above:  Monica Daye meditating on some Ntozake Shange.  Oh so necessary!!

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Betty’s daughter arts collaborative

Durham, NC www.myspace.com/inthepeopleshands

Press Release

Contact: Ebony Noelle Golden, MFAinthepeopleshands@gmail.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Community Writing intensive a success!
Durham, NC, May 18, 2007:  Congratulations to Betty’s Daughter Arts Collaborative, Broken Beautiful Press, and SpiritHouse-NC for successfully completing the first annual Community Writing Intensive.  Last week a group of intensely passionate and community oriented poets and artists met to discuss how poetry  fortifies communities, provides a voice for community members, and is a viable political and social response to the issues local communities face.  Here are some of the highlights of the first annual Community Writing Intensive:

·    Workshop focused on Africana poets and poetic forms

·    Tuition-free (thanks to dedicated sponsors)

·    Lunch provided (thanks to dedicated sponsors)

·    Poet and activist D. Noble awarded the Betty Ann Sims, Ed.D. Artist/Scholar Travel Scholarship

·    Creation of Community Writing Intensive online chapbook(ohsointense.wordpress.com) launched July 07

Although we have completed the first annual Community Writing Intensive, you can stay involved in the activities and initiatives of our sponsors.  Do not hesitate to email inthepeopleshands@gmail.com to offer a donation, share opportunities for networking or, to join our virtual community and to get involved.  

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And Now Introducing….

                    Oh So Intense….

An online Chapbook of poems and photography

A Note from the Director of the Community Writing Intensive

Greetings Loved Ones,

Below you will find writings created by members of the Annual Community Writing Intensive held in Durham, NC.  Those sistas and brothas who participated graciously shared their time, critique, and love over a three day period and here is just a taste of what we learned together.

I would like to personally thank all those who participated, and sent their well wishes as Broken Beautiful Press, Betty’s Daughter Arts Collaborative, and SpiritHouse-NC continue to create and share arts programming all over this planet.

Please check back for more poems and ways to get involved with grassroots literary organizing.

Ashe (all day)

Ebony Noelle Golden, MFA

Betty’s Daughter Arts Collaborative

furiousflower@gmail.com  

poet/activist/husband/father /D. Noble

Betty’s Daughter Arts Collaborative, Broken Beautiful Press, and SpiritHouse-NC are proud to annouce the winner of the Betty A. Sims, Ed.D Artist/Scholar Travel Scholarship, Mr. D. Noble of Greensboro, NC.

Biography

D. Noble is a grassroots community artist informed and inspired by the angst and passions of the people. He believes in functional Black art that can be wielded into a tangible weapon empowering the people to strike back against the stifling forces of oppression.

“Praises Be Upon My Mother”

Candice Mitchell*

Greetings, life-sustainer of four,

Full of intelligence, strength, and determination.

I show gratitude for helping shape my identity.

You who worked continuously making sure your children are fed,

I show gratitude.

You who remained after each surgery,

I show gratitude.

You who learned the basis of my disease,

I show gratitude.

You who placed all our needs above your own,

I show gratitude.

Receive my morning greetings

above: if these fingers could write the ancestors, what would they write?

See hear

by: ebony noelle golden

grab the dirt    rotate the skull   spit light  lighten the step  step light  rest in the right   then write

like this

1.  fight  2. remember  3.  resistresistresist  4.  rest  5.  rise and chop  6.  splay and shed  7.  bring leave burn  8.  repeat

turn slow   bring the palm to cheek   check for pulse  the repeat resist repeat  resist

where does the body begin

itch   swing

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ebony noelle golden is the director of betty’s daughter arts collaborative and an active member of SpiritHouse-NC.  she is currently a graduate student in Performance Studies at NYU where is articulating the artistic and spiritual resistance models of her ancestors all day every day.  contact her at furiousflower@gmail.com

Above:  Mama Nia drops knowledge how it should be dropped.

for gil
(an almost gigan created at the Poetry by the People Community Writing Intensive)

by: alexis pauline gumbs

we cannot write a eulogy for you
period becomes ellipsis

like battered prophecy in vein
tomorrow claws our collective back
money knocks teeth forward holes

soul on shiver
smack on cage
choke hold every stolen page

rage to proof that lines do make us bleed
and you were in our heartbeats all along

slice the forearm skin right off the news
we cannot write this eulogy for you

soul on shiver
smack on cage
you steal the present into final stage
we memorize your face a fading blue

and we would quit, breathe water, heal for you
but you remain to make us beg the task

be
last

above: “Locked” and Loaded/ or this is how two sistas poetically build!

FOR RICHARD WRIGHT

by: D. Noble

how many suns have you sonned

brilliant source of how beautiful

and ugly black can be

your pen knows no fear

your words, reckless and precise

black flesh violently split wide

course language scrapes scabs off

authentic manuscripts gush from open wounds

flesh of my flesh

you dare to know me, understand me- challenge my black face

how many suns have you sonned

violently split open

we emerge

screaming from your womb of words

12 million black voices

beautiful and confused black boys, your native sons

Jack & Jill 

Train up a child in the he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

      - Proverbs 22:6

black babies born beautiful

full of light and verve

grow

to be colin and condi colored corpses

colonized in colleges

less they seek…

niggas first

above: basking in the glow of poetry. if you don’t know now you know!! 

Hush 

By: Jamilla

Hush…Do YOU hear?
Shh…That is the song of Racism,
Strumming its song of ignorance.
Dance! Dance for your superior master.
Mammy! I hear the song, oh so loud…
though all its instruments makes no sound.

“From the Plantation to the Penitentiary
To the Heart of Freedom…”

Hush…Do YOU hear?
Shh…The strings of hate strummed so hard.
It wraps around my neck of a musical noose.
Jig! Jig that dance you do so well…
Sambo! Sing that song from coast to coast…
Letthe band silently play, though there is no sound.

“From the Plantation to the Penitentiary
To the Heart of Freedom…”

Hush..Do YOU hear?
Shh…This is the encore of revolution.
Dance! Yes, dance your way to salvation.
So ALL can hear THIS song.
Melodies so loud.
Hear and sing…resounding and clear is this sound.

above: Alexis Pauline Gumbs (left) and Mama Nia (right) shining so bright in the Durham sunlight!

i am b/c u are 

by: LIZ

i am b/c u are

shout out to ubuntu ar

the black stars

u don’t have have to go far

to realize the power of the brown eyes

look forward to blue skies

i’m the hottest like the goddess

transformed

to channel oshun

now i control the rain

released the pain

never 2 be the same

raise my voice when needed

raise my fist when that’s goes unheeded

violent culture won’t be repeated

haters unseated

survivors rule

come to the new school

study war no more

see whats in store

safety, dignity

from wealth to poverty

all city all country

i see a world

without pain for little girls

all truth revealed

secrets unsealed

the world must heal.

because you are i am

we take a stand

take it back to the land

grass roots

dusty boots, we in cahoots

knocking on your door

give it to you raw

silent no more

info

nappy fro

on the go

unified

with the stigmatized

strength in numbers

strong and humble

corruption crumbles

last will be the first

honor her birth

quench your thirst

because i am you are

because you are i am

above:  It is finished/ for now 

Intima[see] me

by:  Mama Nia

Weighted sacrifice

I seduce you through fears and abandonment

Play hidden under-sleeve card hands in a delicately mastered game

Queen of Hearts

Fatal drippings of slow medieval bloodlettings,

We are dead long before the lacerations reveal

absence of poison we were sure created unworthy

Lifeless our pain lines streets free the disease of contempt

We are forfeit

Bear souls while holding familiar infliction

Clench just enough

Enough, self-induced disdain for the “unprincipled” opportunist

We are blurred by benefit

intoxicated

By submission’s sour taste 

I mean what else can you do, but pity me with love? 

And the tiny voice whispers

stop

      wait

            come  

Dance between flames unconditional

Where hints of light show brown flickers in your eyes

In your eyes

Where I see all of me

Us eternally twined balancing laughter to tear 

come

      here

            with

•  
         me 

Enter warmth laced pathways

Where good & plenty melt in truth-teller palates wet with anticipation, speaking forgiveness

We play

Fuse intricate our puzzles

and like childhood connect the dots, glide pencils easy  along a page

1-2 to 3-4 to 5…

an exquisite butterfly breathes life into blank space

We are convolute 

Shed super-shero’s capes soaked red in oppressor blood

Heal through naked creation 

We be Free now

We be new

And the tiny voice whispers 

know

      me

            engage

                  we

In safe… In home