Featured photo: Jene’a Johnson
Poetry Confessions: Tea Time with the Poet Laureate
Poets are Everywhere Special: Magnifying Jene’a Johnson
It’s winter in Flint, Michigan. The landscape is the color of old slate and dusty lace. Snow this time of year is in the habit of growing gray. Children play in the yet remaining white spots while adults bundle and dream of Spring. Flint is a fascinating place filled with treasure buried beneath the urban permafrost. The greatest resource in my post-industrial home is the people. Human capital makes the gray glow. To see the glint, you may have to shovel a bit. A scoop to the left in 2013 and I uncovered the visual art of Dean Edith Withey. Another scoop to the right a few years later I found the Rosie Ray Collection. These treasures vast in community value, but seemingly veiled according to the new social media standards, made my enthusiasm explode. Immediately,I organized to help illuminate the gifts of these African American women. I thought people need to know about Withey’s paintings presented as a flora frolic in acrylic, and the master the craftsmanship of Ray expressed in ornate dolls, and cornucopia of unique conversational pieces.
My magnifying glass has migrated, and is focused on POETRY, literature, and literacy. Oh, the treasures one can find while scrolling social media. Like a laureate detective scoping the landscape searching for a bounty of words, arrested I was upon reading and rereading a turn a phrase that prompted inquiry, “Are you a writer?” I asked. The answers are found here in the first of a special edition of my column, “Poetry Confessions: Tea Time with the Poet Laureate– Poets are Everywhere!” Today we magnify emerging literary artist, Jene’a Johnson.
Poetry by Jene’a Johnson
POACHING FOR IVORY
Have you ever seen their skin?
Elephants submerged in water so that
Its mud and sin washed away with kin
Sun shines and tells its story of black
One voice singing through a sea of hate
Straining to throw his voice, a cross
Introduced to his startling fate
And found his sound taken, not lost
In fear our plight become angers
White flags waved falsely to make matters moot
Memories of being hunted and handled by strangers
Regularly hung from trees like strange fruit
We have confessed, as their bodies hit the ground
“Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown”
The Interview
- Semaj Brown: When did you begin writing poetry?
I would say I’ve been writing poetry since I could actually write. Like the moment I could string together cohesive sentences I went into “roses are red, violets are blue”. It was my kindergarten teacher, Ms. Clark I believe, who first gave me the idea that kids could create; anyone could create art for that matter. I remember writing my mom little love notes, and every English teacher I’ve had since then has left a profound mark on my mind.
- Semaj Brown: What inspires you to write poetry?
People inspire me; their passions and stories which most times, even if I’m resistant to it, will also have me reflect on myself and my life. The beauty and pain of the world, their separateness and duality… nature, knowledge and discovery, love in its many forms, its many hills and valleys. Sometimes I see other forms of art that move me to reflection, paintings and sculptures, seeing bodies dance and move with fluidity and even awkwardness or unsurety. Hearing a song and interpreting it… all inspire me to poetry.
- Semaj Brown: What are your interests and passions?
I have so many, but mostly I’m into learning and growing myself and my ability to create change in the world. I have always advocated for reform and wanted to inform people on the issues not only within ours, but communities all over this country and the world really as we’re all connected. I love to read all kinds of materials and genres that also lend to my writing voice and styles. I have this tendency to create small collections of the strangest things that I just find and categorize; foreign coins, small figurines and porcelain dolls, boxes, bells, even little jars and vials for example. I am also in love with art and creating in so many forms.
- Semaj Brown: Other than poetry, do you write in other genres such as fiction, essays, etc.?
Absolutely! I enjoy writing just for the sake of reflecting to understand my thoughts and feelings on personal and social matters that turn into prose and essays. I’ve written a few academic essays in my time as well across many topics such as immigration, poverty and politics in America, and even the occult. I write short stories that are fictional to me but could always be someone’s true experience, just as much as my life’s tales or short memoirs are always escaping onto the page.
- Semaj Brown: Who are your favorite poets? And or what is your favorite poem?
Some of my favorites include poets like my friend Alice Walker, Nikki Giovanni, Shel Silverstein, Poe and Maya Angelou. My favorite poem has been my favorite since I was in college, I even wrote a sort of mirror or response piece to it, Ego-Tripping (there may be a reason) by Nikki Giovanni. I love the poets and poems like this, what can make you see an entire scene, even if it has no root in reality or what you may perceive as real or possible. Poets that inject you with the emotion they needed to convey; that make you the main character in their play.
- Semaj Brown: What do you want for the immediate future, and your long-term future?
Currently I am focused on creating a platform, I would say, getting myself back out there so that my work can reach the audience who needs to hear what I have to say. I became a little anxious and secluded some time ago… so I’ve been healing and I’m wanting to take a step back into the light. In the grand scheme of things I want to create and have those creations result in return that can sustain not only myself but anyone I would wish to contribute to. I want my art to foster connections and one day be a part of the reason why I have and can organize shelters, recreational facilities, learning centers and community outreach programs without great difficulty.
- Semaj Brown: Are there other art forms you embrace?
Aside from writing, I am married to singing, there is literally not a day that passes where I am not singing. Not only that, I was in chorus for more than half my life, it is a huge part of who I am. I love to see live performance and instrumentation as well. I don’t think there is anything I’ve personally seen that was more moving than an opera or dance, like ballet and African dance, which I’ve also been involved in when I was younger. I draw as well as creating collages, I’m not very good at pastels and painting, but I’m sort of learning as I go because it’s always been interesting to me and I admire so many canvas artists.
- Semaj Brown: How has the pandemic affected you?
I’ve been blessed to have found gainful employment during this time, and actually took advantage of the down time beforehand to just come back into myself. I felt like I was spread very thin for a few years now, doing a lot but not actually getting anywhere with it, which lead to a sharp decline in my mental health. At the same time I started having other health issues and then the country shut down, so it was hard to get into doctor’s offices to address these problems. Outside of work, there was a lot of time to reflect and sort of figure things out before I was able to get back into therapy which helped me realize that a huge part of what was missing for me, was creating and being comfortable enough to share.
- Semaj Brown: I understand you are concerned with health equity. How does poetry intersect with such a social concern?
It has been proven over and again that art itself in any form really, improves health and social structure or understanding within societies. Poetry has the ability to translate complex concepts into a language that can easily reach many. You may be informed about new ideas for solutions as well as persisting public health inequities in your own neighborhood that you had no idea of, through poetry. Not only is it more familiar and an interesting way to communicate these kinds of topics to the younger crowds, but it is increasingly more accessible than a research paper. I think throughout history, artists have always been some of the first to address issues and demand reform even if just (and especially) through their work. Poetry in and of itself, can be medicinal.
- Semaj Brown: What advice do you have to others trying to successfully survive their teen years and early twenties?
One of the most important things anyone can decide on early in life, is to choose you first every time. There’s literally full grown adults, some you may know, who have yet to make this decision or realization for themselves and they pay for it DAILY. In my opinion it is never too early to start learning yourself; once we become cognitive, we have the responsibility of improving with everything that we consume and learn and that knowledge can never be taken from you. Find out who you are and what’s important to you as early as possible, and please, understand that there is always a choice.
- Semaj Brown: What is the role of the poet today?
The role of the poet in their creation and purpose, is inherently bring understanding to that which was potentially unknown, unseen or purposefully hidden. Poets are essentially educators, bridging the gaps in a way that clinical studies and scientific metrics have lacked in doing so. Poets bring the classroom with them to the street corner, the coffee shop and the stage. They make knowledge relatable and accessible, so their audiences gain a new respect and understanding of a point of view different from their own as well as the experiences of others.
