My "Breaking Ours Ribs" Comment

I find myself engrossed in a discussion that indeed all of us should be conscious about and of. This is from the note that Rasheed Copeland posted the other day:

Ok so yesterday the lovely B.Sharise Moore posted a status that went as follows:

"B.Sharise Moore would like to challenge more male poets to write POSITIVE poems about black women. This excludes sexualizing black women in erotic poetry. That just doesn't fly as a positive piece, sorry. I don't believe I'm alone in thinking that many of you hate us based on your subject matter. I am sad to say that spoken word is be...coming hip-hop: male dominated, largely misogynistic, and overrun with sensationalism."

Now me being a male who agrees commented with the following:

"I was definitely going to write a note about this issue and I probably still will because as of late I think there's been an excessive amount of this. As a man, its hard to respect a poet who continues to portray females as naïve, bitter, whore-like rape and molestation victims who should've known better. Especially when there's nothing conveyed about the accountability and the role s that Men have played in destroying these females...its borderline Chauvinistic and it pisses me off to think that in a males mind the only way they can portay a female is by making her over sexual whether through erotica or molestation or whatever...where are the poems about your mother, sister, etc..????More importantly Where are the poems about the MEN who've played the MAJOR roles in Theses so called "women with no respect" as it relates to the unfavorable behavior? Males we have to do better."

Now given the strong conviction I have behind this opinion, I charge male poets to take heed. I also would like to gain feedback from both male poets and female poets ( but ESPECIALLY MALES) on whether or not you think this is even a valid point to be made. PLEASE lets not make this a battle of the sexes, because society as a whol ALWAYS loses that way.


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Now, I didn't comment in on the discussion, but I read and took in all the comments posted by various people. Alot of interesting points were mentioned. What I want to talk about is this:

You have to ask yourself, "where did we get this from"? Based on the comments I read, I could assume that It is obvious that the cold-hearted, demoralizing pieces towards black women seem to be showing up everywhere nowadays and coming in by the boatload. Poems are getting crafted to these similar subjects in almost the same vein as the average mainstream hip-hop song that you'd hear on the radio today in the year 2010. And ofcourse someone's getting mad because it just doesn't sit well with them. That's one of the main points I heard through the discussion. With that being said, It makes me really want to know where we got it from? My guess is "conditioning".

Rasheed stated in one of his comments that his next note would be about Willie Lynch. I'd say THAT indeed is a fundamental source, because when you read his plan, you can still see that heinous blueprint standing prominent within the social community of us black folk even today, running victory laps around us like its grip was too strong to be broken. So if remnants of the Willie Lynch letter happen to have a broad influence on us even today, then it very may well be the fuel for alot of our poetry without us even knowing it. A question was asked "Why does it seem that noone is inspired to write more uplifting messages?" as it may be that all the controversial pieces may have been written under "inspiration". With that, I believe inspiration and being the norm/popular can be mistaken for each other as I believe the answer to that question can be "Because sex is what sells." Exploitation, that's a conditioning mechanism used for exposure on an uncomfortable level so that one may control who is being exposed. And that's a deep rooted plan that needs to be uprooted from the source immediately, for you can see how detrimental its been.

There's also been a talk of a lack of creativity in this area as it seems that the showcase for vulgar sexual poetry is being mass produced and starting to look more and more identical. We may all be saying the same thing with the same shock value and over time have a limp message if the pleasure just resembles something somewhat short of pornographic. Surely there's plenty of other stuff to talk about right? That's definitely a side of the conversation I'd love to talk about, maybe in the context of it's own debate. Now poets in my eyes are word warriors. We can take what we think and what we feel and and craft the words in a way that touches the listener in some sort of way. Poetry in my eyes is the evolution of conversation. I have a friend who told me "A person has written a great piece to me if, when after the piece I'm inspired to hold a conversation about it." He's not talking about the piece itself, hyping the poet, but he means the message delivered. Can I connect to it in that sense with my own motor skills of communication, would I be inspired to do so. Now, ofcourse no one is obligated to agree with this statement, but it's a very interesting point. As far as creativity goes, when we hear these dudes go up and do these pieces, over and over again, is it inspiring anyone in anyway besides arousal or, is it just plucking emotions in the same way that last lemon-dropper did with that sour line that sent a shockwave through you the moment your ears tasted it? That's something we have to factor in in order to realize and determine how much we may or may not at all need these kinds of pieces. But in all fairness let's not rule out anything here. Ofcourse there's a way to write a sensual piece and come off as genuine as opposed to generic, but it becomes a thinline between the two when the debate splits with those who wish to justify it and those who wish to demolish it which in someway may appear unfair to the poet reciting it.

Erotic pieces ofcourse aren't the only pieces being talked about, for it's the mindstate we're really focusing on. As I stated before "where did we get this from"? And where also does it belong that a male poet may empathize by writing a piece from a female's standpoint. I'm not saying it should be done nor it shouldn't be done but, in what fashion are we doing that? Let's not write just to gain the approval of someone, for that's just a tactic used to keep oneself out of hot water. It was also spoken on this subject by quite a few folk that it's just like a white man writing about the struggle of black folk. It would be out of place and their voice holds no power in that matter, thus making the attempts seem feeble with a possible resemblance of mockery if the poet is not careful. I for one would just simply say that I wouldn't rule out the "empathy" part. So if I were to write from the perspective of a female, I'd pray that it'd never be out of vein attempts to appear big headed while using the piece as a "paid dues" ticket to showing that I could be poetically philanthropic. It takes honesty, open-mindedness, and open-heartedness for me to access this vibe. Especially with pieces that portray the female as a victim, I noticed the biggest topic is indeed rape. Pieces like that shouldn't be written carelessly, for in the situation itself, the only person who acted carelessly would be the person who took the female's innocence, why act like him?

This is an on going debate still being observed and discussed now, but those were the main points I wanted to comment on. so with that being said, if we know what the problem to be, then how are we going to stop it? In the midst of all of this, just remember that unity separates us from separation. Now I'm a Christian and I follow the principles of the Bible, and what I feel this conditioned mindstate is is truly a work of evil. And the bible tells us that Love is the strongest force there is, infact YHWH embodies himself to be Love itself, as he practices it on us all and unconditionally. That's the mindstate we need to be having if we are to destroy this yoke. It takes that love and with it comes the rest of the fruit of the spirit (Galatians 5: 22). But I digress.

Lastly, I just want to leave with a quote I live by, and I say "Art humanizes people." And poetry is an artform, so why not use this artform in more humanizing ways? It'll relieve the stress from all of us.