Long before the classic movie “Love Jones” initiated a “re-birth” of Blackfolk’s appreciation for poetry and the modern-day spoken word movement, our people used the rhyme and rhythm of poetic verses to voice complex emotions and experiences during times of tragedy and triumph, and everything in between.
Whether during the civil rights and Black Power movements of the 60s, the seemingly forgotten civil rights movement of the 40s, the New Negro Movement (Harlem Renaissance) of the 1920s or well before, Black poetry has been a critical tool in our fight for equality and justice in America and beyond.
Over the years, Houston has been a hotbed of ginormous poetic talents, including but not limited to Se7en, Deborah D.E.E.P. Mouton, Sunni Paterson and Joe P. And the Bayou City is still churning out sisters and brothers abundantly blessed with the gift of flow.
Here are just a few.
Outspoken Bean
Bean, a former Houston Poet Laureate, is the head coach of Metaphor Houston, a youth poetry fellowship and poetry slam team that competes locally and nationally.
“I’ve been coaching that team since 2009; young people between ages 13 and 19 who compete to be a performance poet fellow and represent Houston on a grand stage,” said Bean of his team, which won the 2023 Brave New Voices international competition in San Francisco.
While Bean was Houston’s poet laureate (official poetry ambassador), his official project involved interviewing people, collecting stories and writing poetry, and then releasing those stories and poems to the world.
“The name of that project, which is available now on all streaming platforms, is called ‘Space City Story Tape.’ It’s incredible. It’s really good. It was me and Russell Guess, who was my executive music director.
Bean said he thinks poetry was always in him.
“I was into hip-hop heavy. I’m still into hip-hop. My brother was a rapper, and when he passed away, we were kind of budding and growing our relationship. My name ‘Outspoken Bean,’ is in reverence to him. He was the person who said, ‘You should go buy Outspoken Bean.’ So, I’ve always kind of known. My mama would always make sure that I was performing and speaking in front of churches and stuff like that, even against my will. And that really kind of built a talent.”
Bean says he still gets nervous before performances, and finds making poetic content for the internet “kind of nerve-wracking,” not know if anyone will ever see it.
“With performing in person, however, the people are in front of you . So, that’s where it’s at.”
Bean views poetry as an art form Black people need.
“Art is political. It is a timestamp of what’s going on and of the feeling of what’s going on of that time. We’re not here forever, but it is somewhat of a timestamp. It is something of like, ‘Yo, this is a moment. This happened. This is something that will be here. And this is what someone had to say about it.’ Black people should care about poetry. I think everyone should, but Black people, in a sense like, poetry may help you understand human fallacy or human ideas and expressions just a little bit easier.
Avalon Hogans
Hogans came on the scene as a teenage activist, writer and the city’s sixth Houston Youth Poet Laureate (HYPL), serving her term from 2021 to 2022. As part of her (HYPL) duties she collaborated with Houston’s fifth Poet Laurate, Emanuelee “Outspoken” Bean, to implement a civic engagement project focused on inspiring youth and addressing societal issues through her words.
Hogans describes her style of poetry as personal, but also related to social justice.
“Just like my idols Audrey Lorde and Nikki Giovanni, it really starts from a place of self. I started writing about myself, my experiences and connecting it to larger ideas such as racism, sexism, misogyny and homophobia. Once I did that, I noticed crowds getting more interested in them. I performed my pieces at rallies, protests, and events that promote the same themes and ideas that I wrote in my own work.”
Hogans’s poems have been known to give life to those who hear them. Ironically, it was poetry that breathed life into Hogans.
“Growing up I was an incredibly shy kid. I didn’t think what I said mattered. So now I’m given this platform, the stage, the microphone, and I have these crowds listening to me. I never thought I would be in the position to educate others,” added the young leader.
Aris Kian Brown
Brown became the city’s sixth poet laurate and the youngest to be chosen at 25 years old. The University of Houston alum took the poetic baton from Bean, who held the title from 2021-2023.
Even before the poet laureate title, Brown had already established herself as a force in the creative writing space, ranking #2 at the 2023 Womxn of the World Poetry Slam. She also won the 2022 Imprint Marion Barthelme Prize in Creative Writing for Students with Service to the Houston Literary Community and serves as the Narrative Change and Media Manager at Houston in Action.
Brown, whose two-year term will end in April 2025, began scripting verses at age 10.
“But it wasn’t until 2018 that I understood this was something I could do for a living. That’s the moment when I joined Coug Slam at UH, and I started studying creative writing and my professor told me I can study this on the grad level. And that’s when I knew that this is more than a side hobby.”
Brown uses her poetry platform as an opportunity to introduce people to the power of poetry in places that most people might not normally find it. She is on a mission “to amplify other poets, artists, and writers who are doing brilliant work in the neighborhoods that they’re a part of.”
LJ Garfield
Garfield, an accomplished educator and healthcare professional, and host of All Real Radio’s (www.AllRealRadio.com) show/podcast “Word Bender,” is also known on these Houston streets as a poetic force.
“Poetry is important to me because it is a productive way to take a break from technical writing,” said Garfield, whose stage name is Mami Wata Flow. “The writing for my job duties can be very dense and complicated. It’s a linear process. Poetry, however, is… unpredictable and emotional… but still a systematic narrative, and I love it.”
Garfield views poetry as another part of the arsenal Black people need to create the world we deserve.
“Poetry is important to Black people because it is an artistic tool; a tool used for many functions: social, political, academic, romantic, historical. Poetry can be used for fiction and nonfiction; even for horror stories to be told. Black poets inform, protest, educate, love and define ourselves with poetry because we create it, inspire it and are actors in it. We are poetry in motion!”
She continued: “Black Poetry is the salve to an aching country and the tonic for social reform that sometimes makes you choke. Black poetry pushes the envelope and the agenda towards a more balanced society. Black poetry is a voice and a song that reminds us of what this country is supposed to represent. Black poetry is an influencer with longevity and vision that will carry us into the future… Black poetry is me.”
