Local Lyrics hosted by John Wojtowicz appears on the 3rd Monday of each month. In it, John features the work and musings of a local poet.
“I think that my poetic aesthetic is highly influenced by the Black Arts Movement (ntozake shange, Nikki Giovanni, James Baldwin, etc), but I am also highly influenced by hip hop & slam. I love poetry collections from folks that bring skills & conversations from outside of the poetry bubble to the table. “
For Black Kids from the Around the Way Who Considered a Degree when the Funeral Dirge Wasn’t Enuf
By Mant¿s
At one point, someone will try to teach you/ that your home don’t got
trees. Don’t let them/ twist
that lie on their tongue/ like scorched roots
because they can’t fathom how your hair stands
up like branches. If they got
a rainforest/ growing on their head like you do, /
they may have forgotten how a village holds
its heartbeat on a grassland, but don’t let them/ tell you the hood don’t got
trees. When you walk into a lecture, / someone will try
to teach you/ that your house lives between
a pit bull’s tooth and a sharp place/ they will try
to teach you the only space for your head/ is hanging
off of tennis shoes on the telephone wire, but don’t
let them/ tell you that a concrete jungle don’t got
trees. How else would you breathe? / How else
would you have a pulse pushing precious
craft, creativity unmatched, / underpaid, / underappreciated
but isolated on a pedestal of commercial
Blackness? / These false prophets and teachers will try
to tell you that you grew up in a desert/ as if you weren’t the oasis.
That means they would have to face you/ as an original.
That means you’d have to embrace your dual realities/ and your right to carry
dual talents. Don’t let them/ tell you that the hood don’t got
trees and claim a drill sound/ about pushing pounds/ and counting
green in their next breath. / Ask them if the hood don’t got
trees, then how the hell can you breathe? / The next time they try
to teach you/ the hood don’t got trees, tell them
you’re taking Johnny Coltrane out their canon.
The next time they try
to teach you/ the slums can’t talk right, / tell them
they got no right to speak August Wilson’s name. The next they try
to teach you/ that the way the block moves is too sketchy/ tell them
they can’t keep up with Judith Jamison’s feet. / The next time they try
to teach you/ that the sidewalk can’t glitter gold, show them
how Pepper LeBeija built a beautiful house. / Don’t be fooled
by the textbook tricks and realtor rewrites of history. / It will kill you
faster than any bullet can, that method of miseducation/ is worse
than murder and surviving it/ makes you more
immortal than the names you raise, because when I say nephs /
it’s a prayer/ and a call/ and a memory growing
deeper than roots. / You don’t have to be a martyr, / nor married
to a struggle you didn’t ask for, / you don’t have to be an icon,
but do you know/ how much ground you’ve already
broke/ by simply/ being/ here?
Photo Credit: Angel IG : @no.silhouette
We are going to talk about you as a writer but who are you when you are not writing?
I learn to heal. I’m currently a part of a year-long cohort of Elemental Health Coaches in training with House of Umi, where I learn to offer holistic preventative health care in the ways that my ancestors did. I’m a nurturer, a music lover, a womanist, an evolving spirit, an astrology nerd, an animation geek, & I really love finding new plant based recipes, because I’m a foodie. I also am a self-taught web designer!
How would you describe your poetic aesthetic?
Definitely concerned with image and voice. I think that my poetic aesthetic is highly influenced by the Black Arts Movement (ntozake shange, Nikki Giovanni, James Baldwin, etc), but I also am highly influenced by hip hop & slam. I love poetry collections from folks that bring skills & conversations from outside of the poetry bubble to the table. So that’s Tupac, ntozake shange, James Baldwin’s ONE poetry collection, Gil Scot Heron, William Carlos Williams, and so many more. I even see TV shows like Random Acts of Flyness functioning as poems.
My poetic aesthetic is preparing language for healing as you would prepare plant matter for healing.
Your work is infused with topics relating to contemporary culture and empowerment. How is the current state of the world influencing your writing?
In the midst of a global pandemic and international uprising during late stage capitalism...I thought it'd be a good time to make my writing internal. I’ve got plenty of poetry about how I’m a Black femme that’s impacted or striking back at the systems of the world, but the poetry I’m writing for a full-length collection (since I’m currently shopping a chapbook manuscript as we speak) is a lot more fleshy. By that I mean I’m less concerned with rhetoric and more interested in letting the reader play with my goggles. I’ve always written honestly but I feel less like “nobody’s talking about this so I will” and more like “nobody is going to talk about this like I will.”
How does social media play a role in your identity as a writer and as a vehicle to promote your writing?
Social media is how I make my announcements honestly Instagram is for updates and inviting people to the process of anything I’m creating (whether it is simply my day-to-day life). Twitter is where I let my excess thoughts shake off and I keep an eye on what’s happening in the literary community, with opportunities and such. Sometimes what I see on Twitter will turn to a poem or a blog post or a little rant. TikTok is a platform that I honestly learn and laugh a lot, and as an older Gen Z-er, I’m amazed at how the youth are becoming better storytellers. It’s truly interesting.
I’m finishing my site though, because I recognize that the platforms do not belong to me. They can disappear with code errors or the government continuing to sign digital fascism into law. It could happen with one keystroke or the stroke of a pen.
What does your process look like when that all-possible-blank-page is in front of you?
Usually poems come to me and I refine them. But when I’ve been commissioned for work or assigned work, I’ll freewrite or start connecting something I’ve been researching to what I want to express in the poem. I love jam sessions as well, it’s something that I’ve had trouble with going to during a pandemic and a part of the process I do miss. I definitely listen to music to focus, especially if I’m borrowing some lyrical techniques.
Where can readers find more of your work?
I have a forthcoming fiction piece in Issue Two of Stanchion Zine, available for pre-order. I have forthcoming poetry in Genre Urban Arts’ anthology, Femme Literati! For past blog posts, until I’m done with the site, you can visit my Patreon, which is in the linktree in my Instagram bio, @mantiswrites. Also, I’ll be reading at a virtual event held through The Frick Pittsburgh, hosted by Deesha Philyaw and Vanessa German, the editors of the tender anthology (where you can also find my work)! It takes place October 27th, and you can register at thefrickpittsburgh.org.
Mant¿s is a visionary poet who writes for personal and community wellness. A Black queer femme who is Pittsburgh born, and Hill District raised, Mant¿s is currently the artist-in-residence at the Arthouse in Homewood, where she is focusing on developing her bodies of work, freelancing career, and education as a holistic wellness coach through House of Umi’s year-long incubator program. To follow her work, bookmark www.mantiswrites.com as she updates her site, or visit her on Instagram @mantiswrites.
“Catfish” John Wojtowicz grew up working on his family’s azalea and rhododendron nursery in the backwoods of what Ginsberg dubbed “nowhere Zen New Jersey.” Currently, he works as a licensed social worker and adjunct professor. He has been featured in the Philadelphia based Moonstone Poetry series, West-Chester based Livin’ on Luck, Mad Poets Society, and Rowan University’s Writer’s Roundtable on 89.7 WGLS-FM. Find out more at: www.catfishjohnpoetry.com