Introducing Azure Antoinette, Our Poetry Workshop Host!

As emcee of She’s the First Poetry Month, I was so lucky to have the chance to interview Azure Antoinette, featured in this month’s issue of O, the Oprah Magazine as a notable spoken-word poet.

Ms. Antoinette will lead a workshop on the art of performance poetry with students at the Young Women’s Leadership School in Brooklyn this Tuesday with She’s the First. These girls will gain an understanding of their global sisters in the She’s the First directory, some of whom have written poetry published in our blog, as they pen and perform their own words.

To drum up some excitement for the week ahead, I called Azure in the midst of her travels for an interview. Once again, a special thank you to Azure for volunteering to fly out to New York City to take part in this special workshop! We can’t wait to meet her in person in 24 hours!

STF: We were lucky enough to find you via Twitter as we searched for a poet to lead a workshop in a Brooklyn school. What prompted you to get involved with our She’s the First initiative?

Azure: I first saw it on the @girlswritenow timeline. I don’t always jump at the first thing I see, but what inspired me about the posting was that it was a push. It was a tool reminding young women to make sure that they continue to educate themselves. There is a large pull from the media for beauty and vanity these days but they rarely speak about education the majority of conversation lies around reality TV shows.

I don’t find there are a lot of organizations that are popular, that have a young, fresh appeal to them but also encourage education in young women. I thought She’s the First was a great cause. It urges young women to get out there and make the most educated decision for themselves.

Plus the fact that we were able to connect so quickly on Twitter was great! It’s serendipitous.

STF: Yes, it absolutely is! You’re considered a “voice poet.” Can you define that for us in your own words?

Azure: Well, I do page poetry and stage poetry. I am a performer. Last year I spent a great deal of time working with Maria Shriver, who was the First Lady of California, on her campaign focused on women doing great things in society.

My gift, my blessing, is being able to listen to other people and put that into words. Getting a chance to write first and then perform that is just a dream job. I do page poetry but performance poetry is being able to take it out of the book and give it life.

STF: When did this passion for poetry arise?

Azure: I have been writing since I was very young but my passion initially was music. I didn’t start writing professionally until my early 20s. I started working with a literacy nonprofit in Los Angeles where they used classic authors and their works as recitation tools.

It is important when you are able to get someone else’s words in your body and deliver them seamlessly. You cannot understand where you are going until you know what has passed before you.

I really enjoy listening to people and turning their stories back out into a poem. It is one of the most exciting things that I am able to do.  It just took me a while to find it.

STF: That is certainly a dream come true and you are definitely making strides! You were recognized this month as an Oprah-approved poet, can you describe that feeling?

Azure: I was backstage after just getting off stage at the Minerva finale awards. I was catching up with Mrs. Shriver. There were 15 thousand people in the audience and millions watching live via webcast. And then about an hour later, after Oprah got off stage, she came out of security and looked at me and said, “You were amazing. Thank you,” and I just said, “You are welcome, Oprah Winfrey.” What do you say to that?

A month later one of the editors at Oprah said they wanted to interview me. And they asked if I was interested. I had to ask, “Do people ever tell you no?” The article came out and it was awesome! I cannot even say it was a dream come true because I don’t think I ever dreamt that. It was a wonderful surprise and a blessing.

I got signed to a national speaking agency after that and they have been wonderful in booking me all over the United States.

STF: When you are speaking all over the country, would you say there is a theme to the poetry you deliver? A common thread in what you speak about?

Azure: I speak about passion, telling your story, speaking to one another aside from technology. It was 2007 or 2008 when I was really confronted with how quickly things were moving. I sent my mother a text for Mother’s day. And she is the one who always taught me if you give people nothing else, you always get them a card. It is just taking the five minutes to write out a card and yet we mass text one another. And it is getting out control.

It’s the fact that we have gotten away from the basic human condition. Although we are able to multitask we have forgotten what handshakes feel like.

Especially when you go to dinner and everyone’s faces are illuminated by their electronic devices. I think the human condition is going viral.

STF: And so you use poetry to express these things, what is it about poetry that makes you so drawn to it?

Azure: Poetry has helped me to express myself. I love it as much as I do because there are not any rules. Especially with young women, they find they are constantly told that they are not enough and poetry doesn’t have those rules. It just wants you to express yourself.

Poets have a bad rap of being misunderstood but poetry can be relatable. I think the person who really got to me on that level was Maya Angelou. She really showed me that if you are going to love something, then leave your mark. And she has definitely left a mark with the world as we know it.

It is people like that who completely inspire me. You have to really be about something. Whether that’s accounting or cleaning the floor or painting, just be passionate about it.

STF: Well we are very excited to have you at the Young Women’s Leadership Network school in Brooklyn on the 19^th of April! Are you able to give us a sneak peek of what to expect?

Azure: Sure! We are going to do a workshop for a couple hours and what I like to do is called free writing. I will give the girls a phrase or a slogan and its writing where your pen can’t leave the paper for 15 minutes. Then I will invite them to come up and read and soon everyone wants to share. It’s the sharing that is inspirational.

STF: We are looking forward to that! Throughout the weeks of our poetry campaign we are asking our followers and supporters to answer our Twitter prompts, “If the world was your classroom, what would you give a girl?” What do you think your answer would be to that question?

Azure: I would give her encouragement. I would give her affirmations. Tell her very simply that she is enough. I think that we don’t encourage each other enough. You get stuck in your own head and your rationale and sensibility and then we do nothing at all. And then the world misses out. You have to give whatever you have been given to the world or else the world will miss out.