit about friendship and the lack thereof
Vocab Give me Jazz
Zach gave us two poems about music and jazz
Scef performed Brown Boys
Midnight Radio did a set to take us into a fun filled intermission
And we came back for a couple more poems from out of towners and
Chris Ford gave us a piece about his father
Angie G (Houston TX) (FINISHED OFF THE NIGHT)
Then Midnight Radio came back and gave 2 more songs to close the night

*If I left anyone off this list of performers please forgive me because, I don’t have the open mic list in front of me to refer to it...


Join us October 11th for the next installment of 2nd verse.

Thank you Mel Williams for allowing us into crowd up your venue
16535 Huebner Rd San Antonio TX. Winestyles
Check us out on the net www.winestyles.net/inwood

Clutter Poem

SO EVERYONE NEEDS A LIST POEM... BUT I AM SO FREAKING LOQUACIOUS THAT I HAD TO WRITE A POEM THAT JUST INCLUDED A LIST POEM WITHIN IT. SORRY FOLKS.

CLUTTER POEM

Love is dripping down the sides of the cup of our relationship…
baby when you and I lose our cool completely
there is no flavor left in the remnants of our glass.
It's just a ring of condensation on the pages of our past.
We've confound space with clutter, and we don't butter our words…
we just toast each others buns.
Hun the chain of communication is broken.
We even leave arguments unspoken.
Now we throw each other sideways glances
and only give spiteful second chances with mutinous war embedded in our eyes,
cause we don't trust each other.
So the sun don't rise in these crescent lips of mine.
It's just an eclipse in that heart of yours.
The rain pours.
The muddle between us leaves tracks on our carpet
from puddles of soot and water that start to soil our saxony surroundings.
There are abounding boxes and shelving units filled to the brim
with everything that could possibly get in our way.
We have uncovered silence where we feel there are no words left to say.
SO I wrote this list of the frivolous junk that has accumulated in our home
since the day we stopped speaking so much...
The list goes as such:
Seventeen souvenir shot glasses from the airports we've passed through.
Twenty-four assorted post cards glued to picture frames…
only ten of which are out on display.
Four stained glass panes you still haven't placed in our bay front window.
Eight decorative pillows that match our two couches and love seat,
but clash with the drapes I was supposed to take down
in exchange for matching curtain rods.
Three pictures of tropical birds that you swore were a great garage sale bargain.
Two plastic pails full of paint brushes for my new hobby…
an easel, and seven unpainted canvases.
One sterling silver flask with your initials engraved on the side.
I got it for your birthday the year your grandpa died,
six bottles of imported liquor and ten of cheap wine.
A vine shaped rack to place them on.
A new set of unopened glass ware.
A cracked vase, three mardi gras masks.
A trunk full of college memorabilia you're wiling to sort through,
but the lock is broken.
That stupid coo-coo clock you got from your mom.
A kaleidoscope, several journals, two boxes of vanilla scented soap.
Two boxes of ivory tea light candles,
six bags of fragrant potpourri… I initially intended to only buy three,
but yet another sale… two for the price of one.
a sowing machine with a bench to place it upon,
a garbage bag of old stuffed animals from when I was young,
your toy b.b. gun, a pair of roller blades,
approximately ninety-seven books,
and two encyclopedia set series,
four atlases, a globe,
and sixteen maps of countries you want to visit.
It seems you have an affinity for exotic vacation destinations.
A dinette set, a couple of end tables,
matching floor lamps, one old television set.
Eight black shelving units for cds,
sixty-two bargain priced dvds from the clearance bins at
Wal-mart, Target, and H.E.B.
A pair of binoculars,
five terra-cotta pots, and a bag of planting soil.
An old guitar you swore you were going to get refurbished six months ago.
Three milk crates of vinyl records
an old cassette deck a bag full of tapes,
and twenty-one VHS tapes even though we don't own a VCR.
You said your brother would lend you his…
whenever we decide to have a movie night.
Which brings me to your prized possession
a professional popcorn maker you bought from an antique shop.
Movie posters galore!!
Seven photo-albums that once belonged to my Aunt June.
Not to mention five extra boxes marked miscellaneous in our living room.
I promise to start removing this collage of crap tomorrow.
But I can't even part my lips tell you
that the boxes are too heavily laden with a surplus of sorrow.
I won't lift it all on my own.
My name isn't U-haul.
This emotional precious cargo can NOT be neatly filed out of our way,
cause it is filled to the brim with words we may never get a chance to say.
We just clutter our space as our hope runs thin.
We have no storage room left in our home to let each other back in.
Maybe next week I will write a few limericks about all the items we horde in our den.
09-08-08

Chailyn Kavi.

So if you used to come to free verse there is this poet named Dawn. She has been MIA as of late because she is studying to become a firefighter we recently had a convo where she told me she is feeling like she lost her self. So I wrote her a poem to encourage her (even though I haven't told her yet)

Chailyn Kavi

How do you fight the flames-- With water poet.Recapture the meaning of your name. Your water is life poet. So flow like the blood in your own veins. Poet don't you know your dreams and memories are one in the same? Poet to continue is to go from whence you came. Feel no shame at the beckoning of bonfire. You are a bondservant. Your desire is to unchain torrential rains and rescue by subduing heat. Don't you know that's where passion meets the road, meets the wind. And if the angels call you home again your flight will never be pen less or wingless. Digress on stage or off page. Is not the current for irrigation raged within the canals, or even in the bowels and vowels of a limitless body. Your words will make you godly. Never mind whether we do, or do not ascend. Barefoot and brazen we will go dancing to the sound of sonnets pounded out by the rhythm in our chests. Press our toes in the dewy earth and howl at the flaxen stars to curse our pain away. We will stay planted there until crystal stairs shatter from the pitch of our voices. Our brows will be moist with the perspiration from the warmth we've endured. But we will keep fighting these fires together poet. Scorched by sunsets yet you will rise like the Dawn you are. Carve shimmering melodies in the clouds and drown out the shadows. Be as bizarre as your art begs you to be. Be brave as the secrets that substantiate your shame. But always remember your name. For you are Life Poet. The repeated respiration of ballads and prose. Breathing stanzas into your nose only to exhale rose buds and thorns. Inhaling the scorn of trespasses against you only to produce vitality fused in prose. When all around you have choked on the flames of hell you will extinguish pyre with the fluid in your soul. Because you are a life giver plant the seeds of wisdom. Roll syllabic stress into fine pressed linens to dress your slender form. Our hearts are weathered and worn but we will draw ourselves to the flame and flap our wings with moths blowing away the smoke as a ladle removes dross. You have counted the cost of sacrifice and still you fear not. You know the temperature is Fahrenheit hot and still you will not back down. So I will again resonate the sound of name. Chailyn Kavi breathe in, breathe out poetry.

2nd Verse

2nd Verse 2nd Verse San Antoniosssssss official new open mic

Well many of you don't know but Glo, Kinton, and myself started a new poetry spot tonight at a franchise wine bar called Winestyles. It was just a soft opening But from now on… We will be holding it down the 2nd Saturday of every month (once a month is all you need)

September 13th is the Night to come and join us.

The venue is a beautiful little spot and features a vast variety of wines. Next month Scef is coming down to d.j. for us it will be splendid. That is the official kick off. I hope to see all of you in the place next time around.

So who read tonight??

Glo
Vocab
DaRell
Devin Joshua
Edwin Deleon
Terri
Kirsten
Gylon

Musical features Midnight Radio (and a good saxophonist friend of mine Rene Ford dropped in and did some impromptu jamming with us.)

THAT'S RIGHT LADIES AND GENTS MY BAND Midnight Radio IS BACK TOGETHER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! * hopefully for good this time.
Tonight we made or debut back on the scene.

We had free wine tasting and a yummy party tray of various treats. ALL FOR FREE.

You can't beat poetry music and free sustenance.

Next month $5 dollar cover unless you are an out of town poet and signing up to read.

www.winestyles.net/inwood

God bless you!!