Nuyorican Poets Cafe

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The Nuyo on MTV! Our new heating system Poetry, music and romance this weekend   On Wednesday night, MTV featured the Nuyorican Poets Cafe in an episode of the new series Washington Heights! Click here to watch the full episode (the Cafe is featured starting at the 3:50 mark for a few minutes, and then several times during the segment from 32 minutes in to the end, all of which takes place at our venue). This week, the Cafe installed a new heating and air conditioning (HVAC) unit! Hurricane Sandy knocked out our heating in October; thanks to our fans and supporters, we finally have heat again at the Cafe! Tonight at 10pm, join us for the Friday Night Poetry Slam, featuring Eboni Hogan and hosted by Mahogany Browne! Reserved tickets are $20, unreserved tickets are $10. Tomorrow@6, C. Bravo Productions presents Poetic Romance, featuring roses for the ladies, door prizes, and an open mic. Tickets are $10 in advance/$15 at the door. Tomorrow@10, join us for WORDS hip hop/poetry showcase and open mic, featuring a live band; tix are $13 ($10 for students). On Sunday afternoon, actor/musician brothers Nat & Alex Wolff take the stage; advance tickets for their concert are sold out, but there will be a few tickets left at the door (3pm, $10).  Sunday@6, the Encyclopedia Show features experts from many disciplines who present a different verbal encyclopedia entry each month; this installment features Omar Holman ($10/$7). Sunday@8:30, enjoy verse and film by Syreeta Gates, Ericia Miriam Fabria and Queen Godis ($7/$5).  And Monday is a national holiday, but we're still open for Open Mic Monday! Join us at 9PM and share your music, poetry, comedy or monologues ($5) Tickets and details for all shows are available at www.nuyorican.org or by calling 212-780-9386.    Need the perfect present for a poet or a fan of the downtown arts scene? A year-long Nuyo membership is only $60 (or $30 for students).  Nuyo members receive discounts on admission to all events, as well as several free tickets and invites to special members-only events! *****    Don't miss our regular weekly events: Open Mic Mondays (every Monday at 9pm, all art forms welcome); the Slam Open (a competitive poetry open mic, every Wednesday at 9pm except the first Wednesday of the month); the Thursday Night Latin Jazz Jam (every Thursday at 9pm) and our Friday Night Poetry Slam (10pm every Friday).    Follow the Nuyo on Facebook or Twitter for event updates, news about our artists, submission opportunities and more.  Further information about all of our shows can be found at www.nuyorican.org. Contact Information The Nuyorican Poets Cafe 236 E 3rd Street between Avenue B and C New York, NY 10009 www.nuyorican.org Info 212.505.8183 Fax 212.475.6541 The Cafe serves beer, wine, coffee, tea  and soft drinks but no food. All ages are welcome at events, but you must be over 21 w/ valid ID to drink. ______________________________ Out of respect for our artists, there is NO video or audio recording of events without prior written permission from Cafe management. ______________________________ The Cafe is wheelchair accessible, but we recommend that persons needing assistance call in advance so that we can be ready to assist you when you arrive    The Cafe would like to thank our sponsors: NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, The New York City Council, the New York State Council on the Arts, Google, Bloomberg Philanthropies, The A G Foundation and  the National Endowment for the Arts

I am free

I am free
standing naked before God and Goddess
naked before ancestors
before elders
naked
before children
mama and daddy
naked
no shame
naked
low down funky truth
dirty truth, yeah.
Sun Ra taught me this. Space is the place. Space is the place.
Lord, do it for me right now. Thank you Lord for the blessing
of abundance and joy.

Naked. I stand with love of life. Sade said every day is xmas, every
night is New Year's Eve!

I am with her. In this fourth quarter, I am seeking joy
Live in the no stress zone, always, everyday,
no stress
live in the no stress zone
look in the mirror
your face
joy or stress?
do the rest!
look in mirror
are you the man in the mirror or some ghost, illusion
stand naked and prove yourself.
--Marvin X

WURD Speaks: Black Power Babies

Billion Rise to Fight Violence Against Women and Girls

Published on Thursday, February 14, 2013 by Common Dreams

Around the World, A 'Billion Rise' to Fight Violence Against Women and Girls

Leveraging V-Day, activists on all continents dance and celebrate the power of women to stand up and speak out

- Jon Queally, staff writer

Around 2,000 Filipino women and human rights activists parade the streets of Manila as part of a global campaign to end violence against women on Thursday. One Billion Rising was initiated by Vagina Monologues playwright Eve Ensler to end violence against women by raising awareness through creative action and dance. (Image: One Billion Rising)Across the globe today women are dancing, striking, and in other ways "rising" to call attention to the plight of violence against women and girls across the many cultures of the planet.

Long celebrated as Valentine's Day in many cultures and leveraged for the last fifteen years by women's rights activists in the "V-Day movement," today's actions are a culmination of the "One Billion Rising" campaign spearheaded by author, playwright and activist Eve Ensler and champions equal rights and an end to violence against women and young girls.

“February 14, 2013 will change the world not because it is a day of magic, although there are indeed mystical elements surrounding this campaign. It will change the world because the preparation for it and organizing for it has already created an energetic wind or wave igniting existing efforts to end violence against women and create new ones,” said Ensler in a statement.

Ensler says the campaign has brought together broad and unexpected coalitions of groups and individuals that have never worked together before, including young people and men previously unaware of how deep the problem of violence against women has been.

"We are rising together because it is in our connectedness, in our stomping feet and uncontrollable hips that the path and energy will be created to bring in a new world," Ensler said, referring to the campaign's focus on dance and public protest. "We will galvanize the will and the passion of everyone rising around the world to create change.”

According to the group, planned actions for the day include:

In Paris, the Women’s Coalition of the French Parliament is rising. The Minister of Women’s rights and hundreds of groups in India, students, teachers, and thousands of people are speaking out, and new laws and prevention education are being introduced.  Over 100 events are taking place in Italy.  InGermany, more than 100 events are planned around the country including a flash mob at the Brandenburg Gate. In Bosnia, a network of organizations and individuals in Sarajevo plan a dancing parade along the riverside, public squares and busy places.  From the north of Europe to the south, thousands of activists have planned events large and small. In Bangladesh, over 25 million are expected to rise and will form human dancing chains across the country.  The One Billion Rising anthem "Break the Chain" has been translated into Spanish, Farsi, Hindu, and many more languages.  In Cape Town,Soweto, and Johannesburg, teen girls are touring schools and teaching the flash mob dance, and all over Africa local TV stations are showing the "Break the Chain" video leading up to the rising.

The Guardian is also offering live and ongoing coverage of actions here.

The 'Break the Chain' anthem, which is has been learned by millions and will be performed at many of the events today can be viewed here:

The breadth and diversity of actions happening is being tracked on Twitter using the #1billionrising hashtag:

Confession of an Ex-Wife Beater

Confession of an Ex-Wife Beater

I beat her because she loved me

I beat her

Gouged my fingers into her eyes

Stomped her on the floor

Because she loved my dirty drawers

I beat her

Put my hands on her throat and squeezed

Until her eyes looked like marbles

I beat her

Because she loved me

Because she gave me a child

That looked just like me

I beat her

Because I stood trembling

Watching the child ooze from her womb

I beat her

Because she wouldn’t give me some pussy

I tore her panties off and took the pussy

I beat her

Then said to her, “Baby, I love you so much.

You’re so precious to me, let me kiss you.”

And she let me

Then I beat her for letting me

Because I was drunk

Too much rum

I beat her

Too much weed

I beat her

Too much coke

I beat her

My you are so precious to me

I beat her

My I love you so much baby

I beat her

Because she was faithful

Because she was patient

I beat her

While my child stood terrified

I beat her

Kicked her

Sat on her

Punched her in the mouth

In my madness

Because she said the wrong word

Because she said nothing

Because she said the right word

Because she said too many words

Because she had a thought

Independent of mine

I beat her

Knocked her too the floor

Because she called the police

I beat her

How could she call the white man on me

As Black as I was

I beat her

Because she called her mama

I beat her

Because she called the operator

I beat her

Because she picked up the telephone

I beat her

Because she left me and I found her hiding in the closet

I beat her because I took her to Mexico and she wasn’t happy

I beat her because I took her to New York

And she didn’t smile

I beat her

Because I was sick

And she told me so.

I beat her.

--Marvin X, from In the Name of Love, Laney College Theatre, 1981

I Shot Him

I shot him

Because he loved me

He loved me so much he came home smelling

Like his other bitch’s pussy

I shot him

I didn’t kill him

But I shot him

Because I got the phone bill

And saw he’d called his other bitch

On my birthday

I shot him

Cause I got papers on him

Yeah, I got papers on the motherfucker

To use his filthy language

I shot him

And I ain’t sharing him with nobody

I don’t care what the Muslims say

Bout a nigguh can have four wives

I don’t care what the Holy Qur’an say

I don’t care bout the African tradition of polygamy

I don’t care how many mo women it is for every man

I shot him

I don’t care if women are turning lesbian and bisexual

Cause they don’t want no man

I want my man. I love my man

But I shot him!

--Marvin X, from In the Name of Love, Laney College Theatre, 1981

The Hares sign agreement with Attorney Amira Jackmon, Agent of the Archives Project

Marvin X, Dr. Julia Hare, Dr. Nathan Hare and Attorney Amira Jackmon, Senior Agent of the Archives Project.

Attorney Amira Jackmon will consider all bids for the Nathan Hare and Julia Hare archives. The Archives Project Senior Advisor, Poet Amiri Baraka, suggests $1,000,000.00 (one million dollars)  should be the starting point for bids from institutions such as Yale, Harvard, University of Chicago and Stanford University.

Itibari Zulu, editor of the Journal of Pan African Studies and former librarian at UCLA and Dr. J. Vern Cromartie, professor of sociology at Contra Costa College,  are also senior advisors to the Archives Project. The mission is not only to assemble the archives of high profile persons but to educate common people that their archives have value and should not be thrown into the trash upon their transition to the ancestors.

Interested institutions should contact Amira Jackmon, Senior Agent of the Archives Project, 510-813-3025.

The Archives Project founder and project director, Marvin X and his adopted aunt, Dr. Julia Hare

photo Johnny Burrell

Nominate Marvin X for the Purpose Prize

Dear friend, The Purpose Prize honors individuals making a monument out of what many consider the leftover years, not only finding personal meaning but doing creative and entrepreneurial work aimed at solving fundamental problems facing the nation and the world today. All in their 60s and beyond, these pioneers have built upon the experiences that have shaped their lives to improve others’ lives. Like Susan Burton (pictured right), who suffered through drug addiction and two decades in and out of prison. Now she helps formerly incarcerated women rebound. And Bhagwati Agrawal, who grew up in India with scarce access to clean water. Now he gives villagers in India the means to collect rain from rooftops, for safe water to drink. For their remarkable work in their encore careers, both Burton and Agrawal won the 2012 Purpose Prize. Who will be next? Nominations are now open for the 2013 Prize, which will award up to $100,000 to social innovators 60 and older. You may nominate a colleague, a friend, even yourself – anyone whose creative endeavors in the second half of life are making a big difference to society. You can find answers to the most frequently asked questions about The Prize here. The deadline for submissions is April 4, 2013. Leading by example, Purpose Prize winners urge us all not to just leave a legacy, but to live one. Help Encore.org find the next deserving group of people who will carry on the tradition. Nominate today, and please spread the word. Sincerely, Marc Marc Freedman Founder and CEO Encore.org

Marvin X Reviews D'jango

Django, finally, the black hero who kills white people! What a change from my childhood attendance at the movie house watching the white man kill Indians and we sometimes cheered at the death of Native Americans while infused with their blood. Whether infused with the white man’s blood or not (and surely most North American Africans are, maybe only Gullah and/or Geeche Negroes can claim they are not) it was a pleasure seeing them die at the hands of Django. Yes, this Spaghetti

Western, this neo-Roots, gave North American African film writers something to think about, even if they know it is highly unlikely we shall now expect to see more of this “resistance” genre in Hollywood. We’ve yet to see Danny Glover’s long expected movie on the Haitian revolution, yet to see a film on Nat Turner’s revolt or Denmark Vesey's or Gabriel Prosser's, although Arna Bontemps novel Black Thunder could provide the basis for a Prosser film.

And why has not Spike Lee given us his version of a resistance film rather than condemn this Western fantasy? I was taught in Creative Writing at San Francisco State University by the great novelist John Gardner, if you don’t like something, use your creativity to write something better.

Being that I am in the Nigguh for Life Club, I am always fascinated by the endless and perennial debate over use of the term, whether nigger or nigguh, now made into a billion dollar word by rappers, reactionary record producers and hip hop culture globally.  What fool would not want to use such a profitable term? And nearly all those who claim to abhor the term will, in a moment of passion, make use of it, e.g., I hate you nigguh or I love you nigguh!

I have written about the psycholinguistic crisis of the North American African. As my comrade Amiri Baraka noted, what else do you think they called Africans entrapped in the American slave system, Sir? But imagine an African caught in the American slave system speaking German. Better yet, imagine those Africans caught in the Brazilian slave system who spoke several languages, including Portuguese, Arabic, Hausa, etc., while the slave master could not write his name! For me, the term devil ascribed to the Africans was quite amusing: we saw the depiction of pseudo science when the African skull was noted for areas of passivity. How ironic the Africans were described by the oppressor as devils but all the evil, i.e. kidnapping, rape of men, women and children, torture, terrorism and genocide came from the European “good guys”.

D, jango as a love story was positive. Seeing a North American African fighting to free his woman from the hands of the devil was inspiring since so many of our women these days suffer abandonment, abuse and neglect. So many must don the persona of the male and find their way by any means necessary. Of course it would have been better to show a mass insurrection rather than this individual struggle for freedom. Of course in the world of make believe inhabited by Hollywood, the depiction of a mass uprising would have been way over the top with the possibility of subliminal suggestion. As Dr. Fritz Pointer said when Brother Mixon killed four police in Oakland, D’jango gave us a dose of obscene pride in seeing the whites die, just as we experienced obscene pride when the Los Angeles black policeman, Christopher Doaner, went postal after suffering alleged abuses in the LA police department. I remember being surrounded by LA police when I asked for directions to City Hall.

Long ago, H. Rap Brown (Imam Jamil Alamin) told us violence was as American as cherry pie. D’jango should remind us of  America’s roots (laws) that evolved from the violence of the slave system. All the present talk about guns must begin with the examination of America’s roots.  Most of the present laws were created to prevent the very acts of the type D’jango carried out. Not only did the slave system fear Africans with guns, but Africans on horses, not to mention Africans who could read and write, and of course three or more Africans standing together was a violation of the Black Codes.

But how can the world’s number one gun merchant talk about clamping down on gun proliferation? Don’t believe the hype.  If anything new occurs, the gun merchants will simply increase the export of guns as the call for decrease heightens within America.

Just know America’s fascination with gun violence is predicated on preventing the oppressed from rising up and overthrowing the oppressor. D’jango’s personal mission is an example of what must ultimately occur on the mass level.  As New York City Councilman Charles Barron once said, “Every Black man should slap a white man for his mental health!” Yes, for the mental health of the Black man and the white man! We’ve heard there can be no redemption of sin without the shedding of blood.

We believe in peace, non-violence, but we also believe in self defense, that oppression is worse than slaughter. It would be better that all of us North American Africans are murdered outright rather than endure this slow death on the killing floor.

James Baldwin said the murder of my child will not make your child safe. America is now witnessing her children being slaughtered in the suburbs just as poor ghetto children have been slaughtered for decades, and their ancestors the victims of genocide for centuries. Thank God, director Terrentino has given us a fantasy version of what must occur in the real world. His love story is what revolution is about, i.e., freeing the family! Yes, the American slave system was about the destruction of family, thus the task of the North American African is the reconstruction of family. We shall not progress as a people until we reconnect with our women and children, rescue them from poverty, ignorance and disease; emotional, physical and verbal abuse.  Ultimately, it is not about killing the white man, which we can never find enough weapons to do so, but it is all about us realizing our women and children are our most precious asset and we shall never make progress until we rescue them from the clutches of the devil. For sure, D’jango realized he could never be free until he saved his woman. For North American African men, this is food for deep thought!

--Marvin X

2/13/13