You are the poet laureate of San Antonio. How does that feel? It feels amazing and awkward. You know, because I mean, I've stepped into the role, yes, but I feel like the month leading up to it, everybody's like, what you're going to do? What you're going to do? Do something, do something, do something. And I was like, okay, okay, I'm emotional. I'm sad. I have to stay at home. And so I had to, you know, really quickly get into some space where I was clearing out my spirit so that I could make room to help other people create, because you can't help others if you don't help yourself. You know, so I had to, you know, just really spend some time doing some reflection and praying, a lot of praying. I've been doing so much of that lately and just really asking for answers, because I feel like people want, if you're in a place of influence, if you, you know, if you're a public figure, people want you to have some kind of answer for them, and they're, we don't have the answers. We really don't, we don't, we're just as lost as everybody else in a sense. But just trying to, when I speak, be mindful of the things that I'm saying and the advice that I'm giving so that I could direct people. So I did something called invite to write essay where I made a page for adults and for children and for the whole month of National Pelletry Month, I put up a prompt today where they could write to and gave them themes and stuff to emphasize. I was reading some stuff that people would write trying to give them some feedback, but not critique it. And just people were coming to me telling me, you know, online, coming to me saying, you know, my children are writing and I'm writing and I haven't done this in a while and I feel awkward or I'm going to do this for the first time. And I'm like, good, I felt so excited that I could be a part of their experience. That's awesome. So there I ask, what, what is the definition of poetry to you? Well, it's about expressing your feelings in form, in meter, in verse. And poetry is the exploration of ideals and concepts that may not be something physically tangible. But it's like, you know, our thoughts and our philosophies of life and things of that and just trying to find a way to put it into forms or even free verse, which in itself to me is a form. And some people don't think of it as valid. Music is also poetry, hip hop is poetry. I mean, it could manifest in a lot of different ways in the written form, but just thinking of, I think it's more about your meter and your cadence, how you paste it out. Yeah. Because there's a flow to it, you know. Well, so let's talk about, I mean, that was, that was beautiful. Thank you. And yeah, I think, yeah, poetry means, means what it means to everyone. And that is right on the money. And that's what you live for. And I think you can, we all have to have our own individual experiences with it because it hits us different. Poetry may come to you at a completely different time that it comes to me. But when it comes to you in the form that is for lack of a better term, edible for you, like something you can digest, then it'll hit you in a very profound way. You have to hear, hear it from certain writers or be in a certain place in your life and open to receive it. Because if you're in your place in your life, you're not open to receive the artistic, even with music is like, if you're not in a place, do you get it? It can just be background noise, T. Sorry. It can be other microphone. I guess I've been introduced to the other right now. It could just be background noise or it can, the lyrics and the music can come to the forefront and really start to move you. Absolutely. You have to be, you have to be ready, ready for it. Yeah. And that means a lot of things, but you can just be open. So, so this book, let's talk about your book. Sure. So on Valentine's Day, this year, Flower Song Press released my book. It's called She Lives in Music. And it is available on their website. It is available on Amazon. And they're the website, I'm sorry, it's FlowerSongPress.com. And you know, if you catch me out and about, I can get you a copy as well because I got some of my trunk, got some at my house, you know, stuff like that. Very good. Yeah. Everyone buy this book and donate to the telephone. Yeah. It's more important that you do that. My book will be here. It's not going anywhere, but we definitely have families in need and people in need, you know, people that are just somewhat displaced or at a disadvantage right now and we need to take care of each other as a community. Would you like to read a portion of your book or a segment? Yeah. I would definitely do, I like to do a poem in a song if I got time for it, even if I don't do a whole song. We got time, we got time, what's rock? What's ride? Can I stand up? Oh, sure. Yeah. Or is y'all want it too? You can hold the mic. I don't like holding mics, but I will stand up. Yeah, talk to the people while I do this. Okay, or not. So y'all, I know you're probably like, what's going on with this girl? A couple of things. I haven't been on stage in a while and a while for some people maybe like a year, but for me, it's like a month and a half, you know, I don't remember the last time I've ever gone this long without hitting a stage to do something and some capacity. It's my service. It's my way of expressing my love. So I'm going to, I'm excited to be back and this is a really big weekend because it's Mother's Day weekend. So shout out to all the mamas, raising children and even if you've raised your children, good job. So it's also, today there was a versus battle on Instagram that's probably still going on or wrapping up Jill Scott versus Erica by do and they are my mothers in music. I wouldn't be the artist that I am today if I didn't have their influence. So I have to dedicate this performance this evening to Jill Scott and Erica. So I issued a challenge online called the My Tongue is Challenge and it was asking the community, world community, global community to write a poem using the hashtag My Tongue is and that's the sentence starter and it could just be one of three lines. Some people wrote entire poems. I finally finished my entire poem for the My Tongue is Challenge and you make a digital poster. You can use an app like Canva to create it. So this is my first time ever reading this poem out in public and here we go. debut debut new if you're from San Antonio. That's how we start. You know what to say. My tongue is a box cutter in a bodega breaking down cardboard stereo types. My tongue is a bald ego perched before flight that just spotted a serpent in the sand My Tongue. Much like your tongue has the power to bless and curse this land and earthquake tremor reverberating through tectonic plates sending shivers through Sierra Tinge soil and concrete alike. It interlocks with Latiera forcibly to cause a cessation of mantle. My tongue lights the candle to prophesy and provoke proclamations irrigates water into thirsty reservations turning them into reservoirs. Summons manate to instarvation. I feel hungry mouths with heavenly bread. I speak proclamations to break the silence for those who have bled from domestic violence and human trafficking in the shadows of deprivation. I speak to the innermost part of the heart where desires and thoughts take root. I speak for the protection of the future generations to protect our youth. My tongue is a tambourine of testimonies quivering utterances of truth. Let an oil drum leak from these lips and anoint the airwaves with hope. The same hope that I have been given is spilling out upon me and my entire being. My guts wreak with the glory that's been bestowed upon me. No dilution of fate, no pollution of grace, a filtration system of wisdom, rinsing souls and understanding, but never ringing them out to dry. I only fear the one who sent me his angelic hosts or by my side. They sound the trumpet and the harvest is nigh. We will reap what we have sown with our words after they have matured on the vine. My lips are right for the picking just like your ears are right for the listening. There is nothing sweeter than the lava leaping from my lips tonight, piping hot, scorched with burning calls and inked with the scrolls of life. May they unfold, unrestricted and uninhibited, irradiate your eyes with light. Thank you very much.