Verses and Flow
Verses and Flow is a 30-minute variety show that features spoken word and music talent, engineered by Lexus.
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Clint Smith
Who Is He?
Clint Smith is a poet, an educator and an activist from the Big Easy who now resides in Washington,...
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SEE ME PERFORM ON TV ONE’s VERSES AND FLOW, THIS THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2012, 8:30pm PST. WWW.VERSESANDFLOW.COM
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i'm on Verses and flow tonight.
Check me out this Monday(today) at 830pm pst, 1030pm cst, and 11pm est, on Verses & Flow on Tv One)
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Edwin Bodney is on Verses and Flow Tonight!
Our damn wonderful poet, Edwin’s episode of TV One’s slam poetry show, Verses and Flow, premieres...
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Just did an interview with @ellevarner 4 @hiphollywood with @itsmevanessab and this cool dude @hoodyent #versesandflow #turnup (Taken with ...
Ashley Catharine is a poet/fashion designer/plus size style blogger living and working in Los Angeles. Find out more about her!
Javon Johnson ::: Cuz He’s Black
I am unhappy with
how we raise our Black boys.
Don’t like that
he learned to hide
from the cops before
he knew how to read.
Angrier that his survival
depends more on
his ability to deal
with the “authorities”
than it does literacy.
I yell at him, “Get up.
In this car, in this family,
we are not afraid
of the law.”
I wonder if he hears
the uncertainty in my voice.
Is today the day he learns
how uncle lies,
that I am more human
than hero?
Butterflies ::: Thea Monyee
Sometimes I wonder things like,
Why do abused women stay,
And continuously pray
That their homes will be made a safe place to live with men who hate them.
Because they breathe too loudly?
Or because they keep getting back up?
Or because they exist?
Is that woman’s existence is a constant reminder of what he lacks as a man?
What makes these women unpack and pack,
And unpack and pack,
And unpack and pack their bags
Over, and over, and over again.
What makes these women continue to love these men?
And why do the rest of us boast about not being in their shoes?
Do we fail to recognize how strong you must be to where those shoes in the first place?
And aren’t they just hiding from the truth like the rest of us?
D’Dra White - Stalker
Today I cooked your favorite meal…
Actually all of your favorite meals…
So if you are not feeling this one
We can take one down
Pop it in the microwave…
Or I can make it again from scratch…whatever you prefer
Because I’m here for you
I went ring shopping yesterday…
after stealing a peak at your bank statement and W-2 I feel like I found the perfect one in your price range…
For when the time comes of course…
I mean we aren’t boyfriend and girlfriend yet…
And even though I have her number memorized
You haven’t taken me to meet your mother yet
Crazy right…
The situation…not me
Coz I’m not crazy…
I am focused
And goal oriented
And detailed
And… just tad bit clingy…
But that’s only because you are so right for me…
And I have studied you…
So now I am so right for you…
No matter what kind of dating you get into
I ain’t hating on you.
You gotta do what you do
This day and age you gotta love who loves you.
But as for me…
I love for my women to be …Dark.
I mean dark as an African Tribal dancer
Standing on the tropic of cancer
During a lunar eclipse
On the summer solstice
Behold this soul sis.
She’s dark as the singers of mid sixties soul hits.
She absorbs everything around
Like black holes or black hands
Holding bisquick biscuits
Sopping up fish and grits.
In other words…She’s attractive.
Dark By Jon Goode
Edwin Bodney
The Morning After Your Father Leaves Again
If there was ever a time to hate the sunrise
It would be in this moment
When you wake up
With the memory of tears printed in your skin
By the pillow you buried your face into the night before
And the morning haze mirrored all the dust that hadn’t settled yet
When all you can do is sit
and stare
at the quiet aftermath
Everything is so still
You have no choice but to question your breathing
The morning after your father leaves again raises questions
faster than you can think of the reasons for him to have stayed
Does the day he left my mother look exactly the way he left his third family only hours ago?
Will I ever be the ground to keep him standing still, or does my body only move to the beat of his footsteps that drum against the backs of all the women he’s used to stay alive?
Is he just that good at running from his words?
The ones you are forced to remember because they sit thick in the air like a painting from the exhale of the cigarettes
They writhe up and down your staircase with electricity and fire
A fire that shot him into the face of your second stepmother when he spit the unkindest of words into her lungs
There is something special about being a woman whose strength has come from the ignorance of men
She never even stopped breathing
Aaron Samuels - “Payos for Corn-Rows”
traded my payos for corn-rows, yarmulkes for fitted hats
pessimist, is my glass half-Jewish or had-Black?
I was three years old when I discovered I was Jewish fenced
within the concrete protection of the JCC, Shabbat songs
rolled off of the oblivious kosher tongues of Jewish pre-schoolers,
pre-destined to be prepared to be placed into the
stereotypes, we were trained to grow into
being jewish just meant I was like everyone else.
age six taught me that I wasn’t , but religion was to indifferent
an issue for little kids, the courtyard of my Irish-Catholic
fiefdom showed me racism before I knew what a race was
it was different to be Black
but middle school taught me it was cool
My BET brainwashed white classmates convinced me that
getting in touch with my Black identity might not be such a
bad idea, but my Black friends didn’t walk to temple after school,
so as I let my pants sag more and more, my Jewish star
found its way from around my neck to my back pocket.
I had to choose.
And being Jewish is easier to hide.
Maestro Gamin Interview : A Trained Conductor
Originally from the Bay Area, MATT GAMIN, aka ‘MAESTRO’, has made Southern California his home. The erstwhile MC actually stumbled upon spoken word by chance, attending a writing workshop on a whim. He’s now a member of the prestigious Vibrationists writing group, and making his national television debut this season on Verses & Flow. We sat down with Gamin to discuss memorization techniques, the importance of his very first poem, and how he got the ‘Maestro’ moniker.
LA: So, you live here in California, which has produced a lot of great poets. How did you get started with spoken word?
MG: Yes, I am from California. Grew up in San Jose, but have been here in Los Angeles since 1998. I still go back and forth between here and South Bay, though. As for spoken word, honestly, it hasn’t been that long. It was maybe a little over two years ago, and I had been writing lyrics. I used to be a rapper. I went to an open mic to see a friend perform. It was someplace off of Pico [Boulevard in Los Angeles]. There were a bunch of amazing poets, and some rappers and singers, too. There were two features there that night who I didn’t know, but who are now really good friends. They run a writer’s group in Inglewood. I was drawn to what they were saying, so I went up to them afterward and exchanged numbers and didn’t really think about it again. Then I started receiving general texts, inviting me to the writer’s workshops they hosted. This went on for six months! But, because I hadn’t performed that night, I ignored the texts, thinking they weren’t’ meant for me [laughs].
Carvens Lissaint
“Beauty Part 3”
And when I was in the 5th grade
I wrote a suicide note…
It was the first time someone believed in my writing
In the 4th grade
My valentine said I couldn’t be seen with her
Because my classmates would actually think she liked me
In the 3rd grade I ate lunch by myself EVERYDAY
In the 2nd grade
A 5th grader punched me in the mouth at the end of recess
Knocked two of my teeth to the pavement
I laid crying on the ground blood spilling down my lips for 15 minutes before anyone asked if I was okay
In the first grade
A white girl at snack time told me my skin looked like I never took a shower
She’s never seen something so BLACK
In kindergarten I was the only student who stood awake during nap time
Feeling alone isn’t foreign to me
Bridget Gray • “What is a Poet”
A poet is raw and unashamed,
then finds a way to ease your frustrations,
with a comforting rage.
Sooth your spirits like the smoke of sage.
A poet keeps you totally engaged,
with epic sentiments,
that have you on the edge of your emotions,
make you feel dizzy with lyrical potions.
A poet knows how to hold you down
and tie you up with words.
Flip it in a way like you’ve never heard.
Get you wrapped so tight you fight the urge,
to exhale, cuz you don’t want to miss a syllable.
