YYC POP: Poetic Portraits of Poetry, a Sheri-D Wilson Laureate Project

Tempermental Calgary

– aloT of Poetry

It was a sunny day in Calgary
Until it wasn’t.
Seeking shelter from the cold
Heart’s turn to rain
Rain turns to snow and ice

Almost frozen to the bone.
Stumbling upon a blue coloured door
You were still a stranger
In this place that felt strangely like home

Peeking through your mind’s door
Tip-toeing inside
That feeling of being there before

You have pictures on the wall
Hung like they spoke to each other
And organised perfectly
In disorganised lines

Each portrait was a landscape
Each landscape is a person
That you’ve been on a journey with

You ask for nothing less
Nothing more.
That a person’s whole self.
There is not judgement in your voice
Only love at it’s depth.

Your kitchen smells like freshly steamed rice
Your favourtie food no doubt
Your dishes are piled up
Not nothing
But not too much.

The studio
where people can hear your music play
Lyrics of your past
Beats of your tomorrow
And melodies linking them together
In the most beautiful way.

Up the stairs to your second layer
The balcony just touching the sky
and the bedroom
Filled with the aura of you
No more than any other room

This one is different
Because the door is always closed.
This is the room where you chose to only know a certain person
Bringing Peace in the Bridge that brought you together.
That brought you here
In this windy city
where you stayed
In Calgary’s temperamental weather

aloT of Poetry

Nigerian roots. Raised in South Africa. Currently conquering the Canadian art scene. Starting off as a member of The University of Calgary Spoken Word Club, this November 2019 Calgary Slam Champion has been a featured artist at: Raw Voices, Radical and Radiant “The Talks” during Black History Month, the “I Am Sudan” Charity dinner, Expressions: Spoken Word at Koi, YYC African Fashion Week, The People’s Poetry Festival, Koi Open Mic Night, Woolf’s Voices and Cabarets at the Arts Commons. She just released her first spoken word video for her crowd favourite poem: “Womxn” as a commentary on the treatment of womxn in society. By sharing her anxiety, pain, laughter and love she aims to build a community that encourages anyone and everyone to love themselves and be unapologetic about it.

Photo of aloT of Poetry