y. i. rite

i don't rite 2 impress u

hell, i don't rite 2 impress me!

as my pen walks,
i just let the ink talk,
and the words?

i just let them be....

I'll always remember the hook to a poem I heard over 2 years-ago at a poetry set in St. Petersburg, FL. The talent had been pretty dull and uneventful that evening. So I found myself constantly checking my cell phone's text message inbox for something more entertaining. Come to think of it, I don't know why I didn't just leave! But finally this one young woman took the stage. I must admit that I'd seen her in the crowd but totally judged her - at first glance I'd already labeled her as just an "observer". I hardly expected her to get up there and say something to catch my attention but she did...

She looked like your average around-the-way girl. Donning jeans and a wrinkled baby-tee; hair pulled back into a weave ponytail that had lost it's cute-factor, but with confidence she stepped behind the mic and slapped one hand on her hip. The other hand sliced the air as she used her fingers to keep the beat of her poem...

I
wriiiiiiite.
Write-about-my-liiiiiiiife!

She said very rhythmically over and over again...

I
wriiiiiite....
Write-about-my-liiiiiiife!

Then her words began to tell the fascinating story of her hard upbringing and how she found comfort in writing about her life. And it reminded me of where I've come from and how I first discovered poetry, and y. i. rite....

...and when the set ended, I raced home to dig up "y. i. rite", a short intro that I'd written years before in one of my poetry journals. I had no intentions of sharing my poetry with anyone! But thought, just in case someone happens to stumble across my private journal of poetry and decides to crack it open - then they'll know that....

i don't rite 2 impress u

hell, i don't rite 2 impress me!

as my pen walks,
i just let the ink talk,
and the words?

i just let them be....


Copyright © 2003 Nola Divine. All rights reserved

That's y. i. riiiiiite!