Keeping my good parking karma going in snowy DC, I headed over to Chief Ike's Mambo Room to check out the collaborative project Black on My Back: The Poetic Intersection of the Black Experience. The three poets headlining the show were Gayle Danley, Sonya Renee Taylor, and Twain Dooley.
The show, which the threesome (insert 9th grade giggle here) has been performing for a wide ranging audience in prisons, coffee houses and schools, is a mash up of their original work and the work of celebrated poets such as Quincy Troupe, Amiri Baraka, Maya Angelou, Nikki Giovanni and Langston Hughes.
The performers did the impressive work of blending the various pieces together seamlessly. The 60 minute show was eclectic, funny and at times sentimental. Sonya Renee, who is an HBO Def Poet and National SLAM Champion, shared that they decided to collaborate on the showcase to educate audiences on how effortlessly page and stage poetry can share the same space and be entertaining. The supportive audience seemed happy to prove their theory correct. Check out the video below for the highlights.
Michelle Sewell is a screenwriter that travels for good poetry and has extra parking Karma for sale.
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