It do what it do...

I've been absent for some time, but I'm still here.
Rouge nights have been amazing!! It actually surprises me everytime people walk through the doors on tuesday nights. I'm seeing a lot of the same faces coming back every week, it's really turning into a little family. I love it!
And the poetry as always is awesome...Writing something new every week is definitely a challenge, but it's so so great cause I'm getting to expand my body of work, and also experiment in front of a really safe audience. My confidence is definitely growing...I'm just so glad that I've been able to get this going..only up from here :)

I recently attended Legacies '09...fantastic show and it will only continue to get better every year! This year I performed "The Battle" ...as always I did the poem (with excessive arm gestures lol!) and then bolted from the stage..I need to stop that. But people seemed to genuinely like it.

I signed up for the Edmonton Poetry Festival again. I'm doing the Killer Blinks (30 second poetry) and the Cafe Readings. After I signed up, Alice Major, one of the organizers...contacted me and asked me to do an opening spot in the LitCrawl. I'm so excited about it! Check it out here.

More updates later!!!

Love, Love, Love!
Titi

The Battle

There's a distant call
that has fallen on deaf ears
a beckoning
that us
who proclaim ourselves
"woman"
fertile with potential
yet delivering stillborn dreams
can no longer ignore

It is time
to reclaim our purpose
To set bars high and far
so that we may know
the joy of
reaching and surpassing
We cannot
accept mediocrity
any longer

Because our daughters
will pay the price
for our complacency
for allowing our
womanhood to be
sold to the highest bidder
our legacy will be branded
by the burn of denial
heavy on their scalps
pressed straight
to conceal crocked lies

they will deny their mother tongue
accept instead the bend and curl
of another man's language
measure their self worth
on the notches
of belts
too quickly loosened
sit silently
as self hate
is smeared across their faces
lips painted bloody red
to curse their skin
black
and unforgiving
substitute intellect
for blatant disrespect

And this battle began before us
it was written
and proclaimed
through the voices of
faceless
but not forgotten
women who refused
silence

And you can't
run for covergirl
to conceal it
can't pencil in the missing lines
This cannot be glossed over
pinched or plucked to perfection
the ugly reflection
is what we have created

So
It is time for sacrifice
substitute temporary pleasure
for that which is
everlasting
It is time for courage
to accept this challenge
on fearless faith

And we will have
our children
as priceless proof
that the battle
was not in vain