connecting*the*dots

Tomorrow, from 1 to 5pm, Clement Mallory is putting on the Second Annual C37Words Youth Poetry Festival at 200 N. Davie Street, next to the Cultural Arts Center and Center City Park.

From the Greensboro Public Library:

The Festival will include poetry readings along with teen steppers, games, a comedian, African drumming and dancing, music, storytellers, an open-mic, hip hop dancing and more.

The C37WORDS Poetry Program empowers young people to discover ways to earn money from their talents. Organizer Clement Mallory hopes to inspire the youth in our community by showcasing their creative efforts.

Come on down and support the youth of our community.

National Poetry Month is coming to a close in a few days, but Clement Mallory might have just put it to bed last night with a bang.

With a packed house in the lecture hall of the Greensboro Historical Museum, Clement effortlessly moved the crowd as the emcee of the competition, displaying a rare range of lyrics and emotion, delivered across numerous poems as the judges tallied their results.

But there’s something other than talent that separates Clement from his peers.

While he’s making moves as an up and coming performer, it’s his foundation as a teacher and his Brooklyn born and raised personality that makes his approach unique.

The first half of the show consisted of a teen competition and by any “standard” of a spoken word competition, the kids delivered more poetry than passion — mostly standing behind a podium and reciting their words.

But as a teacher, Clement’s concern was visibly focused on the kids growth as poets, performers and their confidence with their own voice, not their current ability to rock the stage. His realness, casualness and sense of humor seeped from his soul each time he addressed the crowd — whether killing time between acts, giving advice to the kids after the adults slammed or while making connections with his next opportunity through an ill shout out.

Before the show was even half-way through, he had the audience completely eating out of his hands.

In the end, the finals of the adult slam came down to two poets battling it out for the first place prize — Monica Daye and Keith Robinson (A.K.A. The Arsonist). If it were up to me, they both would’ve walked away with top honors.

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Keith Robinson (A.K.A. The Arsonist) ended up bringing home the $250 first prize, but it wasn’t because of this powerful drop. Let’s just say that this Marine veteran of the first Gulf War wasn’t feeling the actions of our current president.

Look for that winning slam on next week’s Lyricist Wednesday.

Another great night in GSO.

Clement is hosting the spoken word jam this Friday night. Come on down (it’s free) and you’ll have an opportunity to get to know The Future of Poetry.

Congrats again on the cover story, man.

Artist: Clement D. Mallory (Greensboro out of Brooklyn)

Song: 10 Million Dollars

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1 million, 2 million, 3 million…
1 million, 2 million, 3 million 4 million, 5 million…
1 million, 2 million, 3 million 4 million, 5 million, 6 million, 7 million…
1 million, 2 million, 3 million 4 million, 5 million, 6 million, 7 million, 8 million, 9 million…
1 million, 2 million, 3 million 4 million, 5 million, 6 million, 7 million, 8 million, 9 million, 10 million dollars!
What will I do with 10 million dollars?!
With my first million, like Oprah, I’d have a show
And you know that Russel Simmons he would be on that Def Poetry, yo
With my second million, I would give it away like Bill Cosby
My charity would be me and my family
So I would know exactly where my money is going
Right back to my black community
With my third million I would build a school with free food
Just like George “The Iceman” Gervin
But it would be the Clement D. Mallory Foundation, in parenthesis (School of Poetry)
I would take my fourth million and invest it in my own damn stock
Like my clothing, my books and my CD’s would be all be making that Dow Jones money
Like non-stop
Them I’ma bank my whole fifth million
So all I’m doing is just chillin’ — livin’ off my interest
With my sixth million, like Jay-Z, Nelly and Puffy I would own a basketball team
But of course you know it would be a youth league
Cause in reality, in would cost me much more than a million to even be a part-owner of a NBA basketball team
3/4 of my seventh million would go into real estate
250 of that would be for land that I would smack
Right in-between all the Malcolm X’s and Martin Luther King Jr. streets
Cause they gain so much more than money
700 thousand of my eighth million
I would use to do what Mrs. Antella did, which is financing a magazine
But every one of my articles would strictly be on graffiti
That leftover 300 thousand would be doled for miscellaneous things
Like, maybe I might buy some jewelry
With my ninth million, my advertising power would go straight into commercials
It would be me and Spike Lee teaming up with Hype Williams to produce some of the hottest ever made videos
And with my tenth and final million, I think with half of that I would purchase a couple of laundromats
Cause quarters make dollars
With the other half, I would put on some Jerry Lewis type Walk-a-thon
And where ever I’d go, I’d have 500 thousand dollars for 500 thousand homeless people that ask for a dollar
Yeah that’s what I’d do with 10 million dollars
With 10 million dollars, I’d be the black Bill Gates
Stay up counting my money
Like 1 million, 2 million, 3 million 4 million, 5 million, 6 million, 7 million, 8 million, 9 million, 10 million, 10 million dollars!