Introducing Grace Ocasio: Poet and Performer- Part I

Congratulations to Melodye Shore who won a copy of Linda Phillips' book, CRAZY.

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For the next two weeks I welcome North Carolina poet Grace Ocasio, to my blog. Today you will read about why she writes in a poetic style and will be treated to a selection from her recently released book, The Speed of Our Lives (BlazeVOX Books) Next week you'll hear about her marketing plan, what she is working on next, and have the opportunity to win a copy of her book. 

Take it away, Grace!

Carol: Why poetry?  

Grace: Poetry is the medium I’ve always written in, ever since I was fourteen years old and a regional and national participant within the poetry field of the NAACP-sponsored program, the Afro-Academic, Cultural,Technological and Scientific Olympics.  Shortly before I began writing poetry in 1979, I listened to Gil Scott-Heron’s album, The Revolution Will Not Be Televised.  As a result, I started tinkering with the English language.  Scott-Heron inspired me to write in a conversational style very different from what I was learning in my eighth grade English class!  I will always be indebted to him for instilling in me the desire to write poetry.

Carol: It's great that positive experiences in your high school years laid the ground work for your present accomplishments. What was the specific inspiration for The Speed of Our Lives? 

Grace:   I knew that I wanted to write a poetry collection that would contain a poem for everyone.  I had concluded that my poetry chapbook, Hollerin from This Shack (Ahadada Books, 2009), was a bit dark, a bit pessimistic regarding humanity.  So I wanted to lighten up somewhat. I wanted to pull people in who might not ordinarily read poetry and still tackle topics that were important to me.  

Carol: What links the poems together?

Grace: The poems are loosely linked: the first section is about famous women;  the second section is autobiographical, regarding my varied experiences in my twenties, thirties, and early forties; the third section focuses on famous men and some nature poems; and the fourth section is primarily about black men, some famous, some not-so-famous.

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Here is one of Grace's poems, Ars Poetica, from the second section of the book called, She Revolutionary. I think many of you will resonate with the sentiments she expresses in it.

They laughed when I asked

for pancetta,

those grocery store clerks.

I don’t care.

It’s better to be chic

than to lie

in some bland corner

of a room,

wilting and frumpy.

What do I care

for the woman

who never dares to wear

a houndstooth jacket?

It’s up to us to set

the speed of our lives.

Audrey, for instance,

could dazzle

simply by placing

an ordinary swatch

against her skin:

chiffon, silk, organza.

To the nay-sayers I say

if you choose to live

like toads why should I care?

It would have been easier

to ask for Italian bacon.

But isn’t it better

to be swift than rushed?

Better to be svelte than thin?

Better to seek than to settle?

(first appeared in Rattle, Summer 2009, special issue: Tribute to African American Poets)

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Join us next week for a chance to win a copy of The Speed of Our Lives.