women in Spoken Word

the following are a few answers to interview questions posed by columbia university student marbre who is writing a paper on women in spokenword:

1) i see myself as a revolutionist (which means i get to make up my own words, and often do because so many of our most beautiful words, like revolutionary, have been co-opted by the establishment to sell their ideology. think Revlon and "Revolutionary Color!") i come from many traditions, but feel myself most closely aligned with the black/africanamerican field slaves who would sing songs of revolt and escape disguised as spirituals ("hush now, somebody's callin my name") my work is an attempt to sanctify/recontexutualize the experiences of women by bringing them to the alter of the stage. that it is entertainment as well makes it subversive. i also come from preachers and sharecroppers both of whom are reknowned story tellers of the black american tradition.

2) at this point, the primary concern of my work is the sexual, spiritual and emotional condition of women. everything i write and perform is within the context of the revival of the feminine spiritual consciusness on the planet. i talk a lot about women and the sexual experience in my work (especially my new work) because i believe there's a link between how a woman feels about her vagina and it's experiences and the influence she has (or doesn't have) on the world. my piece, "coochie magic" talks about how fear, shame and guilt around sex (the experience of which is located at the second chakra which is where our creative center lies) has a major impact on how woman asserts herself and her concerns on an economic and political level.

3) the tradition of call and response requires the audience to be awake! to actually participate in the creation and experience of art. american audiences are so passive. we expect to be "entertained" and hand fed our emotional experiences.

call and response, which is a spontaneous tradition of the african and african american cultural experience, requires one to be invested in the process. it creates an exchange between the artist and the communinty that ultimately supports and sustains the creative impulse in the lives of everyone participating in the exchange. to borrow a phrase from alice walker, i call this, "posessing the secret of joy". who doesn't feel more beautiful, sexier, more intelligent, more joyful and closer to the image of the great creator (god) after they've collaborated on some magnificent piece of art?