feel that you would like to give to the Academy.
Okay? So thanks a lot and is Giles coming back?
All right thank you very much.
Give another hand for Mr. Bob Thomas. All right
all right you ready to start the show?
You ready to start the show that's what I like
to hear.
If you haven't been at Poets and Jazz before we
have a thing a ritual that we have started.
When I say bless the mic you say bless the mic.
So let's can we try it? All right bless the mic.
Okay just I need a little more volume. I'm a
church boy so I need a little more volume. Okay
bless the mic. That's what I like to hear. All
right coming to the stage
we have the TBAAL Future poets. They're up and
coming poets. They're young poets definitely
out here doing their things and definitely show
them some love give them some encouragement.
They have a lot a lot a lot to say in this
generation. Coming to the stage we have one
student from Skyline High School. Skyline High
School coming to give what he has inside of him.
Put those hands together for Mr. Quincy Dimmery.
How y'all doing tonight?
I was just inspired to write this poem thinking
about everybody want to know what love is and
they try to explain it but they leave so much
out. So the only way I think to explain it was
my way.
So I'm gonna get you out my way right now. It's
entitled What's Love. What's love? Everyone seeks
to know. So much explained but so much untold.
When were hand wide to the human mind is left unknown.
It was here in the beginning was the key to all
creation. From a greater power blind to the human
eye. Betrayed by you and I a serpent deceived
our earthly mind. With every right to cut out
the light
instead became flesh and endured its works blow
then strikes. Our eyes were open but could not see
nailed to a cross L-O-V-E.
The second piece I prepared is for all the
young ladies out there
but it's not sweet. It's entitled Million
Dollar Baby.
You're a diamond but haven't been dug at the
dirt. A priceless jewel in the wrong hand so
you have no
worth. You're an angel spreading out the wrong
wings. Beautiful eyes seeing all the wrong things.
Bless the day you step foot on earth walking
down a road full of pain and hurt. Your garden
of passion
is not to be watered by the world. It takes
more than one night for love to Unfurl. You
twinkle and
glitter like a star at night when actually
you're one of a kind star that brings daylight.
A million
dollar baby is what you are. Life is a trip
don't go too far. HIV is a killer with no
regards. He's
not a patient waiter at any time he will hop on
board. To my million dollar baby be warned.
Mr. Quincy Dimley everybody make sure some love
for Quincy. Million Dollar Baby yeah yeah yeah
that's what we're producing over there at
Skyline and DISD. Dallas Independent School District
definitely definitely definitely. Coming to the
stage we have another representative a graduate
of a DISD school. She's a graduate of David
Carter High School. She's currently enrolled
at Sam Houston State University studying mass
communications. Put those hands together for Ms.
Sokobia Bracks. I'm real nervous I'm sorry. I
was kind of torn in between poetry but
this one I think we can work with. All right
just to make you think.
I want to put this bug in your ears so listen
close my dear because it's going to come a little
fast and you might not catch it till I become a
thing of the past. Saying the things you never can
say may become a little difficult but I'm a Sam
anyway. Because too many of you are worried about
stepping on shoes or changing the rules but
it's time out for all the bull like the way you make
it okay being a hypocrite. Beating us every bit
of Smith that comes to the tip of your lip. Now
ain't that better oh I'm not gonna slip in the
mess you made like you paved the way back in the
day. By the way oh high and mighty losing that
fake flake of a lover is better than losing any
bad day with a good friend or another. Why do
you have to think with what's in your mink
under your
belly button sink I'm not a shrink I just came
to make you think. And for those that I seem to
offend allow me to make amends I'm just
becoming a true kin. You know the one I'm
talking about
telling you what hurts even when you're pout
making you think about how Mama used to whip
you until
you thought you would turn blue then telling
you it hurts me more than it hurts you. And for those
that this seems to be above your head maybe
it's time for bed because you don't seem to understand
a word that's being said. But don't try to
catch it now you'll get it in a little while because
I just came to make you think. To all you low
down brothers on the down low spreading AIDS
cooking and education contest the nation and
the plot thickens because it sickens me to
think of it
every little bit. All these women wondering
where the men go you telling me you don't know choose
the team and what you want to play and stop
bringing AIDS to our black women saying you don't
know what to say. But what you don't realize is
that you are killing us before we have a chance
to live and we're already dead to this nation's
expectation so you finally pull the plug on
progression in my generation. And I can smell
it it's in the air it is everywhere and it stinks
but all I came to do is to make you think. Oh
and women don't think you're getting away from me.
I might not have 20 20 but I can see the way
you walk around allowing a rap song to define
who you
should be. Changing your ways to accommodate a
man because he got money but you expect to be
treated with respect walking around looking no
bigger. And every time you turned on the radio
Kanye telling you now ain't saying she a gold
digger. Now you trying to teach me how to be a
woman. Well if what I see is how a woman should
be please tell me how I can get out of this creed
but you ask me who am I to tell you what to do.
This is true all the thing I'm doing it's time
for me to blink but I just came to make you
think. Think of the ways to save my generation
from a
destination of abomination. Think of the ways
to show me I don't have to be a hoe so a dude
can put
me in the dirt and touch me up under my skirt.
To carry myself like a lady but don't just tell me
show me daily. Think of the ways to show our
young men how to work and not just on those street
corners selling the other one's merch. How
every girl ain't no bitch and telling the truth don't
make you a snitch. And though the words I spit
might not touch you one bit at least that's what
you think. The person sitting on side of you
that's nodding their head and saying uh-huh uh-huh
uh-huh uh-huh know I'm being true and in they
mind they saying I know what to do.
Why you sitting in silence because somewhere in
this poem I'm describing you. So brain cells I
ask you do what you do because I've run out of
ink but all I came to do is to make you think.
Mr. Kovia Braggs everybody it's a Kovia Braggs.
Dallas Independent School District's home right
there. Right there right there right there
right there trying to make you think. Awesome
awesome. She gave you a lot to think about?
Gave you a lot to think about. I like that.
Coming to the stage
we have another another Skyline High School
student. She's a senior at Skyline High School.
She's a member of the International Thespian
Society. That's the high school actress
society. She also performs at the Diverse
Lounge down at the Dallas Theater Center.
Put those hands together for Miss Nisi Cornute. Hello.
I'm going to do a piece it's about um
we'll just pretend that didn't happen. All
right um it's about gogos in Africa and what gogos
are so I can clarify it for you are um the
grandmothers in Africa when their children's
when their children die of AIDS in Africa many
times it's the grandparents who are left
caring for their kids many times like it is
here in America even but for different reasons
and so um
that's what this is about. Her brown skin was
wrinkled with age as she watched her two daughters
in brown wooden boxes leave this world. She
voiced to the cemetery with hundreds who had
buried their
little boys or girls and once again she had a
child a boy her grandson and she was thankful
because he had lived five past two and many
died at one and they were murdered in the hands
of this
wild beast charged with the emotionless death
of millions at least but still granny lived and was
gogo to the boy she was gogo to many other
children's whom this monster had killed excuse
me I'm sorry she was gogo to many other
children orphaned by this monster who had
emerged just 25
years in the past and in this time she had
traveled it had traveled to places both far and vast
ravaging the continent that bore life since the
very beginning this evil giant didn't only take
those men who many say are sinning because they
loved each other it took his little sister and
younger brother leaving gogo to care who was
just five three with thinning gray hair in this sickness
it was incurable but controllable with the
right medicines however there's no CBS in South Africa
where they graciously lived and enough for a
few thousand was all the medicine they had to give
where babies are given names that will sound
right on a tombstone and eight-year-olds become parents
of their younger sibling this giant has
heartlessly sown um
gogo helps and she teaches kids who don't know
yet how to ride a bike how to change diapers
an effort of resistance to this killer who was
quicker than a viper all the while she smiles
hiding the fact that one day she wouldn't wake
up for time was against her too gogo warriors the
proud and the few she walked her grandson a
lucky one miles to school and worked in the
field to
keep his and twelve of the orphan children's
bellies full and for them she was their only
hope she was in a tug of war with this monster
and they were the rope fighting and surviving
and they were the rope strong unsuspecting of a
69 year old she was resilient and bold
fighting and surviving with uncertainty towards
a future one dim and dismal this deadly demon
might mold its name is exactly what they need
only without those three dots someone to bring
help to those that many have forgot to the lost
boys and girls to take the weaknesses
for the day when the generations of gogos go to
and they are truly alone when their warm pillow
shoulders to cry on leave and their mouths can
no longer bless the children's knees they'll need
money for more medicine food and shelter but
gogo gave love something that money could never afford
and for that she had received the heaviest of
rewards but they were born into an invisible war
and it's not fair especially when a cup of
coffee here costs equivalent to a month of life over
there this demon doesn't discriminate
demolishing and deactivating immune systems
worldwide but like
a flood Africa was hardest hit by its tide gogo
fears her end is near but she don't need skin
cream or botox her love is her real beauty and
she's a soldier but this gogo isn't ready to be
discharged from her duty thank you
miss nancy cornuda everybody give her a hand
all right all right
pop quiz bless the mic oh you 100 and hundreds
across the board
hundreds across the board um we have uh we have
a addendum to our program right now it's a it's a
good thing definitely a good thing we have a
former intern from the black Academy of arts
and letters she was in the summer program this
year she was uh in turn working with the show
rhapsody and rhythm and it's because of places
like the black academy of arts and letters
giving youth giving young people the
opportunity to come and express their gift and
share their
talent and and cut their teeth necessarily in
the arts and to form a passion and love
for with the black academy let's give the black
academy a big hand for opportunities opportunities
open definitely definitely and people like miss
hall who will be joining us later who
have provided those opportunities you can give
her a big hand as well give her a big hand as well
for providing these opportunities but this is a
piece that she actually performed in a show we
did last summer called wine watermelon the word
and it'll actually be coming back up Mr king allowed
us to do it again to come back up and next June
uh right along Juneteenth Weekend I believe and so
coming to the stage we have all the way from
Augusta Georgia Augusta Georgia yes yes yes yes
we have our way from Augusta Georgia Miss
Sheree Williams put your hands together
hello and good evening um like you said my name
is sheree Williams I work here now at the black
academy of arts and letters I first came here
in March of 2007 from this year to be a part of the
National association of dramatic and speech
arts competition and it's where Hbcus from
across the
country come together and they compete in
various competitions dealing with theater this
year it was
held at the black academy and I was so happy
about that because I got to come here and meet
and be a part of a place and learn about a
place that I didn't know existed and once I
learned I
just couldn't stop telling everybody about it
because it's a place truly made for us by us
and it's in the theater arts after I came here
for the theater competition I actually came back
in June to do an internship and after the
internship like a day I just called called
called Mr king and a day before I was supposed
to come out here to try to find another job
just to
be close to the academy he told me I want you
to come and be my box office administrator so
God is good and the academy is definitely good
um I just want to do two poems for you tonight
um thank you for allowing me to do that Mr king
and thank you to the black academy for giving me
a platform to do that also and for giving so
many other black artists a platform as well
I would like to dedicate the first poem to our
guest of honor for the night miss Irma P Hall
because the first poem represents
African-american strong african-american women
and Irma P Hall is
definitely a strong african-american woman and
every time I see her especially when I see her
in her role in soul food I think of big mama
and my grandmother who passed away in 2002
who was also a very strong african-American
woman so this is for her and for all the strong
african-american women especially all of you in
the audience tonight it's called recognized
recognize that in my eyes lies the history of a
black woman's beauty struggle and strength from
the sunsets of the Serengeti to the niles
riverbanks I am your past your present and your
future so I am to be treated with delicacy and
respect no cuts or bruises should appear on my
skin by your hand there should be no neglect
recognize that a sister comes in every shape and
in every different size we are beautiful from
every corner on our feet to every stretch mark on
our thighs I am your sister your grandmother
your woman your cousin your daughter your aunt
and your queen you mistreat them when you
mistreat me recognize that in the rhythms of my
moves I
am sending you messages passed down from one
generation of black beauties to another from my
greatest grandmother till I have to teach them
to my granddaughter recognize that every one of my
kisses holds a power to place you under a spell
powerful enough to lift you from Hell too powerful
to tell don't you recognize all the wonders
right in front of you within me yet you play me with
your games you hurt me with your lies you
tricked me with your kisses you taught me with
your disguise
you pacify me with your promises you haunt me
with your words you make me sick because you
refuse to
recognize that I'm all your level one in need
if you only stop chasing other women you might see
recognize that I am the air that you breathe
the gift that God gave you in which you have
yet to unwrap and soon brother somebody else
gonna come and steal your prize all because you failed
to recognize the next poem I'm gonna do for you
is more about empowerment and this poem is called
my color is not my cage rage is my attitude on
this stage called life because this world wants
to make my color my cage but see what every
turn of history's page my race has still sustained
they tried to use my color as my cage and my
ignorance as the key to lock me away but oh no
see thanks to my brothers and sisters like
Douglas Turner Truth Sojourner Jackson X King
West and
Angelou I am free education to do whatever I
want to do and say to them my color is not my cage
cage they tried to use my color as my cage and
my lack of talents and skill as the key to lock
me away but oh no see thanks to my brothers and
sisters like Mcdaniel deep portier Dandridge
Washington Fox and berry I am free to rule
theater and hollywood any way I please and
say to them my color is what they tried to use
my color as my cage and by breaking my spirit
and my soul as the key they thought they had
finally got me y'all but oh no see thanks to my
God that chain got broken long before I could
even start and my spirit and my soul stayed intact
they could not will not it will never impact my
relationship with him and even though their
ignorance might make me want to lose my
religion they cannot change me keep me rid of
me stop me
break me from being what who God made me and
that is beautiful proud successful smart and
black now
try and cage that
my color is not my cage give her another big
round of applause sheree Williams everybody
Sheree Williams Sheree Williams all right all
right all right coming to the stage we have another
uh young poet doing this thing definitely
coming to bless the mic
all right we're coming to bless the mic all
right all right all right give a big round of applause
for Mr Gabriel Newhouse
hey okay hey okay I get a snap I can't I get a
snap come on hey I like that
y'all like that come on down let's make some noise
I came from the crib, cross to be an originator
for the crib.
My spirit take control as I shift from the soul.
We bring forth more testimonies, many times in
high school.
They tried to be in this group.
They tried to see it through too.
They didn't understand me and didn't want my company.
They looked at me and probably thought, okay,
why do you act like you do?
Talk like you do.
They act like you don't understand what you do.
And hey man, the girls did too.
They looked at me and they didn't see a thug.
So some didn't want to show it, brother Bob.
So I was about to stray.
But God put his hands on my head, said,
I see the world, I damn everything.
It's got to be okay.
We do things will evil.
So I'm tough.
So I say, came from the crib.
Cross to be an originator, came from the crib.
Cross to be and originator, came from the crib,
cross to be an originator, cross to be an
originator, for the crib.
See I came from the crib, cross to be an
originator, came from the crib.
I'm a Quasipede originator, came from the crater.
Quasipede originator, came from the crater.
Quasipede originator, I'm a Quasipede
originator from the crater.
I want to see if y'all still with me.
Hey, ha.
Now this boy right here, let's just talk about
my testimony.
Coming from high school and feeling left out.
Feeling like not just being unaccepted.
But what I love about God is that he'll always
call you when you just want to get your attention.
He'll just put his hands on your life.
And he'll take you out of that situation.
And he'll take you, put you in a situation
where you can help other people.
So if you've ever been one of those people that
has just been left out,
I encourage you to keep being different.
You're different for a reason.
You know what I'm saying?
Now check out this other verse.
Check it out.
I want you all to say it with me.
I didn't choose to be a racist so don't hate me.
I'm just using what God has given me.
Cause I'm not like your woman.
She is hard but you know you.
Makes things difficult.
But I can see myself through the copycat.
Cause I'm not like that.
I kind of be who I be.
And do what I do.
Speak these words and be so un-based as me.
Got to love it like you all are sweet.
I thank God for a cool persona.
It's my mother's thing.
And sometimes we don't feel like that.
Cause I look back.
I look back.
King from the crater.
Klaus the originator.
Klaus the originator for the crater.
See, I came from the crater.
Klaus the originator.
I got to be an originator for the credit.
See, I came from the crater.
Cross to be originated, came from the crater.
Cross to be originated.
Cross to be originated for the credit.
Hey, I like that, Dallas. Yeah.
Now, now. Hey.
Now, I got to go to verse.
Hey, y'all still with me, Dallas?
Black people, y'all still with me?
I know we all got a testimony, right?
I know God has been good for you,
and I know he's been good to me.
Come on.
Speaking of things ain't easy to do.
Give me knowledge.
What the hell do you think you've got skills
and the heart to pay the bills?
What do you pay me for the time I've been silent?
Is what it's asked of me and so it means highly.
But see what you both been hearing, I trust
that he misses me with the music industry.
Yeah, so me skills used for that will come
through when I learn the music theory.
When I read from the book then hevolatize you
and I so now the eyes do one thing.
Said, came from the crater cause a beyond which
no idea came from the crater.
I'm like they what you called?
Came from the crater cause you're visioning
your head out.
I like that man, I hate this whole situation.
Well, I was thankful I had a job.
But on that job, I was a little frustrated.
over here, right?
But the situation was, the song is called Reflections.
And it basically talks about, as I looked at my life
and my past situation, jobless but not helpless.
That's what I had been facing.
Even though I had a job, I was just out of college.
I didn't have a job.
And I was like, look, I need a job.
I was praying about, I finally got a job.
And I got the job.
And when I finally got that job, as I went on,
I was like, man,
I'm so sick of this job, I want another job.
Y'all know what I'm talking about, right?
So sometimes, so the Lord put this on my heart
to write this song from a different situation.
Say, write it as in you already got the victory.
So even though you're right here,
go ahead and shout because you got the victory.
So although I went on with that same job,
I just continued like an opportunity
to just believe and think that, hey, I already
had something better.
And thank God, He's blessed me with another job. Yeah.
So I'm going to do this.
As I looked at my life and my past situation,
jobless, but I knew business was what I had
been facing.
Although I'm not now, got a college degree.
And there are some skills you don't learn and how
to succeed.
But I felt no job out there.
I had my needs, just like I said.
Hey, I hate the names that I was trying to hide.
Just broke my society apart.
The female covers letters, resumes, and faxes.
But now I've got the job.
Fills in a student line.
Looking at my competition just to pass the time.
Who's staying, baby, are you for me?
Now, I don't promise you anything.
It's just a thing that used to be.
They kept passing me by.
But I knew I had to try and see the stars.
They kept passing me by.
But I knew I had to grind.
I seen those doors.
They kept passing me by.
But I knew I had to try and see the stars.
They kept passing me by.
But I knew I had to grind.
And I said, move on to the second verse.
You all have had the situation where your money
confronting you.
And your change be strange.
Money confronting?
Hey, check it out. Hey.
It was hard getting by.
I had a little bit of money.
My change was strange.
And I act a little funny.
But you know it's trouble.
Every day I was in a hustle.
Grinding for low pay.
Man, each and every day.
I was going to pay my bills someday.
But I never really had all my needs to pay.
Thank God for what I had.
I turned over a man.
I saw him in the mirror.
I said, it's time to pay back.
So I'm going to realize I was too blessed to be.
Just like I thought I was.
I thought my life was a mess.
You better cut me.
You used to be mine.
There was steps.
There was me. Nothing.
There's dust in your face.
You can't pass me by.
But I knew.
I would.
I had to try.
I flipped those things.
They kept passing me by.
But I knew.
I would.
I had to cry.
I saw those walls.
They kept passing me by.
But I knew.
I would.
I had to try.
I said, I'm going to have to make up for what I had.
But I knew.
I would.
I had to survive.
But I knew.
Sometimes you get to situations like that.
You've got to know the rest.
Check it out.
if you're having a great time.
Thank you.
I hope you do it.
Thank you. Thanks.
Don't forget your
Make some noise for Gay Boy Newhouse, everybody.
Man, don't stop it.
I was liking that groove.
Give it up for our band.
Y'all having a good time?
Say yeah.
All right, all right.
Nah, I'm not going to try to outflow on the mic.
No, not at all.
I don't want to embarrass myself on these,
on these, no, no, no.
And I already know who that is over there,
so I'm going to leave that alone.
But, man, these spirits have been definitely,
definitely kicking it up,
definitely doing their thing on the mic,
coming to the stage.
We have Houston's own, all the way from Houston,
Texas, here with us in Dallas, Texas this afternoon.
I just was told that he's the host of the longest-running
poetry show in Houston at the Poetry Lounge.
He's been here in Dallas a couple times before,
but he's here at the Black Academy this evening.
Come on and make some noise for Seven.
How y'all doing?
That's all right.
Cotton Bowl, Prairie View, and Grammar Game.
How many of y'all were here for the Tom Joyner event?
Make some noise.
It's all right.
It's PV Homecoming.
PV in the building.
I am a PV grad.
Shout out to the Deltas in the building.
I'm going to get this thing started.
My first piece is entitled, She Was So Beautiful.
Now, yes, she was.
I was aware that sisters didn't like to show up
wearing the same things,
but my dear friend, Cashel Kelly,
made me aware that y'all just hate on each
other for no reason sometimes.
See, now y'all trying to act like y'all don't.
When a sister got herself together and she walk in,
you know how y'all do that.
So this piece goes out to the beautiful sisters
and the sisters that hate them for it.
Here we go.
She was so beautiful.
She had the body of a goddess.
Her makeup was flawless.
She had rollercoaster curves that made men nauseous,
and women would grab them in and become overcautious
just in case that perfect face decided to make
her relationship a target
because she was so beautiful.
Women would degrade her, downplay her, say her
beauty was false
with comments like, I bet she don't look that
good if she take all that makeup off.
She had charisma.
She had confidence, and women would assume that
she was conceited
and thought she was all of that because she
could have any man in the room
because she was so beautiful.
And I couldn't understand why they were paying
her so much negative attention,
tearing her down with their insecurities and opinions,
and the more they talked, the more I listened,
and it was the one time that I heard that
sister mention that she was so beautiful.
They said it for her. She didn't.
In this story, she's the victim because women
don't see a sister,
they see competition.
They see skin and hair. They see clothes and shoes.
They don't realize she goes through the same
things that they do.
She has to deal with disrespect, being treated
like a sex object,
sexual harass at the workplace just to get a check
because she is so beautiful just like them.
But sisters can't get past their jealousy,
envy, and pride,
so they judge her before getting to know who
she is inside.
You see, being pretty can be pretty painful,
and it's sad that being beautiful has to hurt,
and it's sad that we judge an outer appearance
instead of getting to know her first,
so she takes glamour shots,
but not those glamour shots in the photo shoot
or photo booth with those low blows
like, oh, she's a prostitute, or those ain't
her real eyes,
that ain't her real hair.
She knows she wrong for that outfit. She could
have found something else to wear.
She got stretch marks. She must have kids.
She ain't got no chest. Girl, her breasts too big.
She's too skinny. She's too fat. She's too this.
She's too that.
She thinks she's the cute one in the bunch.
Look at her friends.
Man, she is so beautiful, she just can't win.
Beautiful beauty, but there's a beast within,
and her sisters beat her down for being beautiful,
so now she tries to pretend like she's ugly,
and her outer beauty creates a monster inside
that does ugly things,
gives her more insecurity and lowers her self-esteem,
or she might become vain and promiscuous,
and after becoming burnt out on broken
relationships and giving her best to men,
she might find safety and security in her same
sex to become a lesbian
because another woman is telling her that she
is so beautiful.
So many women are uncomfortable with themselves
or they hate and say stuff.
Need to take a look in the mirror and take off
the makeup,
and I ain't talking about fashion fam Mary Kay
or Mac.
I'm talking about your emotional makeup and the
baggage that's attached.
Before you say something negative about a
sister, consider how you sound.
At that point, you are a crab in a bucket, and
I'm like,
why you want to pull her down?
And then some sisters will be like, well, I'm
just speaking my mind.
Well, I think your thoughts are clouded and
your big mouth is blocking her shine
because you can't find substance in your shape.
You can't find substance in your face.
It has nothing to do with how thin or thick you are.
It has nothing to do with your weight,
and you can't find substance in your status,
clothes, car, or your job.
Only place you can find long-lasting substance
is in God.
If you've been crying out through your actions,
if you've been crying real tears,
wipe your face, dry your eyes, and let those
negative comments fall on deaf ears
because when God made you, he made you
beautiful, and he knew he made a gem.
So next time your haters got something negative
to say,
you can direct your comments to him, and you
will still be beautiful.
For my second piece, this piece was inspired
when I ran out of inspiration.
I was on tour, and it was the same thing night
after night.
Different hotel rooms, same channels, showing
the same things.
All the food tastes the same.
So I said, what am I going to write about?
So I had to dig deep and look within myself,
and so I wrote about me.
This piece goes out to you who are individuals
and who are not afraid to do you.
Okay, here we go.
This piece is entitled, I'll Do Me.
I have to get in character, okay?
Good evening.
How are you?
It is a pleasure, darling.
I'll be performing a piece entitled, I'll Do
Me, and it goes as follows.
Here we go.
I'll do me, second to God, no denial, I'll do me.
The first law of nature is survival.
I'll do me, and I don't always go with what works.
Next to God, I put priority first.
I'll do me because it's so automatic, almost
like it's magic.
I mean, it works every time when I go with my
first mind.
I'll do me, because if I follow your path, I
may fail.
As a matter of fact, if it's your path that I'm
following, it's a trail.
And mother always said, don't be a follower, so
I lead.
And if you don't like my personal space, bitch, leave.
I'll do me, by myself, regardless.
When it's all said and done, I'll do me because
I have been doing me since day one.
And in your attempt to do me, your performance
may be questionable.
But any time I do me, it's unforgettable.
I'm a professional.
And every time you spend a dime with me, it's
well worth it.
Bottom line, every time I do me, it's done perfect.
Yes, I said that.
Nobody can do me like I do.
When it comes to doing me, I does it.
Out loud, outside in public, outlandishly proud.
I love it.
Some insist they see similarity.
Or say that somewhere there is a power of me.
But it's evident you've never seen anything
like me before, apparently.
So don't ever get me mixed or twisted with some
of them you see.
I am none of them.
And they can never become homonyms of me.
How dare they?
Suggest for a second that my authenticity,
genuineness, and integrity be questioned.
I am a poet.
And I pour my poor soul through my pores.
My passion and my pain proactively given to you
and yours.
Imitation is the best form of flattery, of course.
But before me, there was none.
And after me, there'll be no more.
I have the work ethic of a physician.
I am capital of the mission.
And if need be of me, I play all of the positions.
I'm the coach.
I'm the umpire.
The back catcher.
The pitcher.
The shortstop.
The center fielder.
The home run hitter.
I'm way out in left field catching my own home runs.
I'm in the stands selling peanuts.
I'm killing them, son.
And the right field was the right field.
I filled my hand with the mic, filled my mouth
with my life,
and filled the room full of people poetically enticed.
And you might be entertained.
And you might be intrigued.
But I assure you, this is no act.
I'm doing me.
Now, that was fun.
Y'all liked that.
I got CDs and T-shirts and different copies of
the poem outside.
But I like to make a disclaimer, shameless plug.
I would like to say that I perform at churches,
weddings, birthday parties,
bar mitzvahs, whatever.
Whatever's going on.
So I'm going to close.
I'm going to go ahead and take y'all to church.
This is my favorite piece.
Yeah, this is my favorite piece, bottom line.
It's entitled My Jesus Piece.
It was originally written for Easter, but it
didn't say, you know, how y'all are.
It ain't Easter no more.
I don't want to buy that.
So I changed it to the Jesus piece.
Here we go.
My father sent me here through a Virgin's womb.
An intimate project of the master architect by
his hands, I was personally groomed.
On the night of my birth, three kings brought
gifts to my home,
and the brightest star in the sky is known as
my birthstone.
I was born to be great.
Bright future, dark fate.
I am the Light of the World.
I am loved, but the dark hearts of men harbor hate.
And the church and state sent their soldiers to
come get me,
betrayed by the same people sitting at the
table with me, haters.
You know what they say, they come a dime a dozen.
Yeah, it's a real popular picture of me out
there having dinner with a dozen of them.
I love Peter like a play cousin, and I told
Peter that night,
Peter, you will deny me before the cock crows thrice.
Well, the next thing I know, that chicken must
have crowed.
Roman soldiers over my shoulder, let's get the
show on the road.
One disciple jumped up and cut a soldier's ear
off, down to the wax.
One more miracle before I leave, let me put
this man's ear back.
Now they got my hands tied up, suppressed and subdued,
and I'm thinking to myself, man, how rude of
this dude.
I'm the same one that fed 5,000 of multitude.
Two fish, five loaves, I'm the original hove.
And I don't need Dom Perignon, Cristal, or Moet
to shine.
My daddy make it rain, I turn the water into wine.
And you stand here with your soldiers with ill intent.
I could call on 12 legions of angels to deliver
me from this nonsense,
but yet, not my will, but yes, God your will.
And on that note, let his will be fulfilled.
Let these men go, I'm the one you want to kill.
I could have stopped you with one of my
one-liners, like, peace be still.
But I'm the prince of peace, and I'll be the
prince of peace forevermore.
This is my walk, this is what I came here for.
Even old Satan couldn't get me with temptation,
I passed all of his tests.
I am not enslaved by the limitations of the flesh.
A fisher of men, tell the fishermen to cast
their nets.
The deeper the water gets, the deeper the odds,
the deeper your relationship with God, and my
relationship is deep.
Deep is my faith, which is deeper than your hate,
deeper than any crown of thorns can penetrate.
And if you need an example of deep here, I'll demonstrate.
I walked on water, withered the fig tree,
told the mountain, be taken up and cast into
the sea.
I can calm the storm, net is impossible when I pray.
I command the winds and the water, and even
they obey.
Another day at the office, God's business, and
I take the family business serious.
On my off days, I cast out demons and unclean spirits.
I am the great, I am the Lamb of God, bright
and morning star in the midst of madness.
Wonderful counselor, divine advocate, go and
ask Lazarus.
I am the resurrection, the lion of the tribe of
Judah, the one they crucify.
But he who lives and believes in me will never die.
That's God's promise. I am the guarantor.
This is my walk, this is what I came here for.
So continue with your sticks and stones,
continue with your lashes.
We triumph, we overcome, we arise from the ashes.
I hear the deaf, I hear the sick, I hear the
mute, I hear blindness.
Kill me with your hate, I'll kill you with kindness.
You're looking at Heaven spineless.
Emmanuel, the rock, the alpha and omega.
This is why I'm hot, and I carry my cross to
Cal before the world in its sins.
Tell Mary not to weep, this is not how the
story ends.
Tell Mary not to weep, tell Martha not to moan.
Three days, roll back the stone, I'm gone.
Will there be one?
Come on, make some noise for Seven!
All I can say is, woo!
Wow, wow, wow, we've had an awesome, awesome,
awesome night.
Y'all had a good time?
Awesome, awesome, awesome, awesome.
Right now, we're about to have a 10-minute intermission.
As soon as we get back, we will have our
special guest of honor, Miss Irma P. Hall.
So, take some time, go to the restroom, visit
our concession stand right back here.
Also, go out and sign up for TBAAL memberships.
We'll be back in 10 minutes, all right?
We'll see you then.
All right, all right.
Everybody say, blessed am I.
Blessed am I.
Say, blessed am I.
Blessed am I.
Say, blessed am I.
Blessed am I.
Now, come on and put your hands together like this.
All right, all right.
I think I want to hear a little piano.
Y'all want to hear a little piano?
Let's hear a little piano.
Piano, Terrence Carter, put your hands together
for Terrence.
I think I want to hear a little bass. Bass.
(piano playing)
Brian Kwas, everybody.
Brian Kwas on bass.
On percussion, on percussion, Mike Neal.
Come on, put those hands together for Mike Neal.
Now, I have the pleasure and the honor of
introducing this lovely, lovely young lady.
You all know her as Big Mama from Soul Food.
You all know her as Minerva from the Midnight
in the Garden of Good and Evil.
You all know her as Miss Munson in the Lady Killers.
You know her as, we've adopted her as Dallas'
Own, Miss Irma P. Hall.
Everybody on your feet and give her a big round
of applause as she comes to the stage.
Well, good evening.
Oh, this has really been a wonderful evening so
far, hasn't it?
I am glad for you all to see me.
And I'm glad to be here because I'm glad to be anywhere.
I'm a gentle kind of woman, kind of soft and
easy too.
Come to me for consolation, I know just what to do.
I'm a simple kind of woman, uncomplicated, bold
and honest too.
And I've got it all together when it comes to
my thing I do.
I'm a proud black woman.
My heritage is Afro pride. With today's
concerns and tomorrow's dreams, I walk in my
man's side.
I'm concerned with life because I procreate it
and I demand respect because I generate it.
I'm hung up on black beauty because I radiate it.
And black manhood, for I appreciate it.
I am the new black woman living in a new black
day just doing my thing of living life in my
own black prideful way.
And you know, that music is really good.
I love jazz.
I grew up with having a father who was a jazz
musician, so I grew up with jazz all the time.
And I want to tell you that I love it when the
beat is down, when the grooves move, when the
whips lift,
when the tones moan, when the notes float, when
the jams slam, when the jazz band starts to play.
I love it.
I have been asked to do some of my poetry and
some poetry of Gwendolyn Brooks.
I'm just so thrilled to be asked to do that
because I met Gwendolyn Brooks when I was eight
years old in Chicago.
My mother used to go to these parties they
would have.
I met a lot of people there. I met Langston
Hughes, but I remember Langston Hughes and
Gwendolyn Brooks the most.
I met a lot of people, Margaret Burroughs, and
they all made an imprint.
They put flower in my vase.
She told me that I should put down my thoughts,
put them down every day, whatever you think about.
Just write it down. So I started using a little journal.
Sometimes the things would come out, sometimes
they rhymed, sometimes they wouldn't.
I never have considered myself a poet. I write
some things that rhyme sometimes.
They're just my thoughts, my ideas.
Then my father told me that it was all right
for me to be angry with he and my mother.
I couldn't talk back to him, but I could write
a letter.
You just write us the hottest letter you want.
Just say whatever you want in that letter.
Then I would do the letter.
Then when I got through I said, now what do I
do with the letter?
He said, you want to give it to us, we can give
it to you. You want to throw it away, you can
throw it away.
That's what usually happened.
I would write 10, 12, 15 page letters.
Just mad, just burning, use up all the ink. We
had ink pens in those days.
Then when I got through, it was all gone. It
was dissipated.
My poetry style is something like that.
It was interesting when I was going through
Gwendolyn Brooks' book and I was trying to see
how am I going to do this.
I found that we have written about a lot of the
same things.
I was listening to the young poets up here
before. Weren't they marvelous?
Boy, those children were good.
Don't mind me calling you children. I know
you're adults, but I'm 72 years old.
Unless you are at least part of you children to me.
But I'm so proud. I am so proud of them.
Because you know when you get 72, especially,
you start looking over your shoulder to see is
anything back there?
Is anybody coming? Is this the end?
Did I influence anybody?
Well, I see that I did. I have students here tonight.
People are talking. I first started at Booker T.
Washington in 1962.
When I was in the third grade, I was coming
home from school one day and I saw this lady.
Being a Gemini, who talks all the time.
I walked up to her and I said, you know what?
You look just like Miss Mary McLeod Bethune.
She said, that's because I am Mrs. Bethune and
who might you be?
I told her and we talked and talked and talked.
I talked and talked and talked.
She listened. When I got home, I told my
parents, I mean, she was my idol.
I always wanted to be, I said, when I get
grown, if I go to a college that has
fraternities and sororities, I'm going to be a
Delta Sigma Theta.
There was only two organizations that I wanted
to belong to, Delta Sigma Theta and the
National Council of New World Women.
I figured, hey, that takes care of all of it.
There's a lot of Deltas here tonight. Thank
you, sisters.
Now, I noticed one thing that is painful.
Gwendolyn Brooks was born two years after my mother.
When she started writing, she was a young lady
and she was seeing things around her that I
still saw.
Now, my children and grandchildren are here and
some of those things are still going on. That's
painful. That's very painful.
I heard these young poets out here today. Of
course, they have a different, what do they
call it, flow.
You know, and I don't spit mine out. I kind of
just talk to you.
But we're talking about the same things. The
same things disturb us and that is really sad.
Gwendolyn used what she saw on her streets. She
says that in her book.
You want to write a poem? Hey, you got
something to write about every time you look
out the door or look out the window.
I write in reaction to what I hear on the news,
see on television, see on my streets, what I
see in my classrooms and things.
As I said before, some of it is very painful.
The only thing is that we always have hope. We
always have hope.
We came this far and I really don't believe
that God brought us this far to leave us. I
really don't.
So we will get over. We will get over.
This first that I'm going to do and I'll be
sitting and standing, I had back surgery on top
of the knee surgery I had last time I saw some
of you.
Then in August I was working on a film. Oh,
I've got to tell you about that because you've
got to go see it when it comes out next year.
The new Tyler Perry film Meet the Bounds.
I was working on that and got a stomach
obstruction, had to have intestinal surgery. So
I'm really the bionic woman.
This one is entitled The Ballad of Rudolph Reed.
Rudolph Reed was oaken. His wife was oaken too.
His two good girls and his good little man
oaken as they grew.
And darling will you hand me my glasses please.
I forget about them because they're little and
cute but I brought the cute one because I
didn't want to be sitting up here looking like
Rick and Smiley.
(music playing)