Luxury Awaits

Believe You Can Achieve Amazing Things!

Today I’m reminded that things happen exactly as they are supposed to. I’ve always heard the saying, “if you want to make God laugh, tell him your plan”. I’m sure he’s had plenty gutt busting laughs because of me and my to-do lists! So today, instead of focusing on what I don’t have, what I haven’t accomplished and the struggles and missed milestones that lie ahead (yes, I know there will be some) I want to celebrate the small victories even though I know the best is yet to come. Most of you know that I submitted a performance clip for season 2 of TVOne’s Verses & Flow. Verses & Flow, sponsored by Lexus, is a new television show spotlighting poetry and music. Remember HBO’s Def Poetry Jam? Well, it’s similar to that. If you haven’t watched the show check it out!

Anyway, a few hours before the deadline I managed to submit a shorter version of The Revolution Ain’t on Blu-Ray. (link to my You Tube vid- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biHjZ6yV6io) Why was it shorter you ask? Well, because that piece is originally 5 minutes long and the submissions had to be under 3 minutes. Geez, editing the poem was like deciding which of my vital organs I wanted to keep. I took out 2 minutes of the poem, recorded it with my Canon Cyber Shot and posted it to You Tube. I thought I was pretty fly too, but unfortunately as fly as I was, I didn’t make it on the show. 😦 Yeah bummer! But my submission was one of the top five so I get some kudos for that right?

Getting that submission done was a lot of work but what I really wanted to say is nothing is in vain when you believe in what you’re trying to accomplish. It’s not all about the win but the journey and what you gain or give along the way. And for me, who knows, there’s always Season 3 🙂 As a bonus for being in the top 5 submissions I was interviewed for the Luxury Awaits article copied below. My first official interview! Whoop whoop! The original article can also be found on http://luxuryawaits.com/lifestyle/submissions.aspx?nav=Scroll

I hope you’ll take a few minutes to read it! Your victory is my victory. My victory is your victory. Our victories give empowerment to the people!

Kimeko “Chick Under Construction” Farrar…. That really tickles me LOL

Verses & Flow Luxury Awaits

Verses & Flow Season 2 Submissions

One of the most exciting aspects of putting together the second season of LEXUS Presents Verses & Flow has been the submission process. Thousands of potential participants sent in their very best performance pieces to versesandflow.com before the May 15th deadline, with each poet displaying their own unique style and love of words.

There were a few artists that stood out among the many who submitted, like Adam “Rage Almighty” Tench, who called the submissions rules “very easy to follow, even though it was torture trying to make sure I sent in the right poem. I wanted to be sure to include a piece that showed how good I was with crowds.” And that he did. The two year poet, who claims that going to a spoken word event with his cousin saved his life, submitted his ode to early motherhood with the piece “The Science to Loving A Pregnant Woman,’ or, as it’s more often called, “The Stretchmarks Poem.”

Finding inner peace was more important than finding a piece to submit for Willette-Angelic “Angelique” Palmer. The Manassas, VA resident called the submissions page “easy to navigate,” but found that it took the better part of two days to convince herself that she was good enough to toss her words into the ring. She finally exhaled, sending in her most poignant prose, “Nostalgia Sticks to Skin,” which is a war cry to abusive fathers everywhere.

Kimeko “Chick Under Construction” Farrar hadn’t even heard about the show’s first season, instead becoming aware of it after Season One stalwart Georgia Me performed at a venue in her hometown of Huntsville, Alabama. “I got excited after hearing about it,” she remembers, adding that folks kept calling her to make sure she submitted. Farrar, who started writing and performing poetry soon after one of her mentors was shot and killed as part of a massive school shooting, shared what she calls her signature piece, “The Revolution Ain’t On Blu-Ray,” a universal piece about the need to read that has as much impact in a church as it does in a school.

Evrick “Tro’juan Soule” Henderson wasn’t sure what to submit after a friend told him about the show’s call for poets. “It was a challenge,” he recalls, saying that he wanted to send something folks could relate to, “nothing too heavy.” The Dallas native, who remembers the day he decided to take poetry seriously–Valentine’s Day 2009–and finds himself studying the parallels between rapper Nas and poet Langston Hughes, finally decided on the poem written in honor of his mother, “Letter to You.’

These are just a sample from the thousands that submitted for the second season. And while it wasn’t possible to welcome each and every one of them to the Season Two stage, their submissions are a bold reminder of just how vast and talented the spoken word community remains.
————————————
For more updates on Season Two of Verses & Flow, including all announcements and features, please stay tuned to luxuryawaits.com and versesandflow.com.