snippets...

Homecoming: an alumna's ecstacy - a whirlwind of nostalgia, familiar faces and amazing hugs. though i did not see all whom i wished.

Ramadan: it is drawing to a close and has been a beautiful experience to say the very least, Alhumdulillah.

Work: still liking/loving it.

Near future: some of the fam is coming for Thanksgiving

All Else: want to say more, but i'm soooo tired!

mood: content but groggy

music: extraordinary machine. got that new fiona apple (she's kinda adams family wit hers, but it's fire!)

just an old sweet song...

i can't wait 4 homecoming. is it too HBCU alumna of me to be excited? i think about how it's only been a few months but how drastically different things are from this time last year. man, if somebody would have told me where i'd be, i would have (smiled sarcastically and) called them a liar. my stay will be short, but jam packed as i find as many as i can to "reminisce on the love [of spelman] we had [and have]." yeah, it's true. i turned into one of those alumna-advocates, but i'm not on some ol' if my daughter wants to go anywhere else, she'll have to pay for it nonsense. it sucks that i get in so late because i won't be able to visit the professors that i want to see (planting seeds for my position in the english department, nah mean?). they were/ are such inspiring people...really amazing...i kinda want to tell them thank you for really seeing me when i was really janky that time,but see? i turned out alright? i did it! interestingly enough (or not so interesting, depending on who you are i guess), this will probably be the most homecoming activity i've participated in the past four years! ha! but MY homecoming is not campus - or even AUC - exclusive. my 4 years in atlanta were so much more than that. some of the illest i know never even went to spelman, so i'm trying to holla at everyones, everyones... i also have some new spelman sisters to peep when i get there, a couple of wonderful young ladies i met over the summer. ah! though this is probably the last trip i'll make this year, life is good. i'll be left to face kc from the end of october until at least january, but i plan to take enough pictures to keep me sane. i'm not gonna start naming names because i'm bound to forget someone, but i can't wait to see all of you (i must be serious. i rarely use direct address on this thing). and the ones who think i may have forgotten you ('cause i always think somebody's going to forget me), i haven't and i can't wait to see you too. for the many splendiferous persons whom i will not see during this brief georgia spell, i look forward to our next encounter no less. i have been very blessed so far in this life. know how the song says, "my soul look back and wonder, how i got over?" well, this weekend, the rest of me gets to (literally) look back and wonder too!

oh God, forever bind
our hearts to thine...

behind the poem or that's not my name

so, last week at work was dedicated to celebrating and recognizing the creative force within the company. that's right, the word people. i attended a few events, as they were during the middle of my work day. two of which were a poetry circle and workshop. those who attended the poetry circle were primarily "writers" and i was the only "assoc. editor" there. some eyebrows raised; including my own because it was one of the first times (in a very long time) where i was in a space where it was not UNDERSTOOD that i was a writer. i felt like mos def's mr. nigga (they lips curl up into a tight space/ She [they]don't believe that I'm in the right place). then, by happenstance, i made it into a previously booked poetry workshop (some people dropped out) for which i had written no material because, orginally, there was not room for me. the prompt was to take two dissimilar things, outside of yourself, and write about them, drawing a relationship or connection between the two. well, i had less than two days, and since none of my existing poetry spoke to this particular topic, i found myself at my desk 30 minutes before i was to email my submission to the coordinator, writing "double dutch". i originally called it "dutch romance" - big mistake. nobody got it until i said, "well, the 2 dissimilar things i attempted to link were double dutch and a relationship." "OOOHHH!!!!" said everyone (except for the few who needed further explanation that double dutch was a game of jumping rope, oy vey!). it yielded little to no dicussion, and all the facilitator had to say was, "i think we need more." yeah, i was beat for a little while. there was one another Black woman there - a writer; she said to me on the elevator when we were leaving, "i was saying to myself 'something about it sounds like jump rope.'" and i think to myself, yeah sis, i know you heard me. i overly racialized the situation for a minute. thought back to my pivotal workshop with Nikky Finney and how this was nothing like that, but after i was cool on it i accepted the criticism. these were all very good writers, some of them eve great, one of them an actual laureate. and i didn't walk into the room 4 steps after a reputation that beat me there. so this is what it's like for a writer to hit a reader cold. perhaps this was the difference between creating in craft and creating in spirit (is that too far fetched of me?). there is much i can gain from these craftsmen. they may not be spoken wordsmiths, but they are in the guild. at the very least/ best it made me write. and for that i am thankful. i flashed back to "the negro artist and the racial mountain;" well langston, being a black poet suites me just fine and i don't perceive that as a demotion.

the first draft ...a long time coming..."Double Dutch"

smooth, balanced and clean
at first they fit togther
so connected that it was hard to tell
where one stopped and the other began

floating on air
swaying to perpetual song
stepping lively
rhythm lovely
this tango of nicks and scrapes
still a beautiful dance

picked up the pace... who skipped a beat?

try to adjust the tempo
try to get it back, but
tripped up by a stone
rhythm blown
tango turns
break / dance

their go is over
who's next?

(the story behind this is coming later)

the graduate

spelmanite identifier #004:

you see absolutely nothing wrong with 'imma-need' being one word

- brought to you by an editor (isn't that scary?).