BARK TOO

Slamming Poetry and Poetics and What They Ought to be saying on Defjam

What are these poems about? They are about you, young black man. They are about you, seasoned warrior./p>

I think they are about a truth, unvarnished and raw. The praises speak for themselves. Why all of this bark stuff? What does a dog do when he wants your attention? He barks. What does a dog do when he senses danger? He growls. What does a dog do when he wants his belly rubbed and his ears stroked? He whines and snuggles close to you. In Bark Too you will experience the dog in all of his ways. Some of his words will make you back off and some will make you go to your refrigerator, pull out the cucumber, and...well we want go there.

The influencers that shaped these poems include such visionaries as Ai, Allen Ginsberg, Langston Hughes, Charles Bukowski, and others.

And let's not forget our brothers Essex Hemphill, Assotto Saint for their beauty, bravery, and voice. Without those early warriors, these poems would not be. Their voices echo throughout this book like the wind through woods.