safia rhymes with mafia


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47 notes

before our Trane trekked all those Miles, all those Monks,
wasn’t it always just us two?
before the women who loved you mortal,
who knew not of the blue shades of your breath
knew nothing of the maps at the tips of your fingers
knew nothing of our love.
how was I to have known that
out of me you would coax the greatest love song
titled in the name of another
and never mine?

and who else could have known that
the birthplace of your breath was not your lungs
but the hollowest parts of my belly?

Questions for John Coltrane, from his saxophone. Safia Elhillo (via tooroughfingersoftheworld)

:)

(Source: oddballsdontbounce, via tooroughfingersoftheworld)

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Binge Channel: Speak Up Contest: Spoken Word/Motivational

shaneromero:

The Poem Prayer For Her is by Brooklyn Poet Shane Romero. The poem is about a girl from Khartoum, Sudan and his amazement at her history and journey. T …

Dear World,
Because of everyone’s support my poem “Prayer For Her” is doing amazing in the SpeakUp contest hosted by BingeNow.com & Talib Kweli. Because of that everyone who SHARES & VOTES for my poem will get to download my album “Collecting Poems” FOR FREE in 24hrs. Thank you for the continued support I am so grateful.

“The Poem Prayer For Her is by Brooklyn Poet Shane Romero. The poem is about a girl from Khartoum, Sudan and his amazement at her history and journey. The poem explains how before her, he knew nothing of her culture. It displays detailed imagery about her journey from Sudan to New York and how all he now knows and still doesn’t know is what has made her so beautiful.”

so, let’s answer the million-dollar question first: yes, the poem is about yours truly ahaha. but the actual important thing here is that Shane is my thugged-out neighbor and a great friend, and no one is ever tryna care about us little Sudani girls so I think this poem was a really gorgeous gesture. what I also think is that you should vote for him, and we’ll get three-for-a-dollar ice pops at our bodega and toast your kindness

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Metropolitan Room’s Feature Finder is an open mic series where, at the end of the night, the audience will vote for their favorite open mic performer of the evening, who will then get to do a feature-length set at the next week’s open mic! $5, aka the cheapest thing to do in New York City on a Thursday night, and a bar serving whatever your pretty little heart desires. Doors and open mic list open at 6:30! Metropolitan Room is an internationally acclaimed jazz cabaret, and has recently introduced poetry to the range of performance arts it showcases. To join our mailing list for information on upcoming poetry events, send an email to safia@metropolitanroom.com RSVP on Facebook, where all real love is validated: http://www.facebook.com/events/521487394582635/ Metropolitan Room 34 W 22nd St between 5th & 6th aves New York, NY

Metropolitan Room’s Feature Finder is an open mic series where, at the end of the night, the audience will vote for their favorite open mic performer of the evening, who will then get to do a feature-length set at the next week’s open mic!

$5, aka the cheapest thing to do in New York City on a Thursday night, and a bar serving whatever your pretty little heart desires.

Doors and open mic list open at 6:30!
Metropolitan Room is an internationally acclaimed jazz cabaret, and has recently introduced poetry to the range of performance arts it showcases. To join our mailing list for information on upcoming poetry events, send an email to safia@metropolitanroom.com

RSVP on Facebook, where all real love is validated: http://www.facebook.com/events/521487394582635/

Metropolitan Room
34 W 22nd St between 5th & 6th aves
New York, NY

441 notes

did our mothers invent loneliness or did it make them our mothers? were we fathered by silence or just looking to explain away this gaping quiet? is it wasteful or wistful to pray for our brothers in a language they never learned? whose daughters are we if we grow old before our mothers, or for their sake? they called our grandfathers the january children, lined up by the colonizer and assigned birth years by height. there is no answer because we come from men who do not know when they were born, because they married women shown to them in photographs, because their children left the country and tried for romance and had daughters full of all the wrong language.
Safia Elhillo, poet (via llapen)

:)

(via dancinghathor)

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stealing all the photos that i can from tonight because it was the most gorgeous and i still haven’t processed that it happened

stealing all the photos that i can from tonight because it was the most gorgeous and i still haven’t processed that it happened

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“To Whom This May Concern” by Camonghne Felix at the first Poetry Lives show at Metropolitan Room

(email safia@metropolitanroom.com to join the email list and stay updated on awesome events like this one!)

Filed under camonghne felix

5 notes

“Hypnophobia” by Aziza Barnes at the first Poetry Lives show at Metropolitan Room

(email safia@metropolitanroom.com to join the email list and stay updated on awesome events like this one!)

Filed under aziza barnes