TNC Magazine :: The Living Room

The Living Room

Columnist: Stacey Tolbert

The Living Room is a place where art, politics, editorials, mantras, writing tips, and holistic life hang out. Come on in, have a seat, kick your feet up, and stay awhile. The column will feature poetry from myself, poetry from other poets, mantras, holistic material, writing tips, excerpts from my work, political info, people spotlights, editorials, rantings, and ravings.

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In this issue of THE LIVING ROOM, columnist Stacey Tolbert showcases the major talent of SEVEN POETS this issue, concluding her SPRING-SUMMER POETRY FEST! See some of the brightest poets here - who have been featured in Essence, who have appeared on HBO and PBS, who have performed across the country, who have worked as slam masters, who have been Pushcart nominees, and who are teachers!

…And joy would be mandatory. Poetry would go alongside Math and Science. No. Poetry and Creative Writing would be more important than Math and Science. Because. Words. Children need words. Without words, all the other subjects are but incomprehensible academic gibberish. Poetry quotes would sit, on front page newspapers to begin the news. No. Newspapers would have a section called, POETRY TODAY. No. POETRY EVERYDAY. Little girls would be birthed from the loins of Sonnets and Sestinas. No. Little girls will be birthing pontoons and personification. Instead of women getting their do’s done, they’ll be getting their Haiku’s done. No. They’ll get their do’s done while spouting Haikus on street corners. They will “get low” with books in hand. Little boys will pop their collars because they respect poetry. Because they respect the word. Because they know the value of the a l p h a b e t. Grandmothers would cook up chicken and stanza’s, cornbread and bebop, yams and tanka’s. Everyone would be lazy, full, suffering from alphabet delirium. “The Poet Person’s Disease.” Grandparents would be poetry coaches. Teenagers would blast poetry out of their speakers. BET would become BETTER ENTERTAINMENT TODAY because poetry would be the theme of every other video. No. Every video. Cave Canem would be a household name. No child could pass to the next grade without knowing the following poetry techniques: metaphor, simile, imagery, personification, couplet, sonnet, sestina, blues poem, bebop, tanka, haiku, assonance, dissonance, cacophony, workshop. WORKSHOP. REVISION—No. No child would pass to the next grade without being able to write. Write well. Write in those forms. All forms. Teach those forms. No. Be: orators. griots. poets. presidents. Have mentors. No. Anyone over the age of 25 would have to be a mentor. Respect yourself, respect each other, respect the land, respect the elders, respect the word, respect women, respect men, respect life, respect death, give honor and praise to peace, be fair, show compassion—would be taught to children to take the place of the WASL. Poet trees would grow tall. Never be cut down. Sprout out words. Text. Lines. You could get a bouquet of poetry. No. You could give a bouquet of poetry and wrap it up with a short story bow.

Poetry.

Poet.

Poem.

Please.

Persist.

Progress.

Page.

Peace.

…But until then, please give thanks for the following poets for blessing us with words that take form, dig up emotional graves, plant seeds, make you want to read and re-read and grab your pen.

-Anastacia (Stacey) Tolbert

CLICK THE IMAGES BELOW TO TAKE A TRIP INTO EACH POET'S LITERARY WORLD!

Deidre R. Gantt

Amanda Johnston

Damnyo da "Genius chyld"

Khadijah Queen

Natalie Graham

Randi McCreary

Tomás Riley

Photo Credit: Rachel Eliza Griffiths

Anastacia (Stacey) Tolbert is a writer, Cave Canem Fellow (2007), journalist, workshop facilitator, and playwright living in Seattle, Washington. "Brown Suga Poet" is author of the poetry book, Baring My Soul, and the recipient of the 2004 San Diego Journalism Press Club Award for the article “War Torn.” Tolbert is a Seattle Arts and Lectures Writer-in-Resident, Writers in the Schools (WITS), http://www.lectures.org/wits_writerbios.html, and the Hugo House Youth Site Manager www.hugohouse.org. She is writer, co-director, and co-producer of GOTBREAST? Documentary (2007): a documentary about the views of women regarding breast and body image www.myspace.com/gotbreastdoc. Her poetry, fiction, and nonfiction has been published in Clamor Magazine, Check the Rhyme, An Anthology of Female Poets & Emcees (Nominated for the 2007 NAACP Award), I Woke Up and Put My Crown On: 76 Voices of African American Women, Essence Magazine, Number One Magazine, The Nubian Chronicles, San Diego City Beat, The Pitch Weekly, Hair Piecez Anthology, and The Source Magazine. She is the featured spoken word artist on the Sleeping Giant CD Compilation (San Diego California), UNSPOKEN CD (San Diego, California) www.giantsarise.com and member of The Black Poet's Collective.

Visit Stacey at http://www.myspace.com/brownsugapoet, or you can e-mail her at writeforfood@hotmail.com.