Knickstape

Tags

basketball, brotherhood, memory lane, school 12, the knicks, the war on drugs

We used to watch The Knicks

at School 12 with Yak.

When you run The Knickstape back,

We all came together for The Knicks.

At the height of The War on Drugs,

When crack vials confettied the park,

We all witnessed “The Dunk” by Starks.

The same year that Pat’ came through with “The Putback,”

Biden authored The Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act

To enact mandatory minimums

And authorize the death penalty for drugs.

As I playback cinematic moments from throughout the years,

My brother got handed a Gerald Wilkins jersey,

And some brothers got hit wit’ Kiki Vandeweghe numbers.

Roll The Knickstape for all the brothers who are no longer here.

Peace to Anthony Mason

And the brothers who remained

Standing on the square with the benevolence of a Patrick Ewing jersey.

These days,

I walk the streets with sharp symbolisms and motifs,

Yet, I find myself swimming in a sea of emotions

Amid championship cheers…

Thinking about how we were forced to stand tall

In view of the dusk of orange and blue skies

While bearing the burden of New Era 59Fifty crowns

That haloed the holy absence

Through compounds of Kenny “Sky” Walker’s number.

-Stevie • Knickstape

Critical Consciousness

Tags

political consciousness, sentiments of sankofa, The Panther 21

My Grandmother hipped me to Afeni Shakur

At the onset of the Iran-Contra war.

During the time when street figures

Donned monikers like Ski or Blow,

My Grandmother solemnly asked:

What do you know about COINTELPRO?

That summer,

I was summoned to be brave as the men who bailed out Assata Shakur.

By the time the United States Government

Deployed their 2nd Chemical Warfare Battalion

Through an infantry unit known as

“Crack Cocaine,”

My fate had been sealed with Self-Representation

And Black Liberation.

I wonder how many have died

Praying to survive

The concentration camps

Guised as mass incarceration?

If the War on Drugs Memorial WallWas opened to the public,

I wonder…

How many names

Would the haunting black granite wall contain?

Let’s widen the aperture

And paint a better portraitof the political landscape.

We all need to shed light

On the dark history of the United States.

If you pan left or right,

You could see Uncle Sam’s

Sleight of hand.

They try to blur the background,

Yet we must focus on why

Seedlings of The Panther 21

Continue to bloom

Amid military deployments

Within the chemical war-torn cityscape.

Why does Big Brother

Want to negate imagined visibility

Within the moral framing

of the United States?

When I begin to see myself

Beyond the narratives that they frame,

I begin to see why the FBI

Held the Political Consciousness

of the Black Panther Party

As the greatest domestic threat

While simultaneously

Concealing the lynching hands of the Klan

As the true and living terroristic threat

At hand.

-Stevie • Critical Consciousness

The Path To This Threshold

Tags

Beyond Books, homage, Teresa Totten

We could not close the door on Women’s History Month

Without acknowledging the one who opened the door.

Dear Teresa D. Totten,

Soon to be retired

Programming and Services Coordinator,

Thank you for sharing your gifts with the world.

Thank you for the distinct privilege of standing within proximity of your world.

Through the lens of Because of Them We Can…

I would be remiss not to mention:

Because of you,

I have had the honor and privilege of learning from

Ms. Gwen Russell-Green,

Mrs. Margaret Brown,

Empress Emma Davis Hamilton,

Dr. Mary Etta Thomas,

Mrs. Gina Jenkins,

and more.

Lo and behold…

The path to this threshold

Has been ever evolving

Like the past, present, and future

Interlocked through a revolving door.

From the curiosity of the seventh-grade Page

To the Librarian who would one day

Frame her gateway moment with Ms. Fernandez

Into a cultural gateway.

From the Doris K. Wells archetype

To the embodiment of a gateway of community,

TT is revered as both gatekeeper

And gateway.

Where library access remains key,

The “Walk In Your Purpose” credo

Has served as the ethos by which TT has graciously held open the door.

Within the realm of Black Librarianship,

The thresholds of my heart

Compart in equal parts.

Thank you for holding space for Scribes & Vibes to archive the human experience through literary, visual, and performing arts.

To capture what it means to be human,

While librarian after librarian viewed our melting pot of culture and diversity with distaste,

Teresa D. Totten became the tastemaker who set the foundation

For diverse populations to establish common ground at the library

Through a monthly celebration of the arts.

To express sentiments of Sankofa:

When I look back towards what

Catherine A. Latimer,

Regina M. Anderson, and

Nella Larsen

Meant to the 135th Street Branch of NYPL,

I commence to grasp the magnitude

And depth of Teresa D. Totten’s

Forward thinking contributions to both

The Stonecrest Branch

And the collective DCPL.

Though we refuse to store emotional weight like artifacts,

I must state:

The Queen Mother has held the crown exceptionally well.

-Stevie • The Path To This Threshold

The Black Librarian Is A Living Archive

Tags

Beyond Books, homage, Teresa Totten

For Black librarians,

Preservation goes well beyond archiving a book.

When I say TT taught me how to think beyond the books,

I’m talking about collective memory — cultural pride.

Through my communal eyes,

The Black librarian is inherently a living archive

And the work of the Griot is not confined to a book.

Within the context of Black librarianship,

Cultural preservation is exhibited in The Electric Slide.

For as long as I could remember,

Black librarians have been the keepers of culture.

When I look back for ideas to call forth,

I experience sentiments of Sankofa

Like the back-and-forth sequence of The Electric Slide.

When you’re taught to feel through rhythm

And listen through tone,

A classic line dance becomes an acknowledgement of how Black knowledge has survived.

When I witness Black librarianship,

I experience the vanguard of culture.

Whenever I see Black librarians on the dance floor,

I discover knowledge does not have to be institutionalized.

Wherever you discover a Black librarian who dared to take up space,

You will find library spaces that have been revolutionized.

I’m beginning to see why TT taught me

To see beyond what meets the eye…

When you see a line dance,

I see a lineage that has been actualized.

When I think of the Black librarian:

I see rhythm.

I see grace.

I see embodied knowledge.

When I live by the Teresa D. Totten

“Beyond Books” credo,

The arts become both

A form of expression

And a mode of knowledge.

Whenever I think about how today’s libraries provide access like sliding doors,

I listen to Electric Boogie

And I’m reminded why

Black librarians have always served as gateways to the humanities and applied knowledge.

-Stevie • The Black Librarian Is A Living Archive

The Queen and The Crown Jewel

Tags

Beyond Books, homage, Teresa Totten

Although libraries are primarily viewed as a repository of books,

I was taught to view the library as a destination of all things information.

That ethos has served as both cornerstone and foundation.

As I continue to think beyond the books,

I must say, my path has been cemented by those who paved the way.

Standing on the shoulders of giants has widened my perspective and sharpened my outlook.

Goodbye yellow brick road — we’re gonna make mine purple today.

As I thumb through the pages of time,

I find myself in orbit of the queen and the rook.

When I think of The Queen Mother and The Crown Jewel,

I behold pearls of wisdom and grace…

Like a well-read Black girl clutches her favorite book;

These truths we hold are reminiscent of the way Black boys tote a library of memories.

TT shall always be The Queen Mother

And Stonecrest Library shall always be The Crown Jewel.

Henceforth, it shall be my mission to bring Teresa D. Totten Library at Stonecrest to fruition as tribute to both time and place.

If you ask me why I celebrate you with the laud of those who fail to withhold applause at graduations,

I will tell you:

You deserve to smell your flowers while the scent of lavender still calls forth memories.

-Stevie • The Queen Mother & The Crown Jewel

Forensic Poetics: The District Attorney Is Not The Defendant

Tags

evidence of law, Fani T. Willis, GA SB244, legal ethics, sentiments of sankofa

What we have been witnessing is a judicial lynching…

The Supreme Court stood by

While they hung

The Honorable Fani T. Willis out to dry

Without legal measure.

What we have been witnessing is a legislative lynching…

Georgia Senate Bill 244

Was signed into law,

Years after the grand jury indictment,

As a subsequent remedial measure.

Please note:

The District Attorney for Fulton County

Was not recused for misconduct or willful and persistent failure to carry out duties.

Within the realm of legal and professional ethics,

The appearance of impropriety is not a legal defense.

Last time that I checked,

The District Attorney was not the one on trial,

Yet somehow,

The blind eye of the law failed to notice the blatant character assassination attempts.

In the eyes of the law…

I have yet to discover a judicial proceeding

That constitutes legal merit or an actual conflict of interest in duties.

How long must ye let their political semantics string you along?

If jurisprudence is the eye of the law,

You have failed to keep a watchful eye on the First Female District Attorney of Fulton County…

The absence of legal merit,

Contextualized by the remedial framing of statutory actions,

Shall make evident

That The Grand Old Party

Has corralled to stir up public opinion.

They traded in their white hoods,

We’ve already danced around this song.

Historically,

They have always attempted to cut ties with loose ends…

Remember when they tried to silence First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt with a bounty?

These days,

They don’t just burn crosses

And gather at the gallows tree;

They wield a legislative pen

And whitewashed news columns

Before you’re symbolically executed in public opinion.

-Stevie • Forensic Poetics: The District Attorney Is Not The Defendant

The Grand Scheme

Tags

art of poetry, creative freedom, mastery, poetic form, poetry

Mastery gives you permission to misbehave.

At first glance,

Poetic form is no song and dance.

Yet, for the craft to advance,

Poets must treat form like dance.

Sometimes it’s best to follow the steps,

Sometimes it’s best to dip your partner backward and misbehave.

Mastery knows the rules well enough to break them with intention.

Sometimes,

You have to waltz into innovationAnd take life by the hand.

Sometimes,

You have to put on your dance shoes

And season the tap dance floor mat with sand.

Mastery doesn’t marry form,

He courts the release of her inhibition.

I ain’t misbehavin’,

I’m just sayin’:

Take those shoes that you have tiptoed around with

And toss them across the powerline.

Before you tap into your greatness,

You must boldly form your voice.

I ain’t misbehavin’,

I’m just sayin’:

Artistry evolves

As art reflects the time.

The architect’s confidence

Is not a feat of choice.

-Stevie • The Grand Scheme

spirit guides

Tags

emotional intelligence, INFJ, introspection, self-awareness, self-talk

i feel everything

i hear what’s not being said

i read between lines

-stevie • spirit guides

micro-moments

Tags

anxious attachment, co-regulation, hopeless romantic, INFJ, love

do i calm your nervous system?

tell me,

what do you feel when we sit within the silence of your emotional walls?

tell me,

would you mind if i stayed by your side and held your hand through it all?

does my presence co-regulate your nervous system?

would you mind if i talked to your anxious attachment for a moment?

i love you

and i could see you need reassurance.

come ‘ere, let me hug you…

have you ever experienced love without performance?

if forever is composed of nows,

i vow to love you in micro-moments.

although i long to catch sunsets on the beach as you perform pirouettes,

i am at peace with good morning texts, momentary eye contact, and shared laughs.

i noticed that you love when i notice the little things,

but have you noticed how much i enjoy checking in throughout the day?

i trust that you know,

i am in love with the lady behind the mask…

when you’re vulnerable enough to be your authentic self my heart sings.

what i love most about your sense of adventure

is how you have taught me to prioritize joy and confirm commitment through creative play.

-stevie • micro-moments

Sentiments of Sense and Sensibility

Tags

hopeless romantic, love, poetry, self-talk, THE BOOK OF QUESTIONS

You cannot just love someone…

Nah, love will not suffice.

You have to take into account what they have experienced in life.

Who is to say how you love someone?

Is it not love that makes us capable of tremendous things?

Love must always suffice.

Love brings transformative feelings to life.

What happens to love when mutual respect withers after spring?

Love must always sway like the sea kissing the shore.

If reciprocity is key,

Love unlocks the door.

If a house is not a home,

The windows to her soul are my favorite metaphor.

If love shall suffice,

I’ll pretend to like plays.

Had I learned to detach from this dismissive avoidant attachment style,

I would have asked her to stay.

In a sense,

My sensibilities could not withstand how her pride and prejudice stood in the way.

-Stevie • Sentiments of Sense & Sensibility