[Music]
my husband told me as a child he would
draw action figures on paper and cut
them out to play with because when you
grow up without innovation becomes her
only option I’d like to share with you
today how I use poetry to help people in
need for innovative purposes when I was
in elementary school I used to go every
other month with my mom to her school in
Miami it was in an area called pork and
beans neighborhood it was a really rough
area where a lot of youth they were
impoverished they were in need and they
would even jump house-to-house sometimes
having to share each other’s underwear
because they didn’t have a stable place
to stay being exposed to these kind of
kids made my heart open and vulnerable
and longing wanting to give back to them
I grew older I fell in love with the
arts specifically poetry and spoken word
and I used to write about a lot of
different issues
it wasn’t until high school where I was
going through a really difficult time
which many of you may have experienced
where my father left out of my life he
disowned me and I was going through a
very tragic moment I reached out to
spoken word as well as God and I found
my voice and I even found a local
nonprofit organization called right side
poets in Fort Lauderdale Florida and we
would actually go every weekend instead
of going to parties and other things
that a lot of kids spend time doing we
would go and we would speak we would
have a voice and we would perform poetry
and we would even perform to get into an
international competition to slam for
slam poetry but not only that as I grew
with my spoken word I found
opportunities where my leader Ray
Dominguez he actually allowed me to have
an opportunity to facilitate poetry
workshops in schools in art institutes
and in juvenile detention centers and I
thought at that moment man one day I
would love to do the same and be that
leader like Ray driving around the youth
to take them to do it and so through
time I continued and my last year of
college I was tasked with an opportunity
to start a program
facility of my choice of course I wanted
to do poetry because that’s what I do
but I didn’t know where I wanted to
facilitate the program at I thought
about foster homes
I thought about schools I thought about
juvenile detention centers but it had
not yet crossed my mind to work with the
homeless demographic until I encountered
two inspirational men when I moved to
Orlando Florida about four years ago I
used to walk around a lot to Lake Eola
area and get inspiration interact and
write and I actually met two
inspirational men both homeless the
first man he never asked you for
anything he wouldn’t ask you for food he
wouldn’t ask you for water or money all
he would do is say you have a pencil do
you have a pen because he wanted to
create and I thought that was
interesting the other man that I met
homeless as well he actually was a poet
like me and so he put his poem in a
frame and he offered it soon me for
income and said hey would you like to
buy my poem and I realized at that
moment that it was that type of
innovation that is so necessary and
cutting-edge to make a difference with
this type of demographic so I said of
course I’m gonna work with the homeless
and so I was so that I developed the
program called speak out before I
started my nonprofit at the Coalition
for the homeless in downtown Orlando we
got a chance to work with a lot of men
and women who were in and out of prison
as well as being homeless and we had a
chance to actually publish their work in
an anthology called pain and God where
they saw themselves actually on paper
and they felt special and important and
a lot of times when you think about the
homeless demographic you think about
what are the things that they need okay
they need food they need water they need
shelter but what you don’t think about
is a creative outlet is an opportunity
to be heard to just be acknowledged as a
person yes I’m living through a
situation but let’s not forget I’m a
person and I need to process this and so
poetry and spoken word is an opportunity
for them to do that there is a
psychologist by the name of Abraham
Maslow and he actually developed a
five-tier model of basic human means
it’s grouped into three categories basic
psychological and self-fulfillment
self-fulfillment is actually the top
need which means that as humans a part
of our needs is not only to have all of
those things that we think of our
automatic but also to feel creative to
filfil fold and everything that we do is
supposed to make us feel whole to make
us feel like we have a purpose that
we’re not just waking up every day and
doing things because it’s a routine no
but because something is driving us to
do that and so I’m I was driven to start
a nonprofit organization and I was
driven to start exodus united a way out
together to help youth because I wanted
to continue to work with the at-risk
community but I wanted to start young I
wanted to start with a population that I
can help mold and so I continued to work
with the homeless demographic I am now
facilitating workshops poetry and
pedagogy workshops at the Covenant house
among other facilities which is a
homeless youth shelter in Orlando and we
actually go and we speak to these young
people and we have a chance to work with
them and have them write poetry and I
realize that every time we’re doing this
and every time we have an opportunity to
work with them they are reaching their
self fulfillment we received a grant a
sponsorship and we got into a studio we
took a whole bunch of youth to a
recording studio and they were in the
booth recording they were doing their
recording their poetry their raps their
songs and to see them feel inspired to
see their eyes light up and their faces
fill alive is something that I know is a
feeling they have not felt in a long
time and it’s not that we’re giving them
food or water or anything that they need
on a daily living but it’s something
different something to make them feel
like I should wake up tomorrow I have
purpose because I have a voice and I
matter and yes I’m homeless and people
walk past me but I am still someone and
I will be someone and so this
demographic has definitely made a huge
impact on me and I hope the same for you
and what I would like to tell you is
that many times you have to think about
the people around you you have to
realize that sometimes it’s not just one
thing they’re going through but many
when I have worked with this demographic
I’ve realized that not only a lot of
these youth are experiencing the plight
of homelessness but some of them are
actually going through a plight of human
trafficking specifically I encountered a
young woman who I worked with who she
was being trafficked by another youth
and it was very difficult for me because
I care a lot for these young people and
I assume many of you who work with this
these types of demographics you can feel
the same and so they often tend to
become part of your daily speech and if
you’re a poet like myself they become
part of your writing they become the
subjects of your writing and so I wrote
a poem that I’d like to share with you
it’s called – the young Queen on Orange
Blossom Trail and here it is so the
young Queen on all beat see your legs do
not have to be lampposts to be the
brightest lights on the trail
yes eyes do not have to trick a
truckstop to put food in your mouth
don’t you remember when God made a man a
fall like rain and yes you say the
exchange is the only way as if when wist
another man you can taste the wheat
dissolve on your tongue need I remind
you birds have mouths and do not have
the capacity to communicate with the
Creator yet their mouth still he feeds
and you keep thinking eni’s you have
wait so much value to let a man’s hands
crack your porcelain do not let the
pressure stunts your growth do not lower
your luxury because there is nothing
royal and conducting that type of
activity at the Royal in and the roach
that be oil and those things bedsheets
use the phone books a call me said
you’ve been pouring tears out your eyes
so much that you filled the tub up to
the dirt ring with it but you lied to me
tell me you don’t mind even if it has
you laid up in a hospital bed cuz that
one time and I have to be strong for you
but really I want to take you and shake
you and mix your rational up like a snow
globe cuz this isn’t right and I’m gonna
be the one to say
no but you say Simba chill it’s alright
I don’t mind but young Queen I do and no
I will not let it go excellent throwing
dice with your life master on unless
someone make a teacher out of you like
our eye paints the homeless van all we’d
seen when you count your dollars at
night I want you to stop at 12
cuz believe they’re on to you and at
that point you’ll no longer be able to
pull the pavements like a comforter over
your head a motel will no longer be able
to serve as your place of refuge the
night I became your hobo driver it
became way more than just poetry
community we have a red-light district
trying to steal the innocence Ramona
needs our youth we have homeless teens
trick-or-treating to make ends meet but
there is nothing sweet about letting
another teen course you ain’t the one I
always know the 528 could bring the road
rage out of a person but I never know
just how much traffic
Orlando really had I wish I couldn’t
smell you in the bark of every passing
palm tree I wish the streets never
extended its arm never closed doing
cement then pardhu for gas like it was
some kind of pimp I suck
uncontrollably when you shared with me
and you could pay for things like a
place to sleep or your nails I’m not
here to judge you but to love you and to
tell you that there are other ways to
sign than just being a streetlight if
only you know you just so much more than
that
thank you
[Applause]
you
my husband told me as a child he would
draw action figures on paper and cut
them out to play with because when you
grow up without innovation becomes her
only option I’d like to share with you
today how I use poetry to help people in
need for innovative purposes when I was
in elementary school I used to go every
other month with my mom to her school in
Miami it was in an area called pork and
beans neighborhood it was a really rough
area where a lot of youth they were
impoverished they were in need and they
would even jump house-to-house sometimes
having to share each other’s underwear
because they didn’t have a stable place
to stay being exposed to these kind of
kids made my heart open and vulnerable
and longing wanting to give back to them
I grew older I fell in love with the
arts specifically poetry and spoken word
and I used to write about a lot of
different issues
it wasn’t until high school where I was
going through a really difficult time
which many of you may have experienced
where my father left out of my life he
disowned me and I was going through a
very tragic moment I reached out to
spoken word as well as God and I found
my voice and I even found a local
nonprofit organization called right side
poets in Fort Lauderdale Florida and we
would actually go every weekend instead
of going to parties and other things
that a lot of kids spend time doing we
would go and we would speak we would
have a voice and we would perform poetry
and we would even perform to get into an
international competition to slam for
slam poetry but not only that as I grew
with my spoken word I found
opportunities where my leader Ray
Dominguez he actually allowed me to have
an opportunity to facilitate poetry
workshops in schools in art institutes
and in juvenile detention centers and I
thought at that moment man one day I
would love to do the same and be that
leader like Ray driving around the youth
to take them to do it and so through
time I continued and my last year of
college I was tasked with an opportunity
to start a program
facility of my choice of course I wanted
to do poetry because that’s what I do
but I didn’t know where I wanted to
facilitate the program at I thought
about foster homes
I thought about schools I thought about
juvenile detention centers but it had
not yet crossed my mind to work with the
homeless demographic until I encountered
two inspirational men when I moved to
Orlando Florida about four years ago I
used to walk around a lot to Lake Eola
area and get inspiration interact and
write and I actually met two
inspirational men both homeless the
first man he never asked you for
anything he wouldn’t ask you for food he
wouldn’t ask you for water or money all
he would do is say you have a pencil do
you have a pen because he wanted to
create and I thought that was
interesting the other man that I met
homeless as well he actually was a poet
like me and so he put his poem in a
frame and he offered it soon me for
income and said hey would you like to
buy my poem and I realized at that
moment that it was that type of
innovation that is so necessary and
cutting-edge to make a difference with
this type of demographic so I said of
course I’m gonna work with the homeless
and so I was so that I developed the
program called speak out before I
started my nonprofit at the Coalition
for the homeless in downtown Orlando we
got a chance to work with a lot of men
and women who were in and out of prison
as well as being homeless and we had a
chance to actually publish their work in
an anthology called pain and God where
they saw themselves actually on paper
and they felt special and important and
a lot of times when you think about the
homeless demographic you think about
what are the things that they need okay
they need food they need water they need
shelter but what you don’t think about
is a creative outlet is an opportunity
to be heard to just be acknowledged as a
person yes I’m living through a
situation but let’s not forget I’m a
person and I need to process this and so
poetry and spoken word is an opportunity
for them to do that there is a
psychologist by the name of Abraham
Maslow and he actually developed a
five-tier model of basic human means
it’s grouped into three categories basic
psychological and self-fulfillment
self-fulfillment is actually the top
need which means that as humans a part
of our needs is not only to have all of
those things that we think of our
automatic but also to feel creative to
filfil fold and everything that we do is
supposed to make us feel whole to make
us feel like we have a purpose that
we’re not just waking up every day and
doing things because it’s a routine no
but because something is driving us to
do that and so I’m I was driven to start
a nonprofit organization and I was
driven to start exodus united a way out
together to help youth because I wanted
to continue to work with the at-risk
community but I wanted to start young I
wanted to start with a population that I
can help mold and so I continued to work
with the homeless demographic I am now
facilitating workshops poetry and
pedagogy workshops at the Covenant house
among other facilities which is a
homeless youth shelter in Orlando and we
actually go and we speak to these young
people and we have a chance to work with
them and have them write poetry and I
realize that every time we’re doing this
and every time we have an opportunity to
work with them they are reaching their
self fulfillment we received a grant a
sponsorship and we got into a studio we
took a whole bunch of youth to a
recording studio and they were in the
booth recording they were doing their
recording their poetry their raps their
songs and to see them feel inspired to
see their eyes light up and their faces
fill alive is something that I know is a
feeling they have not felt in a long
time and it’s not that we’re giving them
food or water or anything that they need
on a daily living but it’s something
different something to make them feel
like I should wake up tomorrow I have
purpose because I have a voice and I
matter and yes I’m homeless and people
walk past me but I am still someone and
I will be someone and so this
demographic has definitely made a huge
impact on me and I hope the same for you
and what I would like to tell you is
that many times you have to think about
the people around you you have to
realize that sometimes it’s not just one
thing they’re going through but many
when I have worked with this demographic
I’ve realized that not only a lot of
these youth are experiencing the plight
of homelessness but some of them are
actually going through a plight of human
trafficking specifically I encountered a
young woman who I worked with who she
was being trafficked by another youth
and it was very difficult for me because
I care a lot for these young people and
I assume many of you who work with this
these types of demographics you can feel
the same and so they often tend to
become part of your daily speech and if
you’re a poet like myself they become
part of your writing they become the
subjects of your writing and so I wrote
a poem that I’d like to share with you
it’s called – the young Queen on Orange
Blossom Trail and here it is so the
young Queen on all beat see your legs do
not have to be lampposts to be the
brightest lights on the trail
yes eyes do not have to trick a
truckstop to put food in your mouth
don’t you remember when God made a man a
fall like rain and yes you say the
exchange is the only way as if when wist
another man you can taste the wheat
dissolve on your tongue need I remind
you birds have mouths and do not have
the capacity to communicate with the
Creator yet their mouth still he feeds
and you keep thinking eni’s you have
wait so much value to let a man’s hands
crack your porcelain do not let the
pressure stunts your growth do not lower
your luxury because there is nothing
royal and conducting that type of
activity at the Royal in and the roach
that be oil and those things bedsheets
use the phone books a call me said
you’ve been pouring tears out your eyes
so much that you filled the tub up to
the dirt ring with it but you lied to me
tell me you don’t mind even if it has
you laid up in a hospital bed cuz that
one time and I have to be strong for you
but really I want to take you and shake
you and mix your rational up like a snow
globe cuz this isn’t right and I’m gonna
be the one to say
no but you say Simba chill it’s alright
I don’t mind but young Queen I do and no
I will not let it go excellent throwing
dice with your life master on unless
someone make a teacher out of you like
our eye paints the homeless van all we’d
seen when you count your dollars at
night I want you to stop at 12
cuz believe they’re on to you and at
that point you’ll no longer be able to
pull the pavements like a comforter over
your head a motel will no longer be able
to serve as your place of refuge the
night I became your hobo driver it
became way more than just poetry
community we have a red-light district
trying to steal the innocence Ramona
needs our youth we have homeless teens
trick-or-treating to make ends meet but
there is nothing sweet about letting
another teen course you ain’t the one I
always know the 528 could bring the road
rage out of a person but I never know
just how much traffic
Orlando really had I wish I couldn’t
smell you in the bark of every passing
palm tree I wish the streets never
extended its arm never closed doing
cement then pardhu for gas like it was
some kind of pimp I suck
uncontrollably when you shared with me
and you could pay for things like a
place to sleep or your nails I’m not
here to judge you but to love you and to
tell you that there are other ways to
sign than just being a streetlight if
only you know you just so much more than
that
thank you
[Applause]
you
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