We Can Never be Superstars

photo by Angela Rowlings

I am not a superstar
But I’m not afraid to share what I got

I don’t have wings
But I have the words that could make you feel
Like we both be flying

I’m not falling apart right now
But I know what it feels like
To feel like I’ve lost it all

I know how to make you feel like you are the one person I have left in this world

Because you are

You are what is keeping me beautiful
And I am but a reflection of what you are

I am here to show you
That you don’t have to come prepared with me

You can just adlib

And we can create the dialogue
To perfect the solutions
That will supply the fuel for our chemistry

Not everybody can be Angelina Joli
And not everybody can rock a poem from a page on a stage
for you
Like me.

If you feel compelled to get to know me a little better because you can’t figure me out just yet
Then it’s probably just the energy in this room that you’re looking at
And with all due respect
That counts for only but a moment's cost of significance
...................
Just two minutes
You and me alone

My eyes will show you everything
You could have never discovered on your own

And lips can do the rest when you get weary of searching
Tongues will do it best when we get tired of talking
Kama will show us how to effectively lick our wounds
While poetry plays in the backgroud pushing us somewhere past the moon

When your midnight comes,

You can look for me in the sun
This is where I choose to wait for the Blue orchids to bloom
Sweet and Fearless
Living love like life depends on it...

Because it has to.

poem by Iyeoka Ivie Okoawo

Up and Coming Shows: Saturday, September 24th

Up and Coming Shows:

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 10TH

Iyeoka and Oz will be hosting and performing @
ORIENTATION WEEKEND POETRY SLAM at COLBY-SAWYER COLLEGE
New London, New Hampshire
11pm

Saturday, September 24th 2005BloodSkinLand Productions presents...
MEGACIPHER 2005
The 7th Annual Cultural Blockbuster
@ OrigiNation Cultural Arts Center
11 Walnut Park St., Roxbury - Egleston Sq.
(next to laundromat & rental store)

7:00pm showtime (doors open at 6:30pm)
Tickets: $7.00 advance / $10.00 at the door


TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 27TH

Live audience CD recording with the Jeff Robinson Trio
Hi-N-Dry Studio in Cambridge, MA @ 7pm.
There are only 25 tickets available for this special event

The Show was like...

...a zillion beautiful people in the same room at the same time.

Thank you ALL SO MUCH for coming out to the show!
The event was a legitimate success.
Thanks to YOU.
It would have been an empty room with a powerful mike without YOU.

There were maybe one or two nay-sayers in the midst that spoke of the holiday weekend being a difficult space to fill.
But contrary to the most probable of all possibilities...friends and family and fans and die-hard supporters payed top dollar for a fabulous show AND a noteworthy cause.

I personally had a wonderful time, sharing the new stuff and the classics.
So many beautifully diverse people were present to bless the Blue Wave this Labor Day Weekend.
Special thanks to the sound guy who made me feel like notes were supposed to carry like that.
I'll admit though that I'm terribly exhausted, emotionally and physically.
It's almost overwhelming to have so many people you love in the same room all at the same time, listening to what you believe to be your "life's work".
Or at least the work that you believe you live to create.

So thanks for listening and speaking to me before, during, and after the show.

Lots of people have been asking me to post the last poem that I read on Saturday called In the Blink of an Eye and I promise I will.

Until then...Feel free to leave a comment or two.

soon, IIO

Political Conspiracy Theories

photo by Angela Rowlings
Bury the Prophets and Silence the Poets

Up Close and Personal SHOW to Benefit SUDAN Releif Efforts

Just a friendly reminder of the show I have this Saturday @8pm at the Blue Wave Lounge with R&B vocalist Lee Wilson and JT of the III Kings.
I don’t have to tell you what an amazing show it will be…

I would like to tell you that a portion of the tickets sold will be donated to the Sudan Relief.

The United Nations estimates that as many as 10,000 mothers, children, wives and husbands are dying each month in Darfur as a result of violence, disease or malnutrition. More than 2 million people are displaced within Sudan, and another 200,000 have fled to neighboring Chad.

With Katrina’s aftermath plaguing our southern states, we are sadly forced to share experiences with countries who have been facing displacement and other challenges for years.

I feel obligated to attempt to make a difference, one show at a time.

Tickets are twenty dollars.
The event producers have been selling tickets in advance and have informed me the event may sell out.
So be there at 8pm or let me know you're coming so I can set tickets aside for you at the door.

Spread the word!!!

Thanks a million, stay blessed, and I hope to see you on saturday.
information on the Sudan relief effort

Location: 2005 National Poetry Slam, New Mexico
photo by David Huang

So This years nationals has been so intense, I have not had an opportunity to keep you up to date on events. I should be posting some pictures soon of the events with my team and fellow slam poet fam from across the country but until then please read the details on the Lizard Lounge website:

http://poetryjam.com/blog/poetryjam.html

Members of the Seattle Team: Christa Bell, Matt Gano, Daemond (Slammaster), and Raj.
This crew was hot...
Seattle was a team I was actually looking forward to slamming against once the top 20 Slam Team Semi-Finals bout was posted.
Boston has always revieved nothing but love from the Seattle Slam Team camp.
And I had already recieved the heads up on Christa from my buddy Bryonn Bain.
He described her as pure fire. I finally had an opportunity to watch her perform in indies where she delivered multiple incredible performances.

...So as the week went on the Lizard Lounge Slam team slowly began to recognize Ross Johnson's inability to take a serious photograph...here are just a few highlights in no particular order (Us trying to order breakfast, RJ and his endless crank calls-multitasking w/ repeated failed attempts to stir a sleeping Adina//RJ "pretending" to burn his ass with the iron//RJ deciding to connect with the iron//RJ striking a "serious one" with smiling Joyce... I literally have about 15 other pictures just like these.

Iyeoka, Adina, and Jared Paul on the late nite walk from Hotel Blue to La Posada.
Jared, from Providence, being the perfect gentalman he was raised to be, donated his shoes to Adina who discovered around 4am that choosing cute over comfort comes at a price

NPS 2005-Joyce,Kit,Iyeoka,Adina, Marlon,Ross...Round one, kicked ass with long sentences, literally, with the point of course, being the poetry.

NPS 2005 Albuquerque Day 1

We arrived.
I slept heavily on the plane.
I'm still freaked if I'm wide awake during pockets of terbulence.

Anyway, we made it...we arrived.
New Mexico is beautiful.
First thing that caught my eye were the mountains.
I almost didn't call them breathtaking...
But they caught me by surprise...I just hadn't expected to see them here.
I don't know anything about geography.

Second thing that caught my eye was the friendly aura of the organizers of this year's National SLAM. From a local Volenteer driving a convertable who offered to take us to the welcome party hosted by Albuquerque the Magazine
to the ex-military security guard at the museum in the National Hispanic Cultural Center who offered background and insight to art we admired in the exhibit.

Tonite I caught up with old friends and introduced myself to new ones.
Tonite felt like a logical beginning.
Free food, free tequilla, sangria, and lots of beer.

A gracious way to initiate a week of competition. With the point being the poetry of course.
74 teams, poets from all around the country, everyone there for a reason.

Everyone mostly hoping to be remembered by someone for something more than unforgettable, concrete, or amazing...

NEXT SHOW DATE AUGUST 17TH @ THE COSMOPOLITAN in BOSTON

Wednesday 8pm(Bar stays open til 2am, but I'll be gone long before then so join me early)

Directions from STATE STREET (buisness district): Take a left on congress st/take left on milk st/ take right on BATTERYMARCH STREET.

$5 cover

21 to drink/ 18+ to socialize

Birth of a POEM

I had a conversation with God last night
The dialogue was an uncommon one...

I was told that I got most of it right.

...and I have always believed
that there has GOT to be more to ALL OF THIS
than rationalizations
and bullshit that everything happens for a reason.

He told me to find it.

He told me to find it and let that be my DAILY TESTAMENT
That ANY person I MEET at any point
can play a role in MY LIFE that can CHANGE the DYNAMICS of EVERYTHING.
That every DAY I breathe is another days' opportunity left to dream.

He told me to dream.

Dream of thunder and lightening
And coincidences that saved my life
And strangers that helped me get by
And failures that pushed me to FLY
And MOMENTS that will CHANGE me in the BLINK of an eye.

Black and Blues Fan REVIEWS

Review a LIVE SHOW and/or the CD Black and Blues

We are currently looking for FAN reviews to bless the site!

We would love to welcome AND include your input and spirit on the last time you saw Iyeoka perform.

If you do not own a copy of the Black and Blues Cd, please visit http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/iyeoka
to purchase a copy.

You can also preview a copy and write a review.
Click here to preview: http://www.iyeoka.com/music.htm

We will take reviews from this site and feature them monthly.

Thanks in Advance!

SHOW NEWS! --- Providence SOUND SESSION 05'

Here's an opportunity unlike any other to snatch yourself a Cd AND see a blazing show uncover.

Iyeoka will be performing in Providence, RI at the soundsession Music festival sharing the stage with legendary poetess URSULA RUCKER. Mark calanders NOW.
Monday July 18th @ The Providence Black Reperatory Company
276 westminster st. cost 15 dollars
Doors open at 8pm

The line-up is dope so we can guarentee you an amazing show!

Slam Results

Last Night, Sunday July 10th, my Lizard Lounge teamates... did me proud.

I've always thought of myself as typically choosing to live my life as a "sofisticated" slam winner, meaning, after doing rather well in a bout, I'm pretty calm and cool, thanking the audience, meditating and focusing for the next round.
Last Night, even though, that indeed is what I was outwardly doing,
Inside, I was doing the tango, the moonwalk, and jumping up and and down on my seat..that is my mental seat. Hopefully we can bring this kind of energy to the national. And yeah yeah I know more than anyone that most of what happens in the national level is half LUCK half TALENT. But essentially, it simply feel GOOD to fly out with a group of poets your confident about. So...Kit,Ross,Marlon,Adina...
just so you all know... my expectations are now raised ALOT higher from when we started this journey.

Information for POETS w/CD's---MUSICCHOICE comcastcableTV

NOW 3 Days a WEEK!

Just wanted to take this opportunity to thank MusicChoice for playing Black and Blues often on the Poetry show. I've recieved wonderful emails and positive verbal feedback from folks who have stumbled upon my Cd while casually listening to the show on their televisions.

POETS. Go to www.musicchoice.com

Send in your albums to be screened and selected for the show.

FRIENDS. Go to Click here: Music Choice Talk To Us

or cut and paste http://www.musicchoice.com/forms/comments_form.asp

Choose Smooth R&B /And request to be played:Black and Blues -by Boston Poet Iyeoka for you choice and pleasure.

Spoken.Word.Music and The Lounge work simultaneously to deliver the best underground urban music experience from Music Choice Smooth R&B. Tune to Spoken.Word.Music for traditional and modern words of poetry fused with soothing R&B tones, or drop by The Lounge to find mellow rhythmic grooves from old, new, and independent artists. Unwind with these two uninterrupted music blocks at the following times, only on Music Choice!
Saturdays 6-8 p.m. (est)
Sundays 9-11 a.m. (est)
Tuesdays 3-5 p.m. (est)

Yellow flames behind the Bluest sky

I'm thinking of words to inspire a new poem...

Got Words?

Time Flies

What happened to June!?!

July is finally here, last month came and went
Now it's time to document the progress...

Last month's highlight was working with The Foundation
(www.foundationhiphop.net) on a track called
This Is Life. If you've seen any of my shows these past few months it counts as my newest song that I've been rocking hard.
I've always been a big supporter and fan of The Foundation which made it an enormous deal to contribute to their up and coming album. They all spilled so much talent into the track I'm excited to hear the rest of their album.
The Franchise opened his studio to us for yet another outstanding experience producing the track.

As you all know, I won a spot on the Lizard Lounge Slam Team again this year.
so Please come and watch us do our local thing as we prepare to stomp em' down in New Mexico next month at the National Slam Competition (Aug 9th-14th).

Sunday, July 10 at the Lizard Lounge(1667 mass ave)- we Slam w/Providence and Cantab
Sunday, July 17 at the Lizard - NESL
Sunday, July 24 at Java Hut - NESL
Sunday, July 31 at the Lizard - Feature