Next Man Up, Poetry in Motion

Wesley Knight 0:00
This is a KU NV studios original program. The content of this program does not reflect the views or opinions of 91.5 jazz and more the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, or the Board of Regents of the Nevada System of Higher Education.

Donavan LeDean 0:14
Hello and welcome to the show. I am your host, donnavi Dean, actor, author and inspirational rhythmic poet. Get out. Tuned in to next man up poetry in motion, where the mission is to promote good mental health for everyone. This poetry show will motivate, educate and inspire you with spoken word, through cultural expression. We have a special guest today, Billy Allen, who has put a stamp in the Vegas valley as a librarian, now branch manager for Whitney library Las Vegas, Nevada. He has established his own brand called Three Kings vision, aka leaders of the new coup, dedicated to creating story time for kids to help them develop a lifelong passion for reading. He has independent author book collection, creating a space for books from local authors to be seen by the community here in Las Vegas. Billy, my brother, thank you for being here. Man, what's up? Man, how you doing? Brother, I'm blessed. I'm blessed. Yes, indeed. So I saw in a post social media post that you had mentioned mentioning some of the challenges that you as a library branch manager, along with your staff members, face with the public at your library regularly, yeah. So just first and foremost, just want to ask you, how is your mental health? Just elaborate for our listeners,

Billy Allen 1:28
so my mental health is good. I mean, it's just you have to check on yourself. And as a leader, you got to check on your people, and that's very important. So you know, when you do service for the community, working in the library, we're the only entity, honestly, that welcome all walks of life, and it's for free. So it was without judgment. So what comes along with that you deal with people that are looking for jobs, people that are stressed out, people that are unhoused, mental health, addictions, drug addictions, the mom that the single mom that doesn't have any resources, but she comes to the library to get the educational opportunities for her kids, or, if you talk about the military vet or the person that just moved to Vegas that's in transition, like all these different scenarios, is a part of the community on top of my team, right? We're human too. So when I tell people, Look, I'm 41 years old, libraries ain't what it was when we was growing up. It's not libraries ain't quiet. Hey, you can hear my voice like this is me in the library, but we are literally like the library district has a slogan called free to be I truly believe in that, right? Because my job is to be the face of my community, also serve them and protect the community. So you know, with that being said, I mean, we have rules, and you know, people will come in unfortunately that may break our library rules of conduct by cursing at my staff or being hostile, and we can't have that. And me, as the branch manager, I have to enforce these rules and make sure everyone is safe. So unfortunately, yesterday, we had a situation where I'm interviewing all day, right? And I hear an individual that's disrespecting my security guard, calling him the N word, going crazy. And like, you've been in my building where your voice projects, you know? I mean, I got a pretty decent sized library, but you can hear everything. So I, you know, come out there with my team, and this guy's going crazy, so we have to contact Metro. We call the police a lot of times, because the library is supposed to be a safe space, so I have to enforce these rules. So this guy's being super aggressive. And you know, for my team, especially my new ones, if you haven't dealt with these type of situations, it could be off putting. So for me, no contact Metro. I put the library in lockdown. That happens very often, so people don't know that, right? That perception of the library. So I got kids in here. And then there was another situation with the gentleman. I know you was referring to that post where the gentleman had a situation a couple of weeks ago, another guy. I can't go into detail of it, but it was in self defense. He was just staring at the guy, like berating and disrespecting my staff. And I'm like, Okay, we gotta go on lockdown. Let me call the police, because I gotta protect everybody. But I was reading the room, and I said, the other guy that was staring at the guy disrespecting my team was protecting us. Now I'm looking at the question of his mental health, because he had a serious situation go on. So afterwards, you know, the guy left the property Metro game um, I went up to the individual, and I was like, man, how are you doing? And he says, I feel I feel appreciated. And I told my Assistant Branch Manager, Desmond game changer, that with all the situation that was going on, he felt safe here. He felt welcome. That's what libraries represent. And then, before I left, I left, I had to check on my team, like asking several members that dealt with the situation initially, are you okay? This is what leaders do. It's not in the management. This is what a leader you need to check on people. And you know, one of the battles I have is who's checking on me exactly? So just having those conversations with myself, who's Am I going? I talk to my dad, I talk to my mom, but still, and I have my mentor, Kelvin Watson, but a lot of times, leadership is a lonely road, exactly, so, you know, but I'm doing good. I say on a scale of one to 10, 8.3 is

Donavan LeDean 5:12
we'll take, we'll take, most definitely, you are a children's storyteller. Yes, you're following the footsteps of the great lavar Bergman, yes, Reading Rainbow, yes. And but you're creating your own lane. What inspired you to become a children's storyteller?

Billy Allen 5:28
So, you know, life takes you on so many journeys, as you know, and like growing up, I didn't aspire to be a librarian. One of my homeboys put me on during undergrad. I was going to be a Nourse. So, you know, I went back to Lincoln University. I'm Missouri, HBCU. I'm a proud graduate to HBCUs, North Carolina, central so when he introduced me to the field of Library Science, I ain't know that was a field. I didn't even know librarians had to have a master's degree in library science. So I did an internship. I'm gonna kind of get to the point, but I did an internship, right? And I saw a public library, and I said, is no way I could work in a public library. Yeah. So I get my master's in library science at 31 so the only jobs that were available were Youth Services, librarian jobs. So I applied for I need a job. They make some money. So for the interview, you had to do a story time, bro, and I just show online resource. So I'm looking online, and I'm like, hold up these story times I don't connect with that. You know, I hate to say it like this, if anyone's hearing this, but the old, old McDonald have a farm, all that stuff. I don't relate to that. I'm come from the culture of hip hop. My parents come from that. I just don't relate, especially as a black man, most definitely. So I said, I'm gonna do it my way. So I read the classic children's book Maurice sendex, where the wild things are in the rest was history. So when I started doing the story times in my library, like when I lived in Miami, check this out, I had two sessions, one at 1030 and one at 11. It was ranging between 150 to 250 people, both sessions. So I told my homeboys, I'm like, Look, I'm gonna do a kid show. I'm create a platform for kids of color, or just people in general, to develop the lifelong love of reading, because I haven't seen it since reading the rainbow, and I said I'm gonna start three King visions, and I started this almost six years ago, and I've been a librarian for nine and it's been a beautiful journey, because it's important when you talk about literacy, if you're talking about the prison the pipeline issue that's going on for young black men for reading At a fourth grade level as grown men, it's real. And even with the social media, with the resources like our kids need this type of way of inspiring them to develop the love of reading, most definitely. So I said, let's incorporate hip hop, yeah, into the storytelling. And, you know, LeVar Burton actually follows me. I think I'm the only librarian he follows. So it's like, you know, there is a Reading Rainbow reboot coming out with my boy, Michael threats, but I feel like what I'm doing is different, you know, because you can read a book, but can you read a book Exactly? And that's what I love. And I'm gonna be doing this forever, until I'm 85 because this is bigger than me, bro, exactly. It's about the

Donavan LeDean 7:57
future. That's phenomenal. The federal government is pushing an executive order to defund libraries, and several states have passed legislation authorizing book banning marginalized and subjugating voices and literature that reflects mostly people color. What impact do you feel that this can have not only on libraries, but communities as a whole?

Billy Allen 8:17
I mean, it's real. I mean, fortunately for we got affected the Las Vegas, Clark County Library District, we got affected a little bit, but we're funded by property tax. So I got, I got security, right? But for my colleagues, people were losing jobs. I mean, you saw Carly Hayden the Library of Congress, that powerful black woman, that librarian, was forced to resign, you know. So it's impacting smaller communities, and if it affects the library, it affects the people, exactly right? Because, again, all the resources like, I give you an example, like, like my library, we provide free meals for the kids every day of the week. Senior citizens get free meals every Friday. If that budget cut affects that, imagine the mental health of the people that appreciate that free meal. What about the budget cut if it affected us with the mobile showers that I provide every Tuesday at my library, where the things that we take for granted that affects them with a mental most definitely so what you know it's real, and I tell people, you need to be an advocate for libraries. Need to promote this and really tell people what we do, because it's all free, exactly.

Donavan LeDean 9:22
Billy will be hosting his children's author Expo Saturday, January 24 and the second annual Black author Expo, February 7, 2026, located at the Whitney library on 5175 East Tropicana Avenue in Las Vegas, Nevada. Billy, my brother, thank you for your time. Hey. Man, I appreciate you. Man, thank you. Here we go. Here we go. Next man up.

Speaker 3 9:49
What's good world? Show you right. Allow me to speak to you tonight for the people you. As I walk through God's precious playground, shade cascades upon me. It's persistent, but why pause? I reflect. I go into effect. I see a bruised man who kneels from the compressions of gravity and agony, his flesh is eaten away from the air molecules by the second. Soon it will eat away his muscles and tissues. Soon he'll disappear. He needs medic, but has no insurance, pause reflect a shade that cascaded upon me four days finally goes away. A beam of light shines on both of us to highlight our moment, I

Unknown Speaker 10:55
offer him a smile. He reciprocates. I relieve the tension in

Speaker 3 11:01
his shoulders with the palm of my hand. I give him my lunch leftover from a diner two blocks down, with a $10 bill inside, I have a small conversation with him that ended with an encouraging statement, stay strong, King Gods got you. He smiled again. Then ended our moment with a thank you. That moment made my day. That moment reassured me the fundamentals of humanity. I realized that humanity thrives with Moments like this. Dave on the

Donavan LeDean 12:06
next man up, black love,

Speaker 4 12:09
the kind of love that starts off by aching because we're terrified, terrified of showing our soul, laying down masks, having our triggers exposed. What kind of father did I have? So how do I see black men? What kind of mother did you have? So how do you see black women? Black love is on the siege. It's being attacked, and sometimes it implodes from the inside out, because instead of holding each other up, we tear each other down. But what if? What if there was another way, a scarier one, but one that almost guarantees success, one that demands that we see each other, look right into our soul and breathe, cry, scream. But then what follows is peace, a love so strong it runs through generations and cultures, between Africans, African Americans and Caribbeans, between men and women that were told they should hate each other. What happens on the other side of the conversation? It doesn't deny the truth. It doesn't deny the betrayal. It acknowledges it sits and stands in it, but then lets it go, moves on to a better tomorrow, starting with a possible today, black love, the kind of love they said we could never have, brothers and sisters, not from another mother, but from the same father, the One above. Black love, the one that builds communities, Black Wall Streets like the ones we saw burned down, true love, like a man and a woman holding hands through trauma, healing together, walking the path that's narrow so that our children have a broader path. Reinvented love, the one that doesn't follow rules, but follows values and standards, uplifts women and honors them, sees the Queen and treats her like one so she can hold up her king, let him come home to a safe space where she can hold his soul, cover his heart, and be the one To protect him. For once. Do you believe in black love, the one that teaches our children how to love their hair, their foreheads and their noses, how to love their skin unapologetically, how to sing our songs and dance our dances and hold our traditions, at least the ones that serve us, the ones that remind us where we're from, the continent that holds the imprint of our identity. I believe in black love. So I'm waiting, waiting for my king to find me, to recognize his queen amidst all the other women that claim they desire him, but I'm the only one who truly sees him. That's my kind. Kind of love, black love.

Unknown Speaker 15:08
Black love. So the first

Speaker 5 15:12
poem I'm going to read is called the colors of you thinking of painting. My canvas is blank. I put it on the easel, and I grab my paint. There are several colors that I choose, my favorites being the greens and the blues. I pick up my brush, I begin to paint, trying to envision what I will make, moving the brush up, and I strike it down. My bristles are so soft, they barely make a sound. I move the brush left, then I paint some on the right. My painting is coming together. It's really quite the sight. I step back to admire my art. I think about the meaning, and I realize it's from my heart. The meaning is so complex. Where would I even start? Maybe by describing the purpose of the colors in my art, or by telling you the first color I use is the color of your eyes, or how the second is the color of your hair, or maybe how the third color is representing how much I care, or how the fourth color is your favorite and the fifth is mine. I made them twist together, intertwine the colors together show my love for you, and each time I look at my painting, I'll see our favorite colors and be reminded that you love me too.

Speaker 6 16:15
At 14, a friend heard me read love poetry about a heart and need. You see, at the time, his heart was at a loss to breathe, because in his mind was the right thought to proceed, but still in my lines and then offering them off to she wait. He told me no suicide to my heart and needs she's alive because your left home brought relief.

Speaker 7 16:40
So got right. All right. Got right

Speaker 6 16:45
because once upon a time, I was a lost body. These teenage veins ran trains of painful speech, until my 12th grade English teacher taught me how to turn the piece she gave me a pen and pad with a task after class, and said, Here's your chain and leash. Go release those highs and lows and in betweens, and then you'll see all your pain put at ease. So alright, alright, alright, because my right fist represents the cut wrist and hand slips of over 1,000,001 slaves forced off hard ships, their privilege to write and read was stripped. So I write and read everything for everyone missed, because without them, I wouldn't exist.

Speaker 8 17:36
So I write all right, all right, because

Speaker 6 17:41
I'm from East Oakland, the bay. Hey, bruh, where the murder rate stays at a constant pace? Bruh, that someone killed nearly every other day. Bruh, bam, my birthplace is a hurt, aches, painted walls crafting, a madness, though all we gather in sadness to believe they did everything differently. Went in fact, and then

Unknown Speaker 18:05
changed bruh,

Speaker 7 18:06
so, all right, all right, all right, because

Speaker 9 18:11
the moment of release I received from completing the written piece

Speaker 6 18:15
is similar to taking a Dave after it's been about a week, boo, not like a sense of relief in the beliefs that 9% of the globe goes to sleep with nothing to eat. No relief when firefighters, teachers, doctors, police earn less than entertainers and athletes, no relief when more blacks and browns and jails than excelling in college, no relief, when

Unknown Speaker 18:47
the wealth is health while the ignorant and just fake knowledge.

Unknown Speaker 18:52
So I write all right,

Speaker 6 18:55
all right, because I I don't know how to write. Write when what's left becomes right, then death strikes, and I'm left to write about the loss of life. Yet if I didn't write, I'd have lost my life to suicide. So who am I to choose sides and cross lines and do or die? Why do I recite lines like an Albert can move type the meaning in life is whatever reason you have got to kill yourself. Do I write for self as a cry for help? Do I write tasty trash for massive shells? Do I write for relief from the beast deeply held? Do I write for the kid who doesn't fit in with no one else? So I write. I write.

Unknown Speaker 19:41
Y, right, y, right.

Donavan LeDean 19:46
Here we go. Here we go. Next man up.

Speaker 10 19:49
Where do we go? Now? This is a forest wide out in the open air with plenty place to hide and many more to seek. This is discovery. So many go along to. Will you go with me? I mean to journey on as many dare to do, is such a place to be, but better off with you and better off with us on the unwritten path. Let's make it worth the risk and all the aftermath.

Donavan LeDean 20:19
Next man up.

Speaker 11 20:21
This poem is titled The anxious puerta. It's been a minute since we last spoke. I've lost some loved ones along the road, been healing and experiencing growth, lost myself and fell alone, the anxious puerta, who always has hope, even when it got dark in the depths of the unknown, I managed to climb back up to my throne. My mind always in the clouds, but I'm still in my zone. These past few years have been a blur. Finally did therapy at ease the hurt, learning every day about my self worth, setting boundaries. I tend to give too much, but don't get the same in return. I live my life on my own terms, selective with my inner circle and my words. I have a huge heart, keeping it safe, no longer getting hurt, healing my inner child was the cure. I take walks that give me peace. My anxiety is always within reach. It's played a role in achieving my dreams, but it's also made it hard to breathe. My view of leaning into the bathroom sink almost became a ritual I didn't need realize my anxiety will always be a part of me, learning to not see it as my enemy. But it gets tough when my stomach is in knots, nausea, vomit, ruminating, thoughts, imposter syndrome, feeling like I'm not good enough. Then I challenge my brain and it resets, but it never stops. Started healing by giving myself love, working on my mental health daily. The journey is a never ending one. It may get dark, but the sun always comes up. Please keep going. Don't ever give up.

Unknown Speaker 21:49
Don't ever give up.

Donavan LeDean 21:53
Next man or Dave

Speaker 12 21:55
passionate women who knew spiritual things, wrap me up in your arms and bathe me in oils, clean me quick, before I spoil, pour in, ring out, remake me whole. I needed this. I'd be remiss if I didn't embrace the legacy laid before me, if I threw away the crown and renounced the royalty passionate women who know spiritual things, pray for me, please, if you may, if you might, speak life into me with my arms spread wide and my head held high, I call out, save me. Passionate women who know spiritual things, I'm sorry they mistake your passion for anger. I'm sorry they criminalize your expression of anger, and I'm so so sorry. There's so freaking much to be so angry about, and you never receive the same tenderness as your crocodile crying counterparts. You women who are mother, father, sister and aunt, who carry the weight of every mistake made by the women before you, by the men who disappeared, by the boys who hurt you and by the other girls with the same heavy weight, sad eyes and loud burdens, passionate women who know spiritual things. I'm so sorry we ask so much of you. I'm so so sorry you give more than you receive, and I'm so very sorry you only get the scraps of the world to make do with, only to have it stolen. My women of passion and spirit, I love you and I will sing of your praises and give you your flowers while their scent is still fresh and I can still see the glimmer in your eyes, because at the very least, you deserve the world as you are what keeps it turning my women of passion. Thank you.

Speaker 13 23:46
Next man up, Helen Jerome, one at sea.

Speaker 14 23:54
Can I achieve hope all by myself when I'm far off, almost lost in causing waves in crossing waves almost lost when I'm far off hard by myself, can I achieve

Donavan LeDean 24:18
Hope? Here we go. Here we go. Next man up,

Acamea Deadwiler 24:23
coexisting in many realms of thought, a walk in prayer, meditation. I can't evade frequencies. I can't explain speak to me. And wisdom's name, I've been on that resonance before. They coined it, Schumann's Babylon. Can't control me. I broke out the show like I was Truman the human programmed analytics can't measure the spirit, thus they can't fully study us. At this point it's apparent. Know thyself, mental, physical and etheric lyrics, tap into your central node to the sun. Oh, you can feel it. Sit in the sun, download codes. I can hear them. There's a natural mystic flowing on Mother Nature's bio rhythm. Get on beat, connect with every single living organism, like ancestors before, these evil ways of the system walking the less traveled road. I and I have seen many visions, many nights, sitting still, yet still. I listen. Guidance enters the vessel with pure precision, a choice to make daily. Why do we wrestle right decisions? Tussling with the test illusions carrying us away from the way we already know what's best. Come back home, beloved, you no longer have to beat an eagle's chest. Perch inside like an eagle in its nest. Followers clip, dive into the next trend since the you always been taking heed to the riddles the elders were attesting. Now I'm years ahead with good investments. Just bump my head a little less than nonetheless, an imperfect perfection, a walk in prayer, avid meditator, realms of thought between each I'm a mediator, a metaphor of sorts, seeing obstacles as sport I must master slow and steady. Wins the race. I learned that in the beginning chapters of a book without middle or end, life goes on again and again. I write on and on with my mind as my ink and my soul as my pen.

Donavan LeDean 26:41
Next man up.

Speaker 5 26:43
This next one is called you. It's for anyone who's ever lost, anyone I feel a hole in the middle of my heart. You're gone, and we will now forever be apart. How am I supposed to feel right now? I'm still in tears. I'm wondering why and how, why did this have to happen to you? I want to go back in time. There has to be something I can do. You can't really be gone. You can't really be gone. My heart, my soul, my body, aches in the pain of the thoughts of never seeing you again. We weren't ready for you to leave us yet, but from now on, I'll remember you every time the sun sets, you can't really be gone. You can't really be gone. I'll remember you every time the sun

Donavan LeDean 27:31
sets, here we go. Here we go. Next man up.

Speaker 10 27:34
Where do we go now this is a forest wide out in the open air, with plenty place to hide and many more to seek. This is discovery. So many go alone, but will you go with me? I mean to journey on as many dare to do, is such a place to be, but better off with you and better off with us on the unwritten path. Let's make it worth the risk and all the aftermath you the

Donavan LeDean 28:04
afternoon, next man or Dave,

Speaker 15 28:07
in the absence of the sun, I dream of hope, but my eyes tell stories of a wounded heart. Throughout my trials and tribulations, I have sought a better way to understand myself, to wrap my mind around this life and make it mine. I am in search of serenity's gentle touch, but these karmic entanglements keep me chasing the darkness that lives within combat comes with the price tag, and I must give in to complete the mission. In the end, I win again, because nothing can hold me down. I am here with reason and purpose to encapsulate and translate the multi dimensional arrays of the human experience, the light will shine through me guide my way back home. Dave,

Donavan LeDean 29:07
thanks for tuning in to next man up. Poetry in motion. I am your host, Donna Billy Dean, to see my inspirational and poetry reels, you can go to YouTube at Donna Billy Dean, also you can find my poetry books, children's books and coloring books on Amazon under my name, Donovan leading for actor or poets. Bookings. You can contact me via email, DV media, one zero@gmail.com Special thanks to my guest, Billy Allen, for stopping by for insight on life as a librarian and the current social issues that impact our libraries. I would like to thank Stuart J Elsie for his generous donation making it possible for you our listeners to listen to more frequent radio programming I am Donovan Lee Dean, actor, author and inspirational, rhythmic poets until next time. Peace. Dave.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai