Me and this Poetry Thang

I got up with the poetry scene over five years ago while living in Houston when a friend of mine from church took me to an open mic poetry reading that was in downtown Houston at a barbecue restaurant. It was on a Sunday night and the place was packed with folks dressed in their Sunday best, enjoying an evening of spoken word while enjoying dinner and having drinks. You "almost" could call it a club atmosphere, but without the loud music, dancing, and smoke. It was chic.

By August 2000, I was living in Sacramento, Ca by myself and with quite a bit of spare time on my hands. January rolled around and I started looking for venues outside of church where I could meet some culturally enriching black folks. Let's just say I was lonely and attention starved. Hey, what do you expect when you move 1500 miles across the nation, sight unseen, and don't know anybody to kick it with?

Needless to say, they had an African-American bookstore right around the corner from my townhouse that was featuring a local poet named Terry Moore. This was new to me, but intriguing. He was promoting his new chapbook of poetry which was mainly about love and the date of the event was right before Valentine's Day. Well, seeing how the place filled up with all sorts of poets and folks, I was hooked by the atmosphere, the spoken word and the creative juices that were at that time dormant, waiting to come alive...in me.

By March 18th, the rebirth of my poetry entered on the page of my poetry journal that once lay lifeless with only horizontal lines canvassing the pages begging to be colored with ink and thought.

The first poem I wrote, was I guess a response to the "flirting" by Terry Moore to me. At that time he was single but unknowingly to me, taken. I think he had what most men who are involved with someone but still flirt with any skirt, amnesia. What started out cute and enticing, turned out to be annoying and definitely thought provoking. So with a fully ink loaded pen, my retort began.

I titled it,
Don't Play With Me:
By Maryee 3-18-01

What are you looking for?
Someone with that low self-esteem?
Someone you can dominate, humiliate, and intimidate?

Boyyyy, I thought you knew!
Do you not know who I am?
I'm the sistah who really can't be bothered with your ishes

You know Chauvinish, Childish,
Pile of Shhhh

It ought to be a crime
to be so divine and blow my mind
with your so called rhymes

Who taught you how to flow like that?
I mean put words together and make them...go like that

Cat, You da bomb!
I'm 'bout to explode off your energy
Your synergy
It's like tryin to get the best of me

But WAIT! What do I see?
Fifteen other chics feeling the same as me?

Who do you think I am, some GROUPIE??

Don't gaze into my eyes unless you want me to gaze right back
Don't try and touch my inner most, unless you wanna get touched back

DON'T PLAY WITH ME!


I read him this poem before departing Sacramento and moving down to Orange County in January of 2002. He liked it and wanted a copy. Go figure.

I had to follow up with a "I ain't sharing" poem later. Terry was indeed a blessing to me, for had it not been for that drama, my poetry wouldn't have been re-birthed. God bless Mr. Moore in his endeavors.

About 200+ poems later and I'm still goin'

From meeting Terry, I was also blessed to meet other poets in Northern California who I've remained good friends since then.

My girl Nicole Romeo
and my main man Nathan Lewis
Both have been quite inspirational and encouraging to me in my writing journey. I miss em' both!

It was through Terry, Nathan and Nicole, I was able to briefly be a part of Born2B Poets, and feature twice at Tower Book Store in Sacramento.

When I moved down to Southern California, another sweet spoken word artist whom I adore and met through my former church Friendship Baptist, is none other than the sexy, classy and sassy, Maura Gale. She said she'd never forget me because her mom's name is Mary Elizabeth. Cool huh?

It's been a blessing just to share my poetry in written or spoken word. I'm happy to be able to host the poetry readings at Beatnix and look forward to offering others an opportunity to express.