Five Philly poems for National Poetry Month

I am the perfect combination of cereal and milk.

The perfect balance of melancholy and laughter.

I spill happiness from my lips.

I am something special.

I’m the cracks of the broken sidewalks turned morning games.

I am the chill that cause goosebumps that take over the largest organ of your body.

I’m hardly in human form

I’m a living metaphor.

A poet on the good days and a poem on my worse.

These words.

Replicate thoughts I’ve heard before it’s art.

I’m art.

I’m the last remaining painting on a wall of ancient sayings.

Scribbled my existence on stone pallet pages.

I’m your favorite late night snack.

I’m you.

No different

Same molecular composition

Never worried of the outcome

Can’t outrun this fate

I’ll be whatever it takes to make it

I am big not little

I am not your birthday or your funeral

I am the dash in the middle

My handwriting has a

Before and after

Abuse scars DNA

Manifest destiny claimed my story

Collaged and concealed

History book half-truths read:

[PAGE 22]

After crudely trying to solve her puzzle, the men accidentally took pieces of her with them. They pocketed her spirit and spread her open. She was laid bare across the hills and highways of the entire tri-state. She now resides in neglected junk drawers, lost in lint-lined pockets of once-favorite jeans, hidden inside dreams no longer cared for.

She thought she deserved better, but lacking experience, she accepted, people simply expect women to endure under this rate of theft. Her body is now on exhibit for a limited time only! For tickets call 215-

Colonialism reverberates

Fractured fault lines

Generation after generation

I do not remember asking him to

Tame the wild of my hair or

Domesticate the freckles on my skin

Denmark Vessey was a start.

Frederick Douglas was a start.

Harriet Tubman was a start.

The Harlem Renaissance was a start.

The Black Star Line was a start.

The self-determined Black towns in Rosewood, Slocum, Tulsa, Springfield, and what is now known as Brooklyn was a start.

The armed anti-Klan insurrections and protectors in the south was a start.

The Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee was a start.

The Alabama bus boycotts was a start.

The Stonewall riots was a start

The Black Panther Party was a start

MOVE was a start

Watts uprisings was a start. LA uprisings was a start. Attica uprising was a start.

Freeing Angela Davis was a start

Keeping Assatta Shakur free was a start.

The Black Liberation Army was a start.

Ending apartheid was a start.

Hip Hop was a start.

The Malcolm X Grassroots Movement was a start

ACT UP and Queer Nation was a start

the first Black this and the first Black that, was a start

Octavia Butler was a start

Audre Lorde was a start

my existence was a start.

Derek Chauvin's conviction is not a start.

Abolition is a start.

I lose focus on the heart-shaped goal when the progression of disappointment and depression creeps in

Trying to find love is exhausting. I mean the whole yearning for the uncorrupted

Cloud 9 bliss plus the confusing state of rejection is an earth-shattering blend

I don't want any more weird haircuts and this self-decorated filter of flawed truth

I just want someone I can tell my secrets to

Here in illadelph where my energy is felt, and skin color “appears” to be invisible.

Look past the spliced divisible population of miscommunication and you realize everyone's hearts are overflowing with generous wealth

This feeling is living within the top-tier medalling vibrations

The culture is evolving at a rapid rate

Sometimes you can observe the hate dissolving and a transformed frigid iris turned to an on-point floral pattern all gaudy

Assistance from the wires and glass screens displays a buffet with ease

I think I'll swing right on this one

Hopefully, this will bring a level of brief enlightenment that could break down the unfortunate masses living within the right sides of their dome

If not, I’ll just fold the edges of this memory and cut off the corners so that baggage won’t have value

After Enoch The Poet

Ain't flowers the blackest ish ever

How they can put dirt on us

and we still grow

Drown us in water and we survive

Planted in everything that keeps us grounded

They be shooting solar rays at us

hoping we wither

Not knowing our melanin

Be photosynthesis

The sun be our best friend

Ain't flowers the blackest ish ever

Queena Bergen

Award Winning International Performance Artist and Creative Swiss Army Knife, Queena Bergen is determined to help tell the world’s most impactful stories to audiences across the globe. As an influential voice and cultural ambassador she has executed from the stage to the page for institutions such as the US Dept of State, Center for Disease Control & CBS where she secured an Emmy for Best Public Service Campaign. Aiming to create content that moves creatives to dream big while grounding those visions in reality with strategic execution. You can support this artistic journey by joining her on all platforms @queenabergen.

Angelo Outlaw

Angelo Outlaw is an artist born and raised in Philadelphia. He has been playing percussion for more than 20 years and has been writing poetry for 7 years. Over the years he has performed and taught in worldwide championship percussion ensembles such as The Blue Coats and Music City Mystique. With more than 10 years of teaching experience in the percussive industry, he has gained knowledge from artists from all different aspects of life. He is now signed to the Philadelphia-based music label Eraserhood Sounds.

Rachel O'Hanlon-Rodriguez

Rachel O’Hanlon-Rodriguez is a multidisciplinary performance-based artist, organizer, non-profit arts administrator, and trauma informed teaching artist and facilitator. They serve as Spiral Q’s Operations Associate, a member of the Artistic Squad at Delaware Shakespeare, and support Community Care work in artistic processes throughout the region. As a creator, Rachel’s work explores generational cycles, boundaries, borders, and liberation. Rachel has spent a decade working as an actor throughout the region working with companies such as Die Cast, Power Street, Theatre Exile, Philly Young Playwrights, The Eagle Theater, and more. Follow Rachel’s creative journey on Instagram @the.inter.section or at www.rachelohanlonrodriguez.com.

Alex Smith

Alex Smith is a sci-fi writer (The Resistance web-series; Black Vans comic book), poet, artist, musician (art-punk bands Solarized, Rainbow Crimes), activist (Metropolarity queer sci-fi collective) and cultural/arts critic (Pitchfork, artblog, The Key, Bandcamp, Philly Gay News). He is a recipient of the Pew Fellowship in the Arts and published author of the sci-fi/cyberpunk/superhero/Afrofuturist short story collection ARKDUST from Rosarium Publishing. @Alexoteric

LindoYes

LindoYes is a spoken word poet from Uptown Philly. They have appeared on popular YouTube channel Button Poetry and also appeared on Def Poetry Jam. They were recently awarded the 2023 Jackie Robinson Award by Color of Change for his Poetry Gumball Machine. These poetry gumball machines are free to use that dispense a short poem, fabric back buttons, and info on how to call Philly 24/7 Mental Health Line. LindoYes is currently working on a graphic novel called "Pawnshop" a sci-fi anthology that talks about mental health being released by Rowhouse Publishing Company.