Common and I

So, I met one of my idols a little while back...you might know him..his name is Common, he does a little rapping...yeah
Soon as I heard he was coming to Canada, I got online and booked a plane ticket almost immediately! I flew to Vancouver BC to see him perform. N.E.R.D opened for him..yeah..about that. I don't know what it is but I have NEVER gotten into N.E.R.D. I don't really get their music...I mean I like Pharell (Pharrell? who cares!) when he's all "beautifuuuul" with snoop dogg. But anything after that, my eyes glaze over and I just go blank...couple that with him being the only thing standing between me and Common...I was just not having it. And who are the other N.E.R.D guys anyway??
So Common finally came out on stage and I just about fell over. He's just as ammmaaazing live as he is on his CD...on repeat..at an unsafe volume..with my face pressed against the cd player...*ahem* I digress.
I went to the concert with my sister and a some friends, and she managed to get me a backstage pass. How? It's a long story...it involves two 14 year old girls, an ugly bouncer, and their "not very mom looking" mom...I've said too much already. So anyway, the show ends...and we are led back stage by someone named Moses...I kid you not! okay I'm lying...I don't know dudes name. At this point I can barely see straight. I'm about to see someone that I have literally idolized for years. No time to check a mirror to make sure I didn't look like a deranged fan...well I did..and I am...so anyway, we're led back stage to where he's taking pictures with other crazy fans. The following is a reenactment of how I met Common.

Deranged fan (DF) approaches Common and is blinded by a ray of majestic light surrounding a tall handsome figure in white

Common: Hi
DF: *mumble mumble high pitched squeal* hiii
Common: *pointing* I saw you in the crowd
DF: *did he just point at me* eeeee! *mumble mumble, squeal squeal*

DF hands camera to random bystander and stands next to Common
DF: *oh my God, he just put his arm around me* *shake shake faint*

Yes that's exactly how it happened. Minus the dramatic fainting part. Did I have something insightful and profound to say to him?? NO! I just stood there shaking....shameful.

Still waiting to hear back about the grant that I applied for. I intend on starting the process of making the album next month, so hopefully I get a response back soon. In the mean time, I've been writing like crazy...got a little more inspired after my trip to Calgary. I really just can't wait to just start.

Also, I'm going on a trip to the Dominican Republic with my sister and some friends. Yay! I leave on sunday. We'll be going through New York, so the plan is to go to the Nuyorican while we're there. Possible open mic performance? We'll see...we'll see. So yes, in lieu of my upcoming trip, I've sentenced myself to 40 situps a day! I'll be at spa lady all week, running my ass off. I need to be in tip top, bikini wearing shape come Sunday. Wish me luck!

Allow Me To Introduce Myself!

It's been forever! And everyday I get on my computer and see my blog sitting on the bookmark...and then I procrastinate a little more :)
There's so much to say, I don't even know where to start! So i'll try the beginning...
So I've been going on with this blog under a veil of semi anonymity for quite some time, not for any particular reason...but I guess it's a little bit of that fear of being a little too open and exposed. I don't talk to people about my blog or where to find it, which I've realized makes no sense. This is about sharing my art, and talking about the progress I've made in the last little while. So the veil is lifted, because I need to share who I am, so that I can really share my poetry. So I.. Titi Sonuga, officially welcome you :)

So what have I been to the last little while...plenty! I've been seeking out avenues to perform every chance I get. I was recently in Calgary for the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word...and people! There is so much great talent here. I have never felt so completely enraptured and inadequate at the same time. I'm talking heavy hitters. One poet that touched me the most was Dwayne Morgan. Not only for what this man is capable of on stage, but because of how incredibly intelligent he is off stage. As part of the festival, he held a workshop called "Living to Create" in which he talked about how to do what you love and still make a living. He's been living off poetry for 15 years! 15 years! He had so many insightful things to say, and I honestly feel so much better equipped to continue on with this thing.
Since Edmonton didn't have a slam team (boooooo!!) I signed up to do 2 open mic slots while I was there. Both went really well!
I have a friend who also writes amazing poetry (in secret!). She had never performed her poems in public till the open mic that weekend....she was sooo great! She's honest and authentic...the two things that to me, make a great poet! So keep it up friend! (I know you're reading this! lol)

Here are a couple of poets from that night Marcus Jameel and Poetic Speed.





Me doing "I AM" at the Cafe Beano open mic..i'll put up the other videos later.



I'll be back soon to talk about how I met Common..yes..Common :)

Still here

Yeah it's been a long while. I'm still here though, I just have a lot of things going on right now. Good things...definitely making lots of progress with poetry. I'll have a detailed update soon.

love love love!

Feature Poet: Jill Scott

Yes! I know it's been a while, but the feature poet is back! This week it is none other than Jill Scott. This powerhouse of a woman! One of the few musicians that forces me to just close my eyes and sway at whatever she says! She is bold and beautiful, and completely unapologetic about being a strong black woman. Needless to say, I LOVE her! So much that I couldn't decide which of these to post...Here are 2 of my favorites. Yes, I realize the Mighty Mos Def is featured, but he deserves his very own post...so for today...Jill Scott

Killer Blinks!

I did the killer blinks yesterday, and just loved it! There were probably about 70 poets there...the place was just buzzing. My poem was really well received...I even won a prize! So good night all around. I have another show lined up for tomorrow, this time I get 5 minutes...which when compared to 30 seconds feels like forever. Not too much to update. My grant application went in on the first of this month, I'm getting set to put together another application, more on the marketing front this time...so if they both come through I'll be set and ready to make this album happen. More later!

Edmonton Poetry Festival

I'm doing the edmonton poetry festival this week. It runs from Sept 11 - 13. The first show i'm doing is called Revenge of the Killer Blinks. It's basically 60+ poets with 30 seconds at the mic. "Rapid Fire Poetry" indeed. So at first I was going to do an old piece edited down to 30 seconds. Then I decided to do a piece that played around with the idea of 30 seconds at the mic. And this is what I came up with (Which kinda sounds like a mixture of old poems i've written...but I like it). My second show is on the 13th at the edmonton public library...should be way more relaxed. Check out the schedule here


30 seconds for
War child
To become man
Another skirt
Torn away
Two angry hands
Grabbing and touching
Reveal shame and guilt
Little girl tears stain the earth

20 Seconds
Another child born
To AIDS infected mother
One last breath escapes
Battered body
One more orphan
Joins 50 million

10 Seconds
Tired infant body
Hungry heart stops beating
Malnutrition, Mumps, Malaria

1
billion cries across Africa
For hope,
For peace
For love

There's this thing that sits solid and heavy on my spirit. Like something that needs saying...but I don't know what it is. I have been too much disorder these past few weeks, and not enough of the steady and silence that I need to write. I need to write. I'm a mess of words swirling, and something that feels like a memory that needs recalling. I am too good at shutting people out. Too good at getting by alone. I am that friend that suddenly stops returning phone calls, would sometimes rather stay home and read a book, than be around people. And in the next instance, I am that friend that rallies the girls together, dances wildly at the club...vodka cran..big smile. I am too much hot and cold sometimes. And I find it hard to forgive, harder to forget. I can end a friendship clean and completely, over one act of dishonestly. I hate being lied to. It insults my intelligence. Anyone who thinks I'll believe a lie, must believe I'm too stupid to figure out the truth.

I felt the lie even before you said it, that quick flicker in your eye gave it away before you pursed your lips to insult me. I had already moved you from that space reserved for best kept secrets, inside jokes, and "remember that time?" into the space labeled DO NOT TRUST. And even after the apology that I knew would come, even after the acknowledgement, that I was really just "something to talk about", a little bit of gossip to pass the time, I knew that you could never re-enter that space. It's the forgetting that I can't do. And I have tried. Because we have been at this friendship for too long. You were the one that knew to enjoy those nights of wild dancing, savour the days when I was open and carefree. Knew to give me time when I needed quiet, and knew when to call me up and say "Enough now, we're going out". We had this... no need to finish sentences type friendship...you already knew. Would cut you a look that could tell a whole story. We had too many stories. So there's this memory that needs revisiting...I'm not sure why or what exactly, but this need to set myself aside from you, this swirling of words that settles on your name for just a moment...makes me think it might be you. Three years after the apology and the "lets start over", I'm still struggling with the forgetting. I just need to write.

Too late we learn, a man must hold his friend, unjudged, accepted, trusted to the end - John Boyle O'Reilly