Red Featured Poet at DNA Art & Music Fusion in Second Life

On Sunday, March 11, I was honored to be the featured poet at DNA in Second Life. I've attended many events and poetry readings in the past few months. This is venue that nudged me into becoming age-verified. After listening to many amazing poets and musicians there, some of whom are close friends, I was pleasantly surprised to be invited. The event is hosted by the fabulous Grail.  I received a warm welcome from venue owners Armany Thursday & Dyce Underwood.

Prior to the big day, the major challenge for me was selecting a variety of my writings to showcase the topics I tend to address in my poetry, drabbles and monologues. I opened  with a piece called "leaves" which explores my love for the fall season and the vibrancy of their beauty. I'm  a New England transplant, so I've always been fascinated by how a tree can be green in August and turn fiery red and orange by October. My intent was to start with some light poems then some intense ones and finish with a few steamy (so I've heard lol) ones. I read another poem called "photograph" which is about recollected memories and emotions triggered from a photograph left on a lover's pillow. Letting go of past relations and interactions is often difficult and takes time to move on.

I have decided to share one of my favorite monologues by Eve Ensler, called " I am an emotional creature" from her recent book with the same title. This is a long heart-felt monologue that I enjoy reading but it makes my heart skips a few beats every time I read it. Since the whole book reflects the struggles of girls around the world, it resonates with my community work and issues that I'm passionate about. The other long piece that I read is about the invisibility of women's history celebration on commercial television. It's called "No commercials on women's history month." I had planned to share my views in 100 words but this piece just exploded out of me once I started writing it. It exposes a lot of double standards in American culture, media images and how women's issues are commercialized and co-oped only to sell products.

After several of these gut wrenching pieces, I thought it was time for a little fun and changed the mood by sharing one poem by Bonchance Longfall called, "Sweet Sensation." I accidentally started reading this poem because I asked bc to read it during an open mic and he requested that I read it instead. OMG! The fun I have reading this piece is indescribable. It's as if the words just flow off my lips and the imagery is just sensational. Two other poems that I read are "Soul Confession" and "Garden of Passion" which I believe increased the temperature of the room by 30 degrees! These two pieces are a complete departure from my nature and socially conscious writings. This is where I let fantasy take over and let my imagination loose on the page. With a bit of word play and tantalizing images, the mood has shifted dramatically. Once everyone cool off a bit,  I chose  a beautiful bilingual poem titled, "Ne m'oubliez pas (don't forget me)" to be the grand finale. I wrote this poem a few months ago while watching a music video. The video opening was touching  with these few words written on a sticky note. Only the title and the last stanza are in French. Depending on the event, I sometimes read the whole poem in French, thanks to Frederic who graciously translated it for me. Although I was nervous at the beginning of the reading, I had a fabulous time and grateful to Grail, Armany and Dyce for the opportunity to share my voice with a captive audience in Second Life. I also appreciate my circle of friends for coming out and cheering me on:)