DV:  Oh yes.  Creating is my sanity.  Yes, I continue to create because it helps me function.  If I wasn't creating I would probably go crazy.  I'm thankful for the outlet.  I'm thankful for being used to share my poetry, acting, photography and that people like my work and they continue to hire me.  My kids enjoy it and they're creative as well.  It is important that I continue to create and allow that same thing for my kids.  Do I struggle.  Yeah, I do struggle but I don't let it stop me from doing what I have to do.

 

AOTCE: What reactions from your audiences were most surprising? 

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DV: I have a lot of good memories with people when they respond to my work.  I think the most memorable one was when I wrote a piece about my oldest son and this lady came up to me crying.  She said, she felt the same way about giving birth to her son and she thanked me for saying what she felt.  That's why I've grown to understand how important it is to express your art, express your gift.  Because there are people out there who think that they are alone in how they feel.  But, when you do take the time to express what god has given, you realize or they realize that they are not alone and you have done your part in creating a safe space.  It also surprise me when someone comes up to me and says that they were speechless after hearing me perform.  They say that they have never heard something like that or that it was their first open-mike, or it was their first time hearing poetry performed.  They are just in awe and I am humbled and thankful.

  

AOTCE: What other poet do you admire and take their messages to heart?

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DV: I'm gonna be honest.  I've been doing this or should I say performing over 15 years and I could name, aw man, I could name a lot of artist I've worked with.  There are a lot of artist I've seen perform that inspire me.  Let me tell you what I admire when artists perform.  I admire the courage, I admire the strength, the honesty.  It's inspiring when someone tells their deepest experiences, stories, what have you.  I am going to name someone though because I find him to be one of the most amazing people that I know.  I do say "one" but Harold Branch III continues to be one of the most incredible and I have known him for years.  John Survivor Blake is another amazing spoken word artist and he has gone on to do wonderful things in his life.  There are women.  Deanna Dean from Chicago.  I could name so many of them but what I admire the most is their courage and honesty.  I thank them for doing what they do.  Because it only pushes me to do better and it like an okay, for me, to continue to do what I do.  So, I'm thankful to them.  They are our living ancestors when it comes to poetry.

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AOTCE: Do you think of your poetry as a way of looking closely at the world and translating what you see.

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DV:  My art is very freestyle.  I don't consider my art to be structured in anyway.  My photography is like that too.  It's very real.  I don't write anything that I can't relate too.  Believe it or not, but even when I'm asked to write for an event and the event has a particular theme, I am blessed to find the relationship that I may have to it kinda nice.  My work is true to me and its written, at the end of the day, to inspire others.

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AOTCE: How do you define your poetry?

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DV:  I don't define my work, that I don't do.  When I started writing I didn't title myself a poet, other people did.  I wrote to save myself.  I have had people over the years tell me I should write a poetry book and I did.  I printed it from my home and everything.  I never printed any more copies.  I do have a poetry CD on ITunes called "The Bigger Picture" under Divine Essence.  I just don't have a desire or interest to continue writing my poetry in book form.  I enjoy being the visual for it and I like for people to hear it rather than see it.

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AOTCE: You say to "save yourself", is that a reference to what you said earlier about "sanity"?

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DV: I know the power in expressing your art.  It is bigger than you and you are considered a channel.  When I mentioned saving myself earlier I was 12 years old when I started writing.  I just moved to Phoenix from New York.  I was writing because it was my friend.  Writing was the closest thing to me.  I used writing to ask questions or to even answer questions.  I used writing to share my secrets or confessions.  So what I meant by saving myself  and using it now for sanity purposes (laughing), yeah, I guess it plays the same role.  You know as far as sanity is concerned I don't think it's healthy that your entire world revolves around your children.  I think it's important to have an outlet, to do something else, to find yourself in other ways.  So,  I guess to clarify the sanity part of it, for me, I need something else.  I love my kids and they have their thing.  Kids are in their own world.  They're learning, growing and exploring.  I don't think that stops for you as a mother and wife either.

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AOTCE: Is there a venue that you can be heard on a regular basis?

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DV:  I don't have a venue that I frequent consistently.  I do perform a lot in the valley at different venue.  I can be found performing at a conference, it could be a Rite of Passage for young women or it could be a school.  So no, I don't have a place that I perform regularly.  I also perform at correctional facilities too.  My website is Dvineforlife.org.

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 AOTCE:  It has been a real pleasure to hear your perspective on what you do and why.  Before we end is there anything else you would like people to know about you and your journey?

  

DV: The journey is not over.  My motto is "don't hold your tongue, say what you feel". 

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