Why is it that when I am sleeping, my eyes pop wide open? Words tumble from the lips of my mind and ink shatters the fibers of paper, wetting the dead tree, making it cry out because my words tickle it as I write?
This is my state of affairs for the past 17+ years. I find myself compelled to take poetry much further than average by allowing myself to grieve the loss of time and step into this millennium armed with the newest ideas of time.
I am in love with the art of it all as well (as the skill it requires to become innovative and useful to the world is broad. My influences are vast and varied. I have always loved Pablo Neruda who once penned, "If little by little you stop loving me, then little by little I shall stop loving you." (Pablo Neruda) His bilingual poems have helped me learn Spanish.
I love to read and my influences are Jessica Care Moore, Sarah Jones, Ursula Rucker, Nikki Giovanni, Clarissa Bolding, Sean Brown (Poems from 3rd Heaven), Alicia Keys (Like Tears for Water), Ashanti, Jewel Kiltcher and Jill Scott, as well as Amiri Baraka, Taalam Acey and Soleah Rayne. I have often wondered what a Taylor Swift book of poems or an Eryka Badu version would be like. In recent years, Taylor has done just that, with the release of RED and 1989. It shows just how important journaling can be for the soul. Eryka Badu has been spotted giving candid interviews on YouTube for radio stations.
In addition to writing poems I dabble with creating beats and writing songs (which I pray will be selected soon). I have completed research on the African-American Poetry Holdings in the DeGrummond Collection at the University of Southern Mississippi (2010). There, children are allowed to attend field trips where colorful and abundant relics are found.
I found my love for archives while visiting the Jackson Library which had a display of original books from African -American writers (first hand accounts) primary documents are important keys. They tell us where we come from. And I propose to research African-American futuristic books as an ongoing response to all the other releases that have proliferated the book industry today.
This year I have self-published 3 books with Ophelia Brown Publishing, All the Pretty Roses: A tale of bittersweet love and betrayal, Camille Alexander and the Golden Period Violin, and Once Tangled Wings.
As an abolitionist for written freedom, I find myself confronting the conundrum of what to keep and rid from a library. I find that there are so many hidden gems found when Librarians rid their collection of "Out dated" materials. However, I am of the notion that ALL written work should be preserved. For example, Mary Shelly's Frankenstein.
There are 4 audio-books available through Amazon.com:
Phenomenally Me
Once Tangled Wings
All the Pretty Roses
Camille Alexander
My plan is to utilize Google's business platform to create buzz in my target audience. Also, I plan to advertise in FB, Canva, Fiverr, LinkedIn, IG, etc.
All said, I endeavor to become an artist and photographer who excels at creating collages and engages in Spoken Word Performance. With all of those career choices, I am enthralled to become a songwriter and media specialist. My credentials are as follows: B.A. in English
MLIS Masters in Library Science/ Media Specialist
Minor: Applied Music (Violin, recorder)
I wouldn't mind focusing on Archives and or Research Methods. I have been privilieged to work on a disaster preparedness project under Teresa Welsh and digitization project under Melanie Norton at the University of Southern Mississippi while serving as a Graduate Assistant. I would like to try my hand at teaching on the college level. I am also interested in travel.
POEM by Ms. Heidelberg:
Little girls dresses are like
Upside down umbrellas in the March wind.
Time to fly kites as high as an airplane.
The bows wave hello to the birds,
mimicking their flight.
The Sun is a jewel in the sky.
The Eagle is a ribbon in the
horizon. The clouds swim
backstrokes all day long.
My mind has tricked me, led me astray, enlightened me, drowned me in sorrows, taught me self-reliance
When no one's looking it turns its wheels in revolutions that silently flutter without making a commotion.
When no one's looking it takes in dopamine and synapses connectors from pills ingested in secret
Makes snap judgments then turns 'em loose
Makes me feel like I'm the head when I'm the caboose
Caused my mouth to speak words of encouragement
Afraid of delusions, and visions, and dreams
It is overdue for praise in the way it heals itself over time and emerges sublime.