My Story
Written by Tshombe Sekou
Between the rivers that run deep beneath my surface
And the war that wages above it,
There is a universe that exists, which has yet to be discovered.
Only to be written in poems for understanding and inspiration;
Though it may sing in the melody of my blackness,
Many can spend a lifetime in explorations
Trying to define the depths of my ever-expanding atmosphere.
-Tshombe
Life began for me in the brokenness of New Orleans,
where butter and sugar sandwiches and "junking" with my father
were the best things. If I could read as well as I could watch life
pass by in the ghettos of my life, I would be a scholar by now.
However, that wouldn't happen until I was sixteen-years of age,
when a family friend found me intently flipping through a TIME
magazine as if I were reading it; though truthfully I was making
up the stories with each turn of the page. Imagine going through
an entire world history letting the pictures be the proverbial
thousand-words.
After living abroad in Israel for most of my childhood, it
was time to return to the land of my birth with a whole new
outlook on life, seeing cultural appreciation at an apex, but also
at the genesis of its decline; the music began to change. Trying
to understand how to survive this starvation of cultural famine, I
began to gather with talking groups, community centers, and
ciphers in and around Chicago; getting involved in activist groups
responsible for stopping gang activity and raising awareness
about community development—Chicago is a great scene for
activism if I might add.
In 2004 I began to blog on cultural awareness, heritage
appreciation, and other cogitative material. All of which was
inspired by my wife, who encouraged my writing not only as a
form of creative expression, but also for its therapeutic value.
Somewhere in all of this, someone called me a "poet", and not
knowing really what this new title meant; I began to explore new
way of self-understanding, and a new way to reach out to pass
on a message of truth and inspiration to those who read and
listen to poetry. It was also in this year that I co-wrote my first
short play titled RUN, which was performed abroad and in the
United States.
I found love again
One that glows as the moon
Rises in the sun
Letting the rebirth be done
2005 was the year that it all came to a single explosion,
in the way of directionality for my poetry. Years prior it was just a
pen and book, but now it was time to use the synthetic-universe
(internet) for some good. Along with two other young poets, we
began an online poetry-writing group known as the Po3tic Voices
or PV if you will. We went from hosting workshops to
podcasting, and 2006 we went live across the globe with what
became known as The STORM, my first brainchild of many, and
subsequently led to me releasing of four albums of my own and
co-producing several others over the years.
It is more than just being a poet—it is the artistry of
constructing change while doing a few creative things to form
poems. The poem is the revolution and I find myself every time I
get lost, it is like learning to read backwards—seeing the words
and finding the pictures. Though considered by many as being a
poet, on most days I am a critical thinker who looks beyond the
known ledge {knowl~edge}, seeking out the fullness of purpose,
and learning to share that experience with you: Purpose driven
art. My writings are about constructing context from the subtext
of life, which aims to negate any pretext on the path of selfunderstanding—
sounds complicated I know; it truly is just simple
enough to be complex, like love or life—this is my story, help me
understand it!
Genesis, when all was dark and chaotic, space was filled with random noesis; there was no rhythm. As the silence covered the existence a poet set his mind on creating a verse that expanded beyond the concepts of time. Where time was a mere syncopation of breathing, the supreme let his thoughts roam the vastness of the infinite, in the break of silence beginning and end spoke to create a free verse, which ignited an apocalyptic chain of reaction.
An alchemist at work mixing syntax, intelligence of mathematics, chemical reactions spitting light from the belly of heaven; a light that waged war against the darkness, chaos became order making every verse one as the sun. Discovering the power of both tongue and mind, learning to let the power of the original spoken word artist who breathed of himself into my nostrils become the exhalations of inspiration. Free Verse is my chosen path, just as the Divine spoke one verse (the Uni-Verse) into the darkness and raised a sun; I am God’s poetry animated…-Tshombe Sekou
Untitled/Genesis
It might have happened over jazzlaughs and flirty smirks, if I know him wellshe with an appetency for intellectcaved despite her reservationsshe knew it was stealing…loveselfish are the desires when we say “love“a thought exercised in chemistrythe product of two soulstotal oppositions drawn togetherelectromagnetically chargeddispositions remiss foreverthey would destroy the worldto build a new one…destinydesire transformed into loveto plant a seed, her first……his secondboth moon and sunsedulously instillingthemselves intoone beingbirth from the darkof their tabooa child of struggleburning unconsumedgiven purpose by nameto illuminate with wisdom [Sekou]the dwellers of God”s earth [Karkiyah]Blessed beyond measure [Tshombe]from the moment of womb ejectioninjection into this consciousnessrunning in the race to the sunI was conceived for thisto complete the circle.
…did they know before hand,know what they were apart of;envision the future to give birthto the now; were they complicitin love for that moment…for this destiny…
Copyright c 2006-2011. Tshombe Sekou
