Next Man Up, Poetry in Motion

Announcer 0:00
This is a KUNV Studios original program. The

Donavan LeDean 0:05
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Here we go! Here we go! Move it! Move it! Move it!

Yeah. Beautiful. Next man up.

Dave. Let's go.

Hello, and welcome to the show. I am your host, Donna Villadine, actor, author, and inspirational rhythmic poet. You're now tuned in to Expand Up Poetry Motion Rhythm. 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, the Spitfire, Miss Elena Noel, a Las Vegas native who is an internationally ranked poet performing on stages across the nation. Her poems are used as both a battle cry and a bridge for tough conversations, weaving words and wounds together as means of healing and advocacy. Miss Elena Noelle, thank you for being here.

Alaina Noelle 1:30
Thank you, thank you. I'm super excited to be here. Yeah,

Donavan LeDean 1:34
me too.

Alaina Noelle 1:34
It's always crazy hearing someone read my bio, and then I'm like, oh yeah, I wrote that. Remember,

Donavan LeDean 1:41
it happens. So, what inspired you to pick up the pen and begin writing poetry?

Alaina Noelle 1:48
As soon as I learned how to read, I just fell in love with words, like the written word, spoken word, reading, just all of it. I remember my first grade teacher sent home this thing when we were learning how to read that said, "If you read to your bunny, your bunny will read to you. And my mom sent home a note a few weeks later, and it said, "But when will my bunny stop reading to me? Because I was just reading everything and consuming words any way that I can, and then later down the line, very very early in sixth grade, I took a poetry workshop. Like I signed up one day, I was like, "Oh, cool! I can get out of math class. I'll get out of third period to go to this poetry workshop. And in the first 10 minutes, was just enthralled. Like I found where I was supposed to be. I entered like a poetry reading competition with some of the other middle schools in Clark County, and I remember like it was yesterday sitting on my bed, not being able to write the poem, being so excited to do this thing and like read the poem, but being like, "Oh, what am I even gonna write this poem about? Like I just got too excited before I planned

Donavan LeDean 3:07
it,

Alaina Noelle 3:08
and I was watching Akela and the Bee, and all of a sudden, shout out to Kiki Palmer. Yeah, she was up there at the final spelling bee, and I was like, "I've got

Donavan LeDean 3:17
it!

Alaina Noelle 3:18
And I wrote this poem about my grandpa and read it at our library at school, and then it got chosen to be read at the West Charleston Library with a bunch of other kids. Yeah, and then from there, I just didn't stop.

Donavan LeDean 3:33
You were seasoned then. Yeah, you're performing nationwide. At times, you're competing with the stinking gecko slam team mantra. It gets sticky wherever their stanzas land.

Alaina Noelle 3:51
Yes,

Donavan LeDean 3:52
elaborate for us. How has your experience been like performing at these venues nationwide? It is

Alaina Noelle 4:00
surreal. It is. I think it's kind of just like reality shattering. It is one of the biggest things that shows me, like, oh, I'm actually doing this. It is an incredible opportunity. I'm so blessed that I have found a team that I can go travel with. I'm blessed that we have venues that want us to come out, and that in the past I've gone out with the Spotlight Slam team here and competed. I've gone and competed as an individual at across the nation in all of these competitions because of the community here that's pushed me, and the experience every time I'm going somewhere different or new, it just feels like I'm stepping into all of it for the first time again. It's such a beautiful experience seeing the different communities, the different poets, how the arts are running and. Looming and forming in different parts of the world, but we're all so connected by this want and desire to share our word and perform and really hype each other up and cheer each other on when we're up on the stage baring our souls.

Donavan LeDean 5:14
Most definitely, your common style is off the dome poetry, right? Inviting your audiences to your authentic and raw side. Do you feel more engaged or connected with the audience when doing these freestyle pieces? It is

Alaina Noelle 5:35
definitely different. I feel. I think the answer to that would be yes. I feel more seen when I'm doing that. Three words come to mind automatically when you ask if I that question, and they're acceptance, forgiveness, and awareness. I feel like when I'm doing an off the dome poem versus a poem that I've written and edited, and exercised and performed, it feels like I'm kind of unsheathing myself. So yeah, I do. I feel more connected. I feel like I am allowing the audience to see this part or side of me that is still actively healing, and they're helping me through that.

Donavan LeDean 6:21
Okay. And whenever you're performing poetry, what do you want the people to take away from your work?

Alaina Noelle 6:32
There is a line I have with one of my from a poem I have with one of my teammates, Monarch the Poet, and the specific line is, there is life after death. It in in fuller spectrum, it refers to sharing or not sharing, whether or not you've attempted to take your life with people, and that a reason to share it is to tell people that there is life after death. And I think when I'm up on stage performing, I want people to take away that you can keep going. There is somebody that sees you like it. You just it is okay to not be okay, and it sounds so cliche, and it's always easier to hear it and say it. But like it, you you will get there one day.

Donavan LeDean 7:22
There it is.

Alaina Noelle 7:22
Yeah.

Donavan LeDean 7:23
And before we go, I would like you to share a poem for us. Yes. All right. Yes. Ready. All right. I

Alaina Noelle 7:28
am ready.

Donavan LeDean 7:29
Queen, talk to

Alaina Noelle 7:32
him. My mother asks me to unload the dishwasher to let out its most recent meal of dirty dishes, and as I reach down to undo the clasp, the steam seeps out, and the dishwasher screams on its hinges, and it sounds like the dishwasher is asking its God why it's being ripped from its resting place, and I wonder when I'll become the kind of person that prays for guidance instead of swearing to God, and I wonder if I'll ever believe in the God that I swear to, or if maybe I should start swearing to something like soap, and maybe the dishwasher isn't creaking from years of work, but it's crying, and it isn't steam from the heat of the wash, but from the pressure, and the tears still wash dishes the same, don't they? And I wonder if the spoons feel the same way, or if anyone ever thought to ask them how they felt, and I think about them stuck in the dishwasher with their soft edge, and they're surrounded by so much of the opposite-forks and knives and knives and forks-and I wonder which one I'm more alike, and I wonder if my edges will ever be spoon soft. And I have to pull a plate out of the way from the bottom rack before I can pull it out, and it makes me think about all the room I made for things that didn't fit, and how I tried to fit in rooms that I wasn't meant to be in, and I wonder if the dishes have noticed a difference in the brands of soap over the years, and if they miss the old brands over the new ones, and then I start to wonder if they're even capable of wondering where something like that went, and then I think about all the times that I tried to leave, and I think that I might be more like a plate, and when I think about how I thought I was going to leave, but I was just too afraid because I didn't think I really fit here. So when my mother asks me to unload the dishwasher, I do it quietly, and I ask the dishwasher if it can introduce me to the God it believes in as I start to unpack it.

Donavan LeDean 9:19
Boy, you got me a deep thought. You heard it right here, the Spitfire, Miss Elena Noelle Queen. Thank you for your time.

Alaina Noelle 9:29
Thank you. The

Donavan LeDean 9:30
poets that'll be featured on our playlist today are Malika Bella, Jess Flo, Rachel Davera Winninger, Walter English, Sheldon Alex Sebastian, Yaya, Stephon Pedway, Chelsea Marais, and Donovan Lee D. 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. This

is food for the people. A new day, a new way. Give me harmony. Give me melody. Solution is R and B. Give me love. Give me a touch. Don't let the hype rise above, causing too much. What we got can evolve to what it can be. Let it be authentic, beyond what you can see. The effort is timeless. Society is ruthless. Giving relief the pain. Together we can do this. Together we can build. Together we can fulfill. Use your voice to add a choice, a new day, a new way. Give me love. Give me a touch. Don't let the hype rise above causing too much. What we got can evolve to what it can be. Let it be authentic, beyond what you can see. The effort is timeless. Society is ruthless. Giving relieves the pain. Together we can do this. Together we can build. Together we can fulfill. Use your voice to add a choice, a new day, a new way.

Sheldon Alex Sebastian 12:16
Turn your face from faking to the one who gives his grace. Slow your pace from racing, pump the brakes, and show some faith. Rid your load of baggage. It's not easy making space, but that love is possibility and worthy of the chase. And worthy of the chase.

Donavan LeDean 12:41
Next man up.

Liz Prince 12:43
This last one I want to read is called Naked. I feel this one in my heart as I read it. Do I deserve to be loved? Sometimes I feel my heart drop. It goes so low I feel empty. My chest feels light. My body feels heavy. My soul feels alone-not needed, not wanted, not loved, just alone. I've got love to give, yet there's no one to receive. Instead, I lay here naked with my heart on my sleeve. I've got love to give, yet there's no one to receive. I lay here naked with my heart on my sleeve. Thank you so much.

Donavan LeDean 13:31
Next man up,

Gwen. Talk to him.

Rachel De Vera 13:36
I am a Filipina, brown sugar skin, almond-eyed sight, voice deep, resilient, and full of fight. I am a Filipina. Vocals like Whitney and Aretha singing knees to the ground as I hum heavenly sounds. I am a Filipina. I eat with my hands. Dried rice on my shirt don't matter 'cause when I flirt, I am a Filipina. Wrote two Pcns twirling candles around my palms, dancing to nickling while keeping calm. I am a Filipina. Got a sister that's a nurse. She survived COVID-19 at its worst. I am a Filipina watching corrupt legal crimes. My bloodline dancing on picket lines. I am a Filipina. Ruby Ibarra raps in serenades, inspiring an era of rebelling renegades. I am a Vegas Filipina, DJ E Rock, Beastang, and P Dot, rocking these streets. Their sets never flop. A Vegas Filipina, follow the lights to California Hotel. If you know, you know that oxtail real well. A Vegas Filipina, making something out of nothing, making space for all human race to come together, fly birds of a feather. Humanity in our voices and our choices are clever. I am a Filipina American immigrant. No hate, spreading poetically penny words. That's my fate. I am a Filipina. What are you?

Donavan LeDean 15:12
Next man up, Dave.

Yahya 15:13
This poem. I don't do a lot of soliloquies, but it's just kind of what poetry is to me, right? And how I think it affects people.

Donavan LeDean 15:22
Okay. talk to him.

Yahya 15:25
Poetry is more abstract than modern. See, we got more guys than goblins, more Batmans and Robinsons like this field of dreams, and nobody's picking cottons. Why ancestors are revered instead of forgotten. See, poetry is an avenue in which you can travel through to bring clarity. That's why I loosely give you this air to breathe, and fruits that bear seeds, and seeds that bear keys, and keys that bear deeds to open the door, help you see the things you want to see, and help you see be the place where you want to be, be a right or wrong, back to fantasy through this creative soul, poetry is. See, poetry is writing to recite with the insight of Morpheus, becoming this poetry contortionist with poems screaming from every orifice while I'm speaking. My spoken word becomes the beacon to elevate those in the streets who need reaching. Mass communication, eat syllable, eat silo, please be teaching. See speech not spoken, just to be speaking. See what cut wrists I do this. I'm the Islamic activist with the Quran in my right hand and prayer beats clenched in left foots with God body clearance, acknowledging He who has injured in this. See my kufi state intact to deflect negative interference. See our situation is getting coarse. See, cast floss will maintain a divine mind loss, but there's a recourse, of course, in the cost of innocent corpse. So I seek out the source and go to battle with Eric's words until my pen locks in with the floss, and then I, I turn them to the dark side. See, I lock them down for that Nourse authorize. Then I slay just one of them so they can experience the root of genocide. But until then, my tongue will write on the kinetic wave of my ancestry. 'Cause at this griot speaks out, and it's native tongue of poetry. 'Cause see, poetry is my life and poetry is my death. But sometimes it looks like poetry is all that I have left. That's what poetry is to me.

Donavan LeDean 17:17
Next man up, Echoes Under the Pan. I've crossed bridges slow, low in the rainstorms of age. Age is left gasping, rasping with bitter thoughts gone. One can persist the past, pass it by with no thought. You should do this now, now when the puddles splash, the playful love your childhood over your head and shy. Why thunder leaves you fade? Aid your hands warm and soft, oft you should smell the dew. Dew dawns rising love. Explore the tunnel, Nourse fear and worry. We will make courage found, found at the long travail. Vale knocked the light away. Way went with timbre to see your escape caped in shadows.

Next man up presents Shymorel Quaid Tal Tour. Here we go. Here we go. Next man up.

Cheyenne 18:39
Hello everyone. My name is Shayan Charla. My friends and family calls me Shai. Thank you for having me today. I'm going to read my poetry. This one is called My Mir. Mira Mira on the law. Why did I hate you before? I was so tired of seeing the reflection of what I felt myself insecure, Mira. How can one ever love you when you don't love themselves? I couldn't. I had to face myself. I had to face you, Mira. You are broken from being put. I no longer see myself, but yet I still see you. Empty black space, pathetic. You, I believe, to dance and to walk, but to meet you again, me. But in love of you, I love myself. I want you, my mirror, to drop colors onto my skin like melted crayons. I want you, my mirror, to caress down your words, my poetry, hold the words that create you to hold you up and to be strong, my near, and to look at myself and know I'm strong and that I'm an art and that I want to love myself, my near. My artist name is Shai Mo. You can find me on Instagram. H Y M O R R.

Donavan LeDean 20:04
Next man up, Dave.

Speaker 1 20:07
What we become? I was born of the womb of a black queen, ingesting her memories during the ending of spring. Coming up in the summertime, and the living wasn't easy. Surrounded by other black women, unable to heal from the scars, so they created their own harmonious, dysfunctional families. Good food, reruns, toys, street lights, flipping on the broken mattress. Be home when them lights come on, or nobody will find you, you black bastard. Laughter upon laughter, spades and dominoes, Little Caesars, TGI Fridays-not the restaurant, but ABC, where we'd watch Family Matters because family mattered, and so does your heart. But when the rumors start to fly, all you can do is distance yourself with the drive, plan the Great Migration to the south while the wind blows. Four kids in a minivan with a broken window and secrets nobody will ever even know. Raise a boy to be a man because he wasn't cut from the cloth of a thug. Just a few alcoholics that traded some pills for some love. Education was the vacation from potential incarceration, lacking self-esteem, so white folks became the black man's salvation because white was right, but colored, colored had to have value and be strong. And can't we all just get along? Was the tune that the young man would put on. But since we only tolerate, the heart can never initiate for getting shut down. So he had to emancipate. He had to put a pin in it. The boy had to become a man. He had to go out and he had to tour. He had to soar the worlds and reach new heights in the sky. He was listening to everyone but himself, stressing over, disappointing others, risking his health over white slaves on printed paper chopped from trees that his ancestors and the natives planted themselves, unable to make a connection and looking for direction, stopping every stranger because he couldn't accept this this moment, this history, this pride, this ego, this trauma, this black woman's pain, this broken expectations-what he became is a show of himself. What he became was a cripple. But what we become, if we don't unite and take care of one another, that's just evil.

Donavan LeDean 22:39
Here we go. Here we go. Next man up.

Sheldon Alex Sebastian 22:42
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 in all the aftermath.

Donavan LeDean 23:11
Next man up, Boss English. Before we let you go, I would like for you to share a poem for us.

Walter English 23:20
So this is a pantone called "Thoughts from a Black Boy in America. Ready? Yes, sir. Yes, sir.

Donavan LeDean 23:32
Boss English. K. Talto.

Walter English 23:38
I am the one in front of the gun, I am terrified. I know I won't live forever. I haven't even reached my prime. I am terrified, like a rookie at the free throw line. I haven't reached my prime yet. My life is riding on this shot, like a rookie at the free throw line. My heart is racing, yet my life is riding on this shot. My hands are up, my heart is racing. I try to seem less like a threat. My hands are up. I'm doing everything you said. I try to seem less like a threat. Mama, look, I'm doing everything you said. Why does this hurt, Mama? Look, I'm the one in front of the gun. Why does this hurt? I know I won't live forever. I am the one in front of the gun. I am terrified. I know I won't live forever, haven't even reached my point.

Donavan LeDean 24:43
Here we go. Here we go. Next man up.

Melikabella 24:45
So, for context, this poem was written for the Afro salsa diva. It's all about Afro salsa and Cuban fusion. It's entitled Roots.

Donavan LeDean 24:55
Milena. Tall tour. The

Melikabella 24:58
way the water flows. We already know Los Nourishas have our backs from any spiritual attacks. There is strength within, grace and beauty. The wind were powered by this forest beyond our control, lifted up by the divine as we hear the thunder roar. Warriors shining brightly, feeling free, our truth all along is found amidst the trees. We must remember the balance we achieve by being who our ancestors fought for us to be. So why don't you come and dance with me?

Donavan LeDean 25:37
Powerful, Miss Malika Bella, Queen. Thank you for your time.

Melikabella 25:42
Thank you.

Donavan LeDean 25:43
Next man

up. Before you go, I would like for you to share a poem for us. Oh yeah, ready?

The Unknown Odist 25:48
I'm ready.

Donavan LeDean 25:49
All right. King,

talk to him.

The Unknown Odist 25:57
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 toss light in dark spaces and spark stages with truth, 'cause life ain't a sprint.

Donavan LeDean 26:38
Before we go, I would like to conclude with a power message, it's a message about unity. As mankind, we are all connected, yet we tend to veer into paths that don't align with the program that's required for us to maintain, which is unity. Many seem to put value onto material things that gives the facade of prosperity. Yet true prosperity lies in faith, moral dignity, maintaining an open heart, and lending a helping hand. With this in mind, it will all work out. Thanks for tuning in to Next Man Up: Poetry in Motion. I am your host, Donna Van Lee Dean. To see my inspirational and poetry reels, you can go to YouTube at Donovan Led. Also, you can find my poetry books, children's books, and coloring books on Amazon under my name, Donovan LeDean. For actor or poets bookings, you can contact me dvmedia one zero@gmail.com. Special thanks to my guest, Miss Elena Noelle for stopping by discussing advocacy, poetry, and mental health. I am Donna Villadine, actor, author, and inspirational rhythmic poet. Until next time, peace. Cia.

Drive. Drive.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai