There are multiple themes that I try to touch on in my poem, love, wanderlust, youth, memory, but the biggest one is how people affect others. Everyone leaves some sort of an imprint on someone else, I like trying to look at how that can influence where people go from there and how they are as people afterwards.
Watch the Poetry Reading – PLANTING SEEDS
Poetry performed by actor Amaka Umeh
Get to know Abu B. Rafique
1) What is the theme of your poem?
There are multiple themes that I try to touch on in my poem, love, wanderlust, youth, memory, but the biggest one is how people affect others. Everyone leaves some sort of an imprint on someone else, I like trying to look at how that can influence where people go from there and how they are as people afterwards.
2) How would you like people to respond when they read or watch your poetry reading?
Preferably in a good way, I’d be a little put off if someone absolutely hated me or something. But the fact that they react is the most important thing no reaction would just make me feel like I did nothing with my words.
3) How long have you been writing poetry?
Since I was six years old. The first one I remember writing was about chicks. It’s the definitive work of a generation honestly.
4) Do you have a favorite poet?
That’s a hard one. If you threw together William Carlos Williams, Sylvia Plath, Rumi, and Allen Ginsberg, that’d probably be my favorite poet.
5) What influenced you to submit to the festival and have your poetry performed by a professional actor?
The chance to have another platform to share my work with people.
6) Do you write other works? scripts? Short Stories? Etc..?
Yes. I’ve got four books out actually, “Leave the Rice on the Windowsill (short story collection),” “Let’s Go Wandering (poetry collection),” “The Other Side of it All (more short stories),” and “The Chaotic Caffeine Fueled Collection (short stories and poetry).”
Four:
If I told you that I want all of this to be like this thirty years from now,
Would you call me hopeful, or stupid?
Do you think we’ll stay? Or will one of us go?
If I get lost,
I hope to go in a circle,
And wind up back with you.”
Genre: Nostalgia, Wanderlust, Youth, Love, and Melancholy
Planting Seeds by Abu B. Rafique
One:
Sometimes I wonder, if I’m remembering something hard enough, are you remembering it too?
It’s like smoke now, slightly sweet,
And overwhelming,
And enough to make me dizzy if there’s too much.
I saw you in your pale yellow sundress with a tired smile on your face,
And the sun setting around us filled the sky with a pink light that made you shimmer as you walked,
I wished then that I didn’t have to leave anymore.
You and I walked two miles up the dirt road to your home,
And you showed me your grandfather’s apple trees,
You asked where I was going and then told me where you would like to go.
I remember the smell of,
Apples,
Your perfume,
And the candles inside.
You gave me a necklace before I left and you seemed to understand.
I’ve met many since then, but none seem to UNDERSTAND.
I think of you,
Often.
Two:
Where should we go?
Should we go,
North? To Canada?
Or west? To California?
Maybe south? To Georgia?
Should we live up in the mountains?
Out in the desert?
In a lonely cabin?
Does it have to be “we?”
You can stay,
I don’t like me, so I’ll go.
And keep going.
Maybe, eventually, I’ll be able to get away,
Maybe not.
I guess I’ll go,
And find out.
Three:
You sit there in your denim jacket,
And black jeans,
And black boots,
And colorful hairbands on your fingers,
With your hair tied back in a ponytail.
And you want to give a chance,
And get a chance,
And stop pushing away,
Or running away from,
Everyone who tries to love you.
Four:
If I told you that I want all of this to be like this thirty years from now,
Would you call me hopeful, or stupid?
Do you think we’ll stay? Or will one of us go?
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