V.S. Chochezi has performed at hundreds of venues, often with her mother Staajabu as half of the spoken word poetry duo Straight Out Scribes. The duo self-published seven poetry collections and two poetry cds with music. Chochezi’s work appears in several publications including Drum Voices Revue; Poetry Now; and Speak, Write, Dream. Much of her work is available through Amazon. Chochezi is an educator and holds a bachelor's degree in journalism from Delaware State University and a master's degree in communication studies from California State University, Sacramento, yet often incorporates Ebonics and street slang dialect into her speech and writing.

Morning early
Foreground sunny
Horizon hazy
Eyes resisting wakefulness

Insistent knocking
Easing from luxurious rest
No tents, tin pots or open
Firepits on this trip
Just the way I like it
Fireplace comfort
Spa tub jets set

Blinds slip slit open
Searching a golden tinged landscape
Of treetops
Fanned tail flutters from
Window ledge
Knocking continues

Further inspection reveals
Several redheaded woodpeckers
And I wonder, as I often do about
Nature’s creatures

Here, surrounded by
Manicured wilderness
With hundreds of trees
In all types of varieties
In red gold and autumn green
Why would woodpeckers
Converge on this building

Pecking balcony
And wooden trimming
Risking injury
They make no noticeable progress
Beyond chipped paint
I imagine their beaks crumpling
Cracking and splitting

Wings spread
Black bodies with startling
White patches
Fly by my window
And returning
To the exact same spot
Knocking continues
Joined by a human element

Early morning
Friends at my suite room door
Sleeping in is no longer
An option
Time to write

V.S. Chochezi (November, 2011)

Daughter of ex-slaves
Woman of my grandmother’s generation
Her art was more
Than an appreciation of beauty
Her heart more than swelled for the aesthetic
Her heart ached and her art served
As social commentary

Reflecting her passion and values
Reflecting her appreciation of Black struggle
Workers and womanhood
She practiced solidarity and chose

Not fleeing, not a fugitive
But a conscientious objector to
A racist America, she opted to
Live the majority de su vida
Painting and sculpting black
And brown gente
Among a rich Mexican terrain

And though she now rests
Among the ancestors
Her creations will undoubtedly
Continue to inspire generations
To express not just for art sake
But to uplift, honor, respect and
Stand up for justice.

Long live Elizabeth Catlett.
Viva!

Amen and Ashe.

-V.S. Chochezi (April 15, 2012)

Perhaps elsewhere also

But overtly apparent In America

Most bellies are never empty

Most brains are primarily preoccupied

While most minds and spirits are

Mostly malnourished

Practically never content

Ever seeking, craving, hungering,

Needing to be fed

Love starved

Needing to be satisfied

Needing to be fulfilled

Love sick

Needing to be healed

Needing to be held

Attention deficient

Wailing heart

Soul deprived

Perhaps elsewhere too

-V.S. Chochezi

I want to write in all the languages of the world

I want to speak all the languages of the world

I want to think in a language different from that of the enslavers

And I know I will never learn all the languages of the world

But I will learn all the languages that I can


I am a daughter of Africa

What a shame that English will always be my first language

And the first language of my daughters

What a shame that my first language wasn't Yoruba, Ibo, Xhosa, Zulu

or some other African language

I am a daughter of Africa

You know it is hard to think African in English,
Something gets lost in the translation.


Lugha (Swahili translation)

Natamani kuwaandikia lugha zote duniani

Natamani zungumza lugha zote duniani

Natamani kufikiri kwa lugha mbali na ile ya utumwa

Najua sitajifunza lugha zote za dunia

ila nitajifunza lugha zote nitakazoweza

Kama binti wa kiafrika,


ni aibu kingereza kuwa lugha yangu ya kwanza siku zote.

 Na lugha ya kwanza kwa mabinti zangu.

Ni aibu kwamba lugha yangu ya kwanza sio, Yoruba, Ibo, Xhosa, Kizulu

ama lugha nyingine za Kiafrika.

Kama binti wa kiafrika,

Unajua ni vigumu kufikiri kiafrika kwa Kingereza,

nadhani kuna kitu kimetoweka katika tafsiri.

-V.S. Chochezi

Special thanks for KiSwahili translation by Sorael Lugalla

_________________

Natamani - meaning 'i desire, i want to'
That i can nitakazoweza
(f possible ikiwezekana)

For all the nonbelievers
especially those who have given up on love

You will find love here

Love is here, right here
Look for it

It is not at all hidden
It is pouring out through the spaces
Between the words
Blackening these clean white pages

You will find love here
See it?
Flying off the page in 3D
Feel me?

Love is here
Right before your eyes
Take your mind off the thighs
And all that lies beneath see
If you can’t find love maybe it’s not what
You tend to seek

Love is a tricky thing
It’s colorless, tasteless, odorless,
Yet infiltrates and fills the air
You CAN feel it, thick like humidity
Frizzin up your hair

Or hot like a Sacramento summer day
Makin sweat rivulets down your back
Or sweet like the misty aroma of freshly peeled
Tangerines or hot apple pie smells floating on airwaves
From the kitchen through the whole house out cracked windows
And halfway down the block

Or musty like after lovemaking
Mixed with scented candles and incense
Or crisp and clean like at the top of a mountain
Burning your lungs a little
In early morning sunlight
Or fresh and steamy like the air carried on breezes
Blowing off the ocean at sunset

Hear it carried on waves slapping against the shore or
Sound waves through saxophone runs
Piano rifts, soulful melodies and the tracks and
Songs of my sole lover?
Can you hear it?

There is love here no doubt
Sliding from the gap in my teeth
Straight to your temple so
Be careful cause love can lead you to
Places you were not prepared to go

Close your eyes, cover your ears
And hide your heart
I promise you there is love here
In every fiber of my being 
It’s open and inescapable
Be wary lest it overwhelm you

There is love here
Right here, where you will find it
If you dare
To bear witness
That love lives
In this love sphere.

-V.S. Chochezi