Unchain Your Mind | What a Difference a Year Makes

Never, in a million years, could I have imagined that I would be where I am today. In less than TWO months, I will be hosting my very first Poetic Action Showcase feature four of the best Spoken Word Artists in the Nation!!

September 2012

My best friend, Lyric Kantrail, and I opened our first Poetic Action show in the Northern Province of South Korea. By January 2013, we had two locations (One in the Northern and the other in the Southern Province).  Both shows came to an end in September 2013 – six months after she and I had to leave the country. We weren’t discouraged though because we didn’t think that it was going to last for one month after we left LOL.

September 2014

I had been in Hawaii for about 1 1/2yrs and had not found an open-mic that I liked. I just needed a stage, but I didn’t have my best friend. She was my “team”. We have the same work ethic, drive, and hustle. I wanted to bring Poetic Action back but didn’t know where to start. I finally met the right person to be my partner AND my DJ {{WINNING!!}}.

January 2015

Lights! Camera! POETIC ACTION! The first Poetic Action in Oahu was a complete success! People were talking about it for days. I was on cloud nine.

July 2015

My bestie comes to visit me! We come up with this bright idea to make her a feature for the upcoming Poetic Action show. Greatest idea ever!

Every show from then on out, we had a feature artist and the audience loved it (August-Kevin Sandbloom

; September-Obbie West

; October-Masterpiece

; November-HBO Def Poet Shanelle Gabriel

& a surprise appearance by 7-time HBO Def Poet SHIHAN!)

Fast forward to January 2016…
IT’S THE ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF POETIC ACTION IN OAHU!! We’ve got feature performances by:

- Grammy Listed International Spoken Word Artist QUEEN SHEBA
- World Renouned Poet and Speaker TALAAM ACEY
- Author, Activist, and National Poetry Slam Champion PAGES MATAM
- 2015 & 2015 North Texas Spoken Word Awards winner MASTERPIECE

This line up is absolutely BANANAS! Only way from here is UP! "The mind is stronger than my body. God is stronger than my mind."

Unchain Your Mind | Entrepreneurship Novice

Almost an entire week after the anxiety and excitement has died down, I am able to gather some of my thoughts on the Honolulu Premiere of Poetic Action. 

In a nutshell....IT WAS AWESOME!!! The turnout was great, the audience was awesome, and the poets were absolutely phenomenal! And to think, I did all of this advertising telling people, "You won't find another open mic NEARLY as good as this one is going to be on this island."  It sold well...to them. I still had my doubts. I didn't want to be the only poet for the night. I started to think about everything: What if I put too many chairs out and it's gonna look empty in here because nobody comes? What if we can't start on time? What's the plan if nobody decides to sign up and do any poetry? 

Well, people had to add chairs! The doors opened at 7pm and there were some people outside at 6:45pm. I started 15mins after the planned time because I kept trying to give people a chance to get inside, but more people just kept coming through the door! To top it off, we had JUST enough poets to be able to end the show at 10pm on the dot, as planned!!

Everyone had so many positive things to say and expressed how glad they were that I did such an event like that. They can't wait until next month and they said that they're definitely going to be spreading the word and bringing more friends out.

And to those that said they were coming out to support but couldn't make it, you missed a fantastic show! Catch us next month.

My first event as a small business owner, and it was a success! Poetic Action is here!!

LIGHTS! CAMERA! POETIC ACTION!!

Like our FB Page: http://www.facebook.com/PoeticActionLLC 

Instagram & Twitter: PoeticActionLLC

Look for some clips from the show posted there as well!

Unchain Your Mind | New Year, New Poems

Procrastination always gets the best of me. I wrote this blog 30 DEC 2014:


2015 is right around the corner and I am ending this year with a bang! Everything has fallen into place and God has put some amazing people in my path to help me on this journey. But first….I STILL haven’t written any new poetry yet! I’ve had a poem brewing for five months and have yet to let those words meet paper. School, motherhood, and work has been keeping me busy quite a bit, but that’s no excuse.  I need to release and just let it flow.

But on to the good news:

Army – I GOT PROMOTED!! 1 October, 2014 I officially became a Staff Sergeant in the United States Army. So many folks thought that I would never be here. Hell, for a minute, I even questioned if I would ever make it. But I did it for my son. I needed to provide more for him and nobody else was going to do it but me. Thank you JESUS!

Personally – I loved and lost…what’s new. No need to give the whole, “Men ain’t $h!t” schpeel. It happens. But God sure does work in mysterious way. Let’s just say I’m pretty happy with the one He has brought into my life now J

And now the big news…Poetically:

IT’S SUPER OFFICIAL!!

It’s been a lot of hard work and the time is finally drawing near. I am Sole Proprietor of UnhurdChyld. That’s right! I’m a small business owner honey. Working on securing an LLC for another company as well. I’m so anxious for Poetic Action to happen. It’s just so many people out here that have said that they have been looking for something like it. 

So if you’re reading this and you’re in Hawaii, Poetic Action is where you should be on January 15^th!

Now all I need to do is write some new material… :-/. New Year, New Pieces 

“The mind is stronger than the body. God is stronger than my mind.”

Unchain Your Mind | Lights, Camera, Poetic Action

I can't sleep. That can only be due to two things: 1. The Taco Bell that I had earlier 2. I need to write...let's just say that it's the latter.

I always try and keep this updated and I seem to fail miserably when my schedule picks up just a little bit. So much has (and has not) transpired in the last year:

I haven't written a new poem. I'm full of ideas and can't find the words. That's half of the reason why I haven't posted. It's hard to focus on your passion when you have to focus on surviving. Dreams don't pay the bills or fill my son's belly. I don't care what anybody says. I haven't given up on writing, I never will. I've been performing all over the island at different events and I only have one person to thank for that. God brought a woman into my life that has so many connections in Hawaii that she truly lit that fire in me to at least perform and attempt to start writing again. Because of this, I have big news,

Poetic Action is coming to Hawaii January 2015! My best friend and I co-founded Poetic Action September 2012 in Camp Casey, South Korea. We eventually expanded it to two locations in Korea (Camp Casey and Camp Humphries) and it became the largest open mic for Soldiers on the entire peninsula. Poetic Action ran for over a year and a half, although we had both left Korea. I am now proud to say that I will be starting it here on the great island of Oahu in the beginning of 2015.

I've got to write something soon though. I need to get these words out. I have way more supporters than I ever thought. My poems are getting streamed online and my fan base is increasing. I'm taking advantage of all of the opportunities that God is blessing me with. I never even thought that I would be here...I can't stop. I won't stop.

Cam wouldn't stop...RIP

"The mind is stronger than my body. God is stronger than my mind."