Next Man Up, Poetry in Motion

Announcer 0:00
This is a K-Unb Studios original program. The

Wesley Knight 0:05
content of this program does not reflect the views or opinions of 91.5 Jazz and Moore, the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, or the Board of Regents of the Nevada System of Higher Education.

Donavan LeDean 0:15
Here we go, here we go, move it, move it, move it,

Wesley Knight 0:20
you. Yeah,

Donavan LeDean 0:41
hello world, and welcome to the show. I am your host, Donna Billy Dean, actor, author, and inspirational rhythmic poet. You now tuned in to the 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 in the building, Miss Rachel Davera Wettinger, who is a Filipina American scholar poet from San Jose, California, now residing in Las Vegas, Nevada, who has put a stamp in the Vegas Valley in poetry, becoming an award-winning and congressionally recognized poet, Miss Rachel Queen. Thank you for being here.

Rachel De Vera 1:24
Yeah, thank you so much for having me. It's an honor.

Donavan LeDean 1:27
So, recently you've had a wedding, now married. Just want to say, congratulations.

Rachel De Vera 1:35
Thank you.

Donavan LeDean 1:36
How is first off, how was the trip? How has just the newlywed experience been like for you?

Rachel De Vera 1:44
Just to disclose, my partner and I have both been divorced, so I think getting a chance to redo the wedding exactly the way we want to in Paradise on Oahu was a dream come true, and really showing us how much we have grown as people, so phenomenal in all ways.

Donavan LeDean 2:01
Speaking of divorce, you've spoken about it from the last episode as a divorce survivor and now a newlywed. What are some of the things that you have observed and learned about yourself within your relationship at this next phase of your life?

Rachel De Vera 2:19
I'm a recovering people pleaser. My last relationship, I did everything for that person, but now, since I'm really focusing on myself and investing my time in myself, naturally beautiful relationships and growth are happening to me. And one thing I want to say is, for people who might be going through something similar or stay in relationships for far too long, it's important to forgive yourself and don't, don't get mad at yourself. Really, accept that you went through something that was very difficult, but it helped you become who you are today.

Donavan LeDean 2:54
Great message. Your writing style highlights your identity as a granddaughter of immigrants, a divorce survivor, and a woman of color, you've been, you've also have been polishing your craft, attending writing and poetry work workshops. At this point in your writing and poetry journey, explain how you may have evolved as a poet, as a writer, and the things you may have discovered about yourself when writing.

Rachel De Vera 3:26
Yeah, I think most importantly, I've discovered I need to write daily. I've created different systems to make journals or online documents easier for me to write. I've discovered I write poetry throughout the day, like, I could look at that light and think, man, it's like a spotlight, and it reminds me of high school when I was in musical theater, and I feel like a star, and I'm like, oh my gosh, that's a bar, let me write it down in something close by. So I think being able to integrate my daily life into my writing practice, and vice versa, has helped me evolve a lot. Since you've seen me, I've taken an Asian American studies class, and that really helped me understand the world that I move in and the different structures that exist that might affect how it can flow or block me from getting to where I want to be. So, I think that's also important, is learning the history and the structures and things that exist, so you can really fully express your voice and understand where you're coming from

Donavan LeDean 4:21
as a poet, as a writer, it's has it encouraged you to be more aware and observant of your surroundings, or maybe situations, and things of that nature.

Rachel De Vera 4:31
Yeah, definitely being more observant, being more critical about things, questioning why things are the way they are. I think has been a really big factor of that, and understanding the migration patterns that my family came through here much deeper. Right, my family originally came from the Philippines, and we worked in the sugarcane fields in Hawaii, and then we ended up in California, and then I ended up here. So that's a whole story in itself that I've been in my writing. I have a manuscript for breaking down pain. Page by page, my story and my identity

Donavan LeDean 5:02
phenomenal. You have a big event coming up at downtown Las Vegas for our listeners. Please talk about what it entails, what it's all about, when and where it's going to be located.

Rachel De Vera 5:15
Yes, the Holo Holo Market is an AAPI focused market with vendors that predominantly have some relation to being Asian American or Pacific Islander. They have it at least once or twice a month. You can follow them on Instagram at the Holo Holo Market, and our poetry show specifically features once a month, and it's a 30 minute set with youth poets, local poets, which is really awesome. I've been curating the different lineups and hearing some beautiful poetry, and sharing that with the community. Our show is going to be from 11 to 1130 Saturday, and it's going to be at Ferguson's Downtown on the Market Stage.

Donavan LeDean 5:53
It's gonna be a great experience, most definitely. And where can they find more about you and what you may have going on?

Rachel De Vera 6:00
Yeah, the best place to reach me is at Poetically Pinai P I N A Y on Instagram. I also have a Sub Stack and a Tik Tok

Donavan LeDean 6:08
Solid. And before we go, me and Rachel is going to do a poetry read duo. Rachel, you start first. You ready?

Rachel De Vera 6:17
You sure am.

Donavan LeDean 6:18
All right, Queen. Tell it to him.

Rachel De Vera 6:20
Just to let you all know, I decided to share a very personal piece that was an excerpt from my vows that I took two weeks ago. When we met, loved seemed like a stranger that I never wanted to know. I thought I had found my connection in my early 20s, but it burned and dissolved into ash. I never wanted to love again, but because of you, I know true love exists. It is all the things like patient and kind, but for us it is more. I now know love is putting up with my mess, not just the physical, but the mind mess of being a Filipina woman of color that wants to know and doesn't shy from the truth, make a positive impact in the world, and be educated. You don't put up with me, you heal me in every way you can. You show up for me, you check on me when I go off the deep end and are the soft leader that I listen to most of the time. Love is showing up for me every single time in all types of spaces, academic spaces, sporting spaces, spoken word nights, where you stick out like a sore thumb, but your eyes on me, making sure I feel beautiful and confident before I perform my life's work. Sometimes I turn into a fire and burn people around me that I love, and I injure myself. You are the ocean waves that salt me. We are steam at first, but after you command me, I cool and finally melt till we float.

Donavan LeDean 8:08
You know how to ease messages just fluidly, you know, very tranquil distributing your message powerful. So this poem is a reflection, mainly is all about taking leadership choices and using your voice, no matter the pushback. Don't your voice is too loud. Traveling far beyond proximities, a frequency shifting currents through sparkling seas, then miles apart, causing lions to roar in the Serengeti. Don't your voice is too loud. It generates energy throughout the celestial, propelling stars to shoot at light speed. It's incredible, this illuminating spectacle. Don't your voice is too loud, giving cheer to mankind, yet raucous to goblins with contemptuous minds beneath the gloomy ruins, they plot to pulverize your spirit out of spite. Yet faith is your sword to fight with full might. So you yell, you shout, and project into oblivion as the goblins appear out of the shadows to bring you to an end, and as they charge frantically, another voice shouts and intercepts, forcing the goblins to retreat. As the alliance slowly crept, victory was won, as the alliance cheered with glee. Oh, how these voices came as one. Humanity now free. The reason B is your voice is too loud. Paul,

Rachel De Vera 9:49
let's go.

Donavan LeDean 9:50
All right. Phenomenal, phenomenal duo, powerful Miss Rachel Davera Wenning, girl going. Dang,

Rachel De Vera 10:00
yes.

Donavan LeDean 10:01
Thank you for your time. The poets that will be featured on our playlist today are Asheena Burke, Luna, Rachel Davera Wenninger, the unknown oldest Sheldon Alex Sebastian, Liz Prince, Stephon Petway, Chelsea Marae, and Donovan Li Ding. Now let's get on with the show. This is next man up, poetry in motion. Here we go, here we go. Next man up.

Speaker 1 10:25
In my area, there are no role models, only commentators and great debaters. It's domesticated, followed by tension, followed by murder. It's complicated. Dear Lord, help me maintain my sanity as I witness the insurgency amongst humanity, as I witness across the seas, the shelling on top of civilians. Death toll from war crimes may soon be in the millions. Power nations avoid peace treaties as one nation threatens another with sanctions, the other nation threatens to retaliate with nukes. It's a power trip. I don't get it. Heavy understand the crews come back and inflict pain on another man when humanity is made to exist on the same plan. The plan to be righteous, to be happy, to coexist in harmony. Instead, we'll conquer territory and kill over money, forcing locals to flee as refugees. Man will open the overlook the bigger picture. How men can overlook the warning signs as waters rise

Sheldon Alex Sebastian 11:36
from the

Speaker 1 11:37
earth, burning up. Perpetrators never let out that another body fall from a boop and system, another body fall from conflict of big nations attempting to conquer small nations, claiming a small nation as a runaway nation with all they want is to gain independence, but on the journey determined the soul is booty who is willing to gain through someone's pain to gain when in reality is a loss. For that, I see. Break the routines of greed. Dear Lord, invest the power in me to crack down on poverty to save someone from suffering like me from past days of buying a breakfast sandwich, which was my meal for the entire day, eating the top bread for breakfast, the meat and cheese, for lunch the bottom bread, for dinner. Toward that, I see society needs another role model to contribute to the well-being of the people. I'll be that role model. Allow me to be me. Come join me, come join me. That's right, come join me. You're not alone. Peace and love.

Donavan LeDean 12:42
Next man up.

Speaker 2 12:43
Black love, 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 burn 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 imprints 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 me. That's my kind of love, black love. A black love

Donavan LeDean 15:46
next man up, Dave.

Sheldon Alex Sebastian 15:48
Where do we go now? This is a forest wide out in the open air with plenty places 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 in all the aftermath.

Donavan LeDean 16:18
Next man up,

Speaker 3 16:20
Helen Jone won, I at sea. Can I achieve hope all by myself when I'm far off, almost lost in coursing waves, in causing waves almost lost when I'm far off all by myself? Can I achieve

Donavan LeDean 16:50
my people? I present to you the lovely, sensational poet Chelsea Marae Queen Tao Tour. Here we go, here we go. Next man up.

Chelsea Maraee 17:03
We were born where sirens sang lullabies, where cracked sidewalks raised us like tired elders, and bullets whispered prayers in the night. The corner store became our church. Neon lights glowing like stained glass, while mamas bent their backs like sacred psalms, just to keep the lights on. We learned early that survival was an art form. The unwritten code: don't run when the blue lights flash, keep your hands where the world can see, and learn how to laugh in silence. That way, joy doesn't sound too much like a threat. The rules black folks memorize, y'all know ladies to walk home alive, keys between fingers, smile soft voice steady, and keep our rage swallowed. I carry the hood in my chest. I've seen eviction notices taped to doors like warning labels on our futures. I've seen brothers disappear into cells before their voices even finished cracking, and our mother's prayers was the only bruise that didn't leap when the world rained down on us. Every day was survival math. How many blocks can I walk without colors play me? How many times can I smile polite enough to prove that I am a threat? I learned to keep my eyes wide open, because danger doesn't knock, it kicks the door in. I came up where the street lights preach curfews, where police cruisers stalked like hungry wolves. I am every black child the hood tried to swallow, every miracle the concrete could not crush. So, when you see me, know this truth. I am proof that beauty could bleed through asphalt, and that divinity survives even in the shadows, and that we, black, unbroken, unforgotten, are roses made by the sacred struggle. Our roots are stubborn and holy, drink from the ache of our ancestors, who bent but did not break, see God plants us in soil the world discards. See God plants us in soil, the world discards. Yet still we prosper. Dreams painted on brick walls, spirit as strong as gospel thunder. We are not defined by the cracks, we are the light pushing through them. So, when you see me, know this: I am proof that you can bloom in the hardest of places, and that beauty belongs even in the broken, and that every black child from the hood is a miracle the world wasn't ready for.

Donavan LeDean 19:39
Next man up,

Rachel De Vera 19:41
Gossamer. She was trapped, her wing caught on his sticky paper, wriggling to be free, only to go deeper and stuck. Her whole body to be free, she had to rip one of her wings off, a couple legs gone, limping towards breath, scathed and about to die. Her flowers hugged her when she arrived. The bees brought her honey to eat. With each day, the pain started to dissipate. She grew her legs back, and her wing even stronger and more colorful, with the help of her friends and those that believe she healed into the best version of herself.

Donavan LeDean 21:00
Next man up there,

Speaker 4 21:02
Black Man's Jungle, walking down the boulevard of broken dreams, like a young Kanye truth bursting at the seams, thinking of the flower I picked, and the history of the history that lives inside of the history of the roots of a god's mystery, hearing sounds of the birds with broken wings attempting to fly further south at a distance instead of flying inside of the global warming machine trapped in a beautiful dark twisted fantasy wondering why I wasn't a college dropout because I was late registering for a part time job that I didn't even hope would pan out, tires on the asphalt, people arguing about nothing, because he refused to take his mask off. Afraid, afraid, he was so darn afraid that they didn't see inside his soul, though that soul glows like Bruce Lee boy. He was a D boy with new toys, and he wasn't even trying to be that coy. Paintings on the walls of the Spanish stores, looking down on the poor has become the second middle class's chore stuck in the cycle, hoping to change the chain, but the factory manufacturer says it's out of stock as the man obsesses over his broken locks, hoping to get his next fix, his next fifth, or is gonna snatch a chain. These days, in a jungle of predators. These predators will predicate turning the regulars irregular while trying to meditate over the span of a life, which boils down to the heartbeat, which is initiated by the mind to keep the heart beating. Sounds on top of sounds, seconds on top of seconds, analyzing this world, this black man's jungle. Gotta survive, gotta keep going, gotta keep pushing, and gotta keep moving. Maybe one day I'll make some more money, some more chatter, maybe I'll just survive in this black man's jungle.

Donavan LeDean 22:57
Next man up, before you go, I would like for you to share Paul for us. Oh, yeah. Ready. I'm

The Unknown Odist 23:02
ready.

Donavan LeDean 23:02
All right. King, talk to him.

The Unknown Odist 23:11
Life don't come with a manual, just scandals and sandals on paths that burn like candles. We gamble with fate like Vegas nights, fight our reflections like shadows with rights, ingest wisdom from old heads that never chewed slow. I grew, though, through potholes and plot holes, and folks that got goals, but stopped cold when dreams felt like frostbite. I tossed light in dark spaces and sparked stages with truth, cause life ain't a sprint, it's a loop, a fruit that ripens with bruises, a fuse lit by losses that win if you use it, and it's life, and it's life.

Donavan LeDean 23:49
Here we go, here we go. Next man up.

Speaker 5 23:52
I call this love boat. What if I bore you the essence of my soul? What if I laid bare the steps that make me whole? What if I told you this piece was already inscribed? But scattered signs and silence left love to cry. The void so deep, even poets came to love. If I presented you with tear-stained sheets and flex your dreams, puzzles of my spirit with ripped seams, would you find the time to reconstruct the parts I blocked or abandoned them despite the cost, I know my spirit speaks in cryptic tones. My love can't thrive in simplicity when it is carved in stones. I am a being who finds solace in complexity, structuring stanzas of conflict with this mic next to me, where rhyme rhythms and vulnerabilities dance, while emotions echo in a timeless trance, and light reflects these letters written in the sand. This pen of mine is more than mere ink. It is the conductor of sacred spells, healing wounds in translation, bridging gaps of understanding and revitalizing the clock stopped in conversation. But what if I surrender to the beacon of suppression, muzzled by deposed expression? What if I gave up so much of my power? That it made my pen with what if I allowed your diminished lexicon to reap through each layer of these songs I speak, and if your shallowness triumphs the core of my expression, I would feel my essence for Aidans will write as depression as these sacred symbols sank like the petals of a robe. Heartbreaks tide will slowly consume the greatest love story ever known. See, I am a love poet. My deepest verses stem from the shackles of love find scoped in soliloquies, only for them to be restrained by the ghosts that idle in my subconscious mind. I write from flames that burn without a spark, lighting passions and crowds culminated by fears in the dark from fires that rage with no kindling to ignite forging verses from the voices of angels of the night, this double edge cleaves the flames to watch creativity burn, but oh, how easily a broken heart can make this trajectory turn. If the lights of this stage were bright enough to expose my scars, would you still applaud my pain and cower at the weight of my wars? If I revealed the true torment of this money, would you marvel at my imagery as crowds adore, providing ovation to my symmetry, blind to demons at my core? Would you still find my verses as relentless as before? And with the reality that this love is fueled by fear. Silence your praises forever. I bear weight of my soul in this pit. We're feeling the raw truth of a love poet. Send love. My ace is no title. It's an old that only the deepest of pain can inspire. The

Donavan LeDean 26:44
next man up,

Sheldon Alex Sebastian 26:45
the parachute release. I returned to the land below with something new to give, but nothing new to see. It feels swell to return sturdy land in two feet, but it doesn't feel fine. What is wrong with me? I guess I'd rather spend time up high with the clouds in the sky than among the rest of us. Where I'm from, which I came, where I went, where I've been. How it feels like better off. Is it wrong? If it is, prepare the ship. I'm going back. I'm going back.

Donavan LeDean 27:20
Before we go, I would like to conclude with a power message. It's a message about leadership. It can get lonely doing what is right. People show true identity when you make leadership choices. Never doubt yourself when doing so from isolation. You may call someone out for not following the rules, or something that goes against moral principle. It may lead you to becoming isolated because you decided to do what was right for you or for others, or lead to harmful threats because perpetrators may attempt to do whatever to cover the truth, just know this: the choices and decisions you make in life right now will determine your fate tomorrow. Always be on the winning end by doing the right thing, and within time you will see that it will all work out. Thanks for tuning in to Expand Up Poetry in Motion, I am your host, Donovan Le Deen. To see my inspiration and poetry reels, you can go to YouTube at Donovan Le Deen. Also, you can find my poetry books, children's books, and coloring books on Amazon under my name, Donovan Lee Dean. For actor or poets bookings, you can contact me, DV media one zero@gmail.com Special thanks to my guest, Miss Rachel Davera Weddinger, for stopping by discussing her poetry and writing journey and mental health. I am Donovan Lee Dean, actor, author, and inspirational rhythmic poet. Until next time, peace,

Sheldon Alex Sebastian 29:00
jail. Drive

Donavan LeDean 29:16
Thrive, I

Transcribed by https://otter.ai