On My Way

I've always had a problem with being too critical of my poetry. For a long time I didn't show or write much poetry because I felt it didn't match up to the poems I had read as a child from authors whose career spans out longer than that of my own. I always thought of poems by such authors as Langston Hughes, Maya Angelou, Nikki Giovanni, Sunni p, Paul Lawrence Dunbar, Shakespeare, and many others, as perfect. Well I've realized in the past few years that nothings perfect and we can only hope to get as close to perfection as humanly possible by doing our best. So I have a notebook and I've named it "So close to perfection". I've named it this so I wont half-ass when it comes to writing anymore and by doing so, and giving my all, I hope to my works will be as close to perfection as I possibly could get. Soooo without further ranting here's a poem from this notebook.

On My Way

I have no heart felt story to tell
No long forgotten wish made upon a well
I'm not some ghetto child who made it against all odds
You see? I still have yet to make it
And as far as "against all odds"
I've still succumbed to some.
My Life...is not some inspirational piece of literature
where the protagonist survived through unwavering faith
I've had my doubts
And I've had my bouts
Fighting Life just to Live
I've had my wins and I've had my routs.
This Man...That stands here
Has been scared in the face of fear
...I'm not perfect
I'm so far from it that the pursuit seems like a long forgotten memory
from a life lived long ago
My rights have been outnumbered by my wrongs
So much so that I believe I have nothing left
I just want you to see that through my imperfections
I seek to be closer to perfection
closer to being
closer to you...

-The Harsh Truth

Introducing...(DJ disc scratches) The Greatest!!! LOL

I would like to introduce T.H.I.N.K. before I get into really writing post and give y'all a brief history of how we came to be. So I've always had an affinity towards poetry but I would rarely write for leisure. I usually wrote for class or for an extra credit project. When I came to college I decided that I would take the time to cultivate myself and my interest, so I started going to poetry nights. Now, during my freshman year there was only one group of people doing the poetry night and that was sankofa, which consisted of (If I forget some ppl forgive me): Samori Camara (a.k.a Quack), Shanelle Matthews, Lynetria, S. Marie, Jasmine Stovall, and a few other ppl I may have forgotten; but that was the poetry nite that was most accessible and later I came to find out that Donney Rose had poety nites/open mic nites that were happening all across Baton Rouge. I would always go and after a few times I asked my friend D.K. (add.k.tion) to come through. He was nervous and a little shy but after a little shit talking and calling him scared he finally went to one and spit somethin. So for awhile Me and d.k. would go through but this would not last long cause the sankofa group was graduating and well there was no one to take over. This immediately caught my attention and I became interested in creating my own organization that would take over where they left off. Also I was writing some of my own stuff during that time so yeah...I was ready. LOL Fall 06 went by and everybody had graduated or was getting ready to graduate and there was a void to be filled. Spr. 07 comes by and I befriend this dude by the name of Jermaine Taylor (Realigion) and hell he has the same idea I have. So we drafted up some shit, brought it to David Kador (add.k.tion) and Amos Morale (III A.M.), and well there you have it: T.H.I.N.K. LOL Actually Amos came up with the name, acronym and all. But we came together and well we were determined...our only problem was a venue. See, since we were not an official student organization at the time we could not reserve a room so my friend Lyrick Gray (Potential), who was apart of NAACP at the time, told us that he would reserve a room for us under NAACP's name so hell that worked. Then with much help and support from our sister/first lady Mariana Sheppard (Ms. Write) we held our first poetry nite in the magnolia room at the LSU Union. It was a success and wouldn't have been without these key people: Monet Elbert with the graphics, Chloe Elbert for her support, Jaleesa, Savoy, and many others that came out to support and spit. So big shout out to everybody that supported us especially recently: Dee-1, Donney Rose, Samori Camara, AACC (Niya Blair), Monet (MO!), Marcel P. Black, and whoever else.