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This
sister's poetry is all hype and then some
by Tasha Lester
Naima
A. Dawson, a poetic princess mixed with CEO flavors and leadership spices,
returned to her hometown Chicago in 1994 from college at Southern University
in Baton Rouge, LA. She and
Vince Bass started Full Moon Poetry described as the first urban side
of open-mic sets. The two began
managing icons such as Malik Yusef and B-Cole.
Once Malik and Cole reached their plateau of success Naima broke away
and began writing poetry plays. This
was the turning point for her.
Naima
wanted to create her own identity apart from Full Moon Poetry so she
created All Hype Poetry. One
of the many jobs she had at Full Moon Poetry was writing bios
for artists. “85% of
your resume is hype. You have to
talk about yourself in an articulate manner in the interview process of a job.
Once you build the hype, keep it going,” says Naima.
And indeed she did but she did not stop there.
In
2003 Naima wrote a play to introduce poetry titled, And then there was
poetry for those unfamiliar of its origin.
It is a comedy play, which takes you through people’s views of how
they think poetry got started. Poetry
is in and out of the story line. “See,
you have the “Love Jones” generation who depicts poetry only involving
spoken word cafes, or the older generation who depicts poetry how it is viewed
on “Def Jam Poetry,” explains Naima.
So to give her audience a better understanding of poetry, she gives you
all the characters that see poetry in all those different lenses.
The play is not overbearing and has just the right mixture of poetry
and song.
Art
Trusion another play
written by Naima, is a mixture of art and people.
The play entails literary poetry versus spoken word poetry.
“Spoken Word poets feel literary poets are a bunch of psycho babble
when actually are all in one. If
you can transfer what you say out loud on paper, then you have grasped the art
of poetry. Not every spoken word
artist can be visual on the page or on stage,” professes Naima.
Naima’s
poetic background began when she was in the eighth grade.
She attended a Catholic grammar school and her mother often dropped her
off late, so she began receiving detentions.
One day the detention assignment was to write a poem.
Guess what Naima’s poem was called? -- “Damn, I am late again!”
She
also attended Mark Sheridan’s Math & Science Academy where they had
academic bowls. The different
bowls to choose from were Math, Science, Spelling and Performing Arts.
Naima’s favorite bowls were Performing Arts and Science.
She knew from that point on she wanted to take poetry to the next
level.
Naima
is currently at Colombia College taking classes to obtain a MSA in poetry,
which is equivalent to a PHD. She
recently wrote a book titled Hot Water Pancakes.
The book takes you through Naima’s personal journey, whether exposed
or experienced, from little girl to womanhood.
Its name stems from the fascination she had watching her grandmother
flatten “hot water cornbread.” The
poems in the book are referenced about the world we live in such as one of her
pieces, “It happens every Sixty Seconds.”
This piece is about women and children who are literally abused every
sixty seconds.
In
five years Naima definitely would like her plays to expand on the road, have
her own theatre company in her own building and continue to have various
workshops with youth. She is the
founder of Just Say It Creative Arts, a flip version of All Hype
Poetry geared towards young writers.
She currently works with two schools teaching children to channel their
energy into writing. Her vision
is to take two segments from a play on the road and have the youth act out the
characters in their own storytelling format.
Naima
strongly encourages people to not take their talent as a hobby, be serious
with it. Talents are not to be
done in your spare time. You
should be willing to transform your art.
Up
and coming for Naima is Living Room Secrets Part 2.
Living Room Secrets Part 1 was showcased in July.
People raved over it. “If
R. Kelly can make “Trapped in the Closet” then I am going to make a soap
opera for the stage. Part 2 is
for the people,” says Naima. In
this play, she gives the “conscience” a voice.
The conscience talks back to you.
Cool huh?
We all know that with
a little drive and determination we can do anything but with true, raw talent
we can definitely be seen and heard. Thanks
Naima for allowing people to shine through their natural God- given talents.
Tasha Lester writes and performs poetry. Her goal is to write songs
for artists and obtain a law degree.
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THE
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