Poems That Move
Before the frameworks, there were words.
In New York, I was part of the spoken word scene — a member of the LouderArts Project, one of the city's most vital poetry communities.
The stage taught me what the boardroom confirmed: precision of language is the most powerful strategic tool there is.These poems are not separate from the work. They are the work — unfiltered, unstrategized, and unafraid.Some things you build.
Some things you just say.
A pantoum. LouderArts Project, New York.
On Taking a Lover
This is how you take a lover.
Build a church, write songs, mount a horse and defy territories
Find a country with lush greenery, plum fruit and abundant seas
Take the brown, black and yellow there, mix in your white to make marble babies, unbreakable
Build a church, write songs, mount a horse and defy territories
Ring bells, take the pulpit, introduce commerce, have them worship you
Take the black, brown and yellow there, mix in your white to make marble babies, unbreakable
Seduce them with your language, dizzy them into forgetting their own
Ring bells, take the pulpit, introduce commerce, have them worship you
Make promises of eternity, take their crops and bless them
Seduce them with your language, dizzy them into forgetting their own
Teach your babies to write only your letters, bury the rest into extinction
Make promises of eternity, take their crops and bless them
Keep your bed warm and comfortable, and everyone well fed
Teach your babies to write only your letters, bury the rest into extinction
Pick the offspring whose ear you own and call him President
Keep your bed warm and comfortable, and everyone well fed
Find a country with lush greenery, plum fruit and abundant seas
Pick the offspring whose ear you own and call him President
This is how you take a lover.
"Seduce them with your language, dizzy them into forgetting their own."
The Collection
I Find the Clean Shot and Take It
You Are Not Five or Fifteen (published · Paris Lit Up · French anthology)