Ribbon Rouge 2009

I'll be performing at an AIDS fundraiser this Friday called Ribbon Rouge. This is it's 4th year running and it's a great night of fashion and entertainment. Click here for details!!!

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

Rouge Poetry!!!

It's finally here! It's been forever in the making, but I've teamed up with Rouge Lounge here in Edmonton for a night of awesome awesome spoken word every Tuesday night! If you live in Edmonton you must come!!!

Free write...

I don't know exactly when it happened, there was no big bang to mark it...no sudden change in the wind...no bright light to warn me...but somewhere along the way, something that seemed so perfect and so right began to come undone at the seams.

Every year I try to convince myself that I'm just a little bit wiser, a little bit better than the last...but I've also learned that as much as I think I know...there is infinitely more that I don't know, and may never understand. But not for lack of trying. The last few weeks I've been high and low...asking myself the same question..trying to quantify what it is that makes me truly happy...my need to control and categorize has me spinning at the thought of not being able to find a neatly defined answer. It's like trying to hit a moving target...

So this is about new beginnings...always moving, always pushing forward, getting better, trying harder..
There are no tears because this isn't about sadness...if there's something I do well, it's accepting the lesson...so I'm trying. I'm being vague..I know. There has been some new poetry which I'll be putting up as soon as the dust settles...and I'm really going to try to be better at this blogging thing in 2009.

So all the best in the New Year! I pray you nothing but love and laughter..

p.s. I didn't get my grant. I haven't given up though...there are other ways.

Live and Learn

I meant to put up the second part of my trip...there's just too much life going on right now. There've been some major changes and I need to allow myself time to adjust and regroup. I'll be back with new poetry and hopefully a new outlook...

love, love, love...and mean it.

Sugar colored girl

I'm back! And my trip was amaaaazing! I don't even know where to start. The beginning maybe? okay...

Day 1 - Nov 23

I left Edmonton at about 9 am, met up with my sister in Calgary...then flew Calgary to new york. I've actually never been to New York...picture Hiro Nakamura after he time travels to Time Square...okay not quite :) But just so excited! We had just enough time for dinner at Bubba Gump and drinks at the W and straight to bed..early flight the next day.

Day 2 - Nov 24

4 hour flight from JFK to Puerto Plata...The plane lands and people start applauding..like Naija style lol! Actually the entire airport experience was a lot like the Nigerian experience. The first thing I notice once we got out was how BEAUTIFUL these people are. I kid you not...I have not ever been surrounded by so many good looking people! So we waited for the other 2 girls to arrive..2 more would arrive the next day. Got a cab to the Ocean Manor Resort where we stayed. Beautiful place..did i mention beautiful! Everyone there was so friendly..we were welcome with a tray of great looking punch..um..with ice..of course I politely declined..I didn't get my shots remember? Hepatitis?! yeah. lol
So we get settled into our beautiful pool side room and then went to dinner at the resort restaurant...







YUMM!
Spent the rest of the evening by the pool.

Day 3 - Nov 25
There's nothing better than waking up knowing that you can spend the rest of the day doing nothing!



Had breakfast at the resort restaurant, and then walked along the beach into town for a little shopping.



Though the resort was beautiful, it is difficult to ignore the kind of poverty that people are actually living in...but even through all of it, people seemed genuinely happy and extremely welcoming to us.




Shopping is a lot like the naija experience

Buyer: How much is this?
Seller: 500 pesos
Buyer: 200!
Seller: 300 pesos last price
Buyer: I saw it for cheaper down the street
Seller: Okay 250
Buyer: 220
Seller: okay

Battering is something I've never really been good at..especially when someone in need is trying to sell something to me. Like this guy...who somehow convinced me to buy a bracelet I didn't want or need. How could you say no to this face? He also threw in a cute little anklet..I haven't taken either off since.




We spent a couple of hours laying on the beach with cold drinks. My sister and friend got massages, I really just wanted to relax and read my book (The Kite Runner! why am I just reading this book...so good! More on it later)



We met up with the last 2 girls to arrive back at the resort. The "sugar colored girls" were born :) That's what we were christened by the guys at the hotel...like brown sugar. I guess seeing 6 black females vacationing is a rarity at this resort, cause everyone seemed quite taken by us all.
We went out for dinner, drinks and dancing!










More later!!