During the height of the Ferguson unrest, poet and activist Cheeraz Gormon was a constant presence on the frontlines.
Sometimes she was righteous anger personified during protests and community programming.
In other moments she was sharing words inspired by the tragic turn of events in the region’s backyard that gripped a nation.
But last Saturday it was all about love as she celebrated a milestone at the Centene Center for the Arts.
A diverse group of family, friends, supporters and fellow artists came to help Gormon commemorate the one-year anniversary of her book of poems entitled “In the Midst of loving” with a special live performance.
Accompanied by a live band and backup singers, she shared a sizable portion of the book – 18 poems – over the course of the evening.
With one broad stroke, “In the Midst of Loving” explicitly covers nearly every range of emotion that comes with thoughts, feeling and act of love – including how the absence of love (for self, others and community) can impact one’s soul.
A body of work 14 years in the making, Gormon’s first published book of poetry also deals with suicidal tendencies, urban decay and the complexities of black women’s quest for self-acceptance among the mainstream Eurocentric standards of beauty.
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He said he wanted a white girl with a black girl’s [expletive]…
Street smarts wrapped in a Caucasian shell
I try my best to forgive
Pull facts from the history books
To reason with his pathology
To strip the non-from the sense
But it’s evident he just wants pieces of me
The topics and subject matter of “In the Midst of Loving” may sound contrasting, but through her wordplay Gormon packaged them together so cleverly the book reads like the lyrics of a conceptual soul music album.
Gormon’s live presentation of “In the Midst of Loving” spoke to the experiences of Generation X and Millennials, but bridged the gap between the elder generation by being set to the music of Sade, Stevie Wonder and Maze featuring Frankie Beverly, among others.
The cadence of her delivery caught the groove of the music with precision.
New-school problems with old-school music – everyone seemed to relate as Gormon met them in the middle.Â
Beautiful Sad Girl, Only if you know that you were good enough maybe you wouldn’t grind your teeth when you slept. Maybe if you didn’t give other people’s opinions so much credit you wouldn’t sit at home on beautiful days staring out the window of your 13th floor apartment overlooking the Willamette River feeling lost.Â
She unapologetically and fearlessly expressed feelings and thoughts that many share internally, but are often afraid to even whisper aloud out of fear of disrespecting the legacy of the strong, successful black superwoman who can easily bear the constant weight and burdens of society in a fierce pair of stilettos.
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Job…check
Man…check
Bank account…check
Wanting to checkout
Because the outside doesn’t reflect the same emptiness you feel within
As she revealed the intimate truths of herself and others through her work, she connected with the audience in a special way. Her listeners also seemed to find pieces of their own matters of the heart within her selection of poems.
“Love makes no promises,” Gormon said. “Only humans do.”
For more about Cheeraz Gormon, or to purchase a copy of “In the Midst of Loving,” visit http://www.cheerazgormon.com/.
