Writing came to me early.
Before I fully understood what I was doing, I was already reaching for words as a way to translate what I felt, what I noticed, and what I could not always say out loud. Writing and art have always lived close together for me. Art gives shape to what can be seen. Words give form to what moves invisibly beneath the surface.
I believe words are one of the invisible aspects of the Creator. They carry power before they ever become sound. They can build, expose, comfort, provoke, heal, preserve, and resurrect. I have always been good with words, but poetry came to me differently. It felt natural. It felt like something I did not have to chase. It was already there.
My journey with spoken word became public in Atlanta in 2005, when I began performing on the poetry scene. From there, I went on to host open mics for several years, creating space for other voices while continuing to sharpen my own. Poetry gave me a stage, a community, and a way to speak truth in rooms where people came to feel something real.
Eventually, I stepped away from the scene. Part of that decision stemmed from the politics and drama that often play out in creative spaces. But part of it was also personal. I started feeling conflicted. I could get on stage and deliver a heavy poem about the state of the world, injustice, community, or survival, then sit down and drink my mocha latte like I had not just spoken about something everybody in the room should have been deeply concerned about.
The wild part is that many of the things I spoke about back then have come to pass in some form. That is the thing about poetry. Sometimes it is not just an expression. Sometimes it is a warning and/or a witness. Sometimes it is prophecy wearing regular clothes.
Although I have not been active on the spoken word scene for years, I never stopped creating. Poetry remains part of my foundation. It is in the way I write, the way I think, the way I tell the truth, and the way I process the world around me.
In 2009, I released my first poetry book, The Black Chronicles. I am also a published contributing author in the anthology You are Valuable. Those works are part of my creative archive and part of the path that shaped BlaqKharma as both a writer and spoken word artist.
This page honors that part of me: the poems, the performances, the books, the stages, the silence, the distance, and the return to creating on my own terms.
All original works by BlaqKharma.