LoginJuly 2021 Notable Author: Gayle Danley
“With enough passion and practice, becoming a slam poet is within your reach.” – Gayle Danley
Gayle Danley is a championship poet and grief writer. She earned a Bachelor’s of Art degree from Howard University, a Masters of Science from Syracuse University, and lives in Silver Spring, MD.
Her core belief is that while grief is unavoidable, grieving alone is not. She is a fierce advocate that poetry, especially Slam Poetry, is a highly effective medium to help children grieve because it gives kids who have pain in their hearts a tool for release…”. Gayle herself “has turned her pain and joy, courage and optimism into pages and pages of slam poetry that she shares onstage and in the classroom.” Grieving includes any loss such as having an unrealized dream, betrayal by a friend, seeing/experiencing injustice, and death of a loved one. She has made inroads in middle school language programs, helping students craft poetry that addresses such topics as bullying, divorce, family tragedy, gangs, and peer pressure. Her work with children who have suffered loss has been featured in a TedEd talk, on CBS 60 Minutes, and in articles in The Washington Post, The Baltimore Sun and The New York Times.
The Washington Post praises here work: “Gayle Danley has been earning acclaim with the power of her words for almost 15 years. She performs poetry and teaches it to children all over Maryland, inspiring almost everyone who hears her with her frank personal revelations and her ability to coax cathartic self-expression out of some of the most unlikely students.”
Gayle Danley is one of the nation’s most sought after inspirational writers and speakers on the topics of the power of performance poetry, healing from grief, and honoring those whose life work is serving others. Gayle uses this national platform to say “let’s stop pretending we aren’t hurting. Let’s truly reach out to one another and walk the difficult path of loss step by step, together.” Her Grief Friend website is an on and off line resource for people who are moving through the experience of losing a loved one.
Gayles, TEDEd Talk, “Ms. Gayle’s 5 Steps to Slam” explains in 3 minutes the 5 steps to becoming a Slam Poet: 1) Write it all down, 2) Read it Out Loud, 3 Cut the Fat, 4) Read it out loud again, 5) Add Flava. See the clip at https://ed.ted.com/lessons/become-a-slam-poet-in-five-steps-gayle-danley.
Her honors and awards include: 2018 Maryland Library Association (MLA) William G. Wilson Maryland Author Award; Young Audiences of Maryland’s National Artist of the Year, MLA Poet of the Year. Ms. Danley is on the Kennedy Center’s roster of master teaching artists providing high level arts integration workshops for language arts educators, is an Artist in Residence with the Maryland State Arts Council, and performed at the 2018 American Library Association Conference. www.GayleDanleypoet.com
Genre: Slam Poetry
Slam Poetry combines movement, voice, drama, and the written word for an unforgettable spoken word experience.
Sample Reading List: Naked, Soulfull—A Slam Poetry Study Guide, and Passionate—Poems You Can Feel.
Writer's Prompt - Fun With Words
Maryland Writers’ Association (MWA) invites you to have fun writing slam poetry like Gayle. With just 100 words, pick a grief event and write Slam Poetry.
Submit your Fun With Words response to: https://marylandwriters.org/Notable_Maryland_Authors by the 22nd of the month and receive an MWA Fun With Words submission certificate. Selected responses will be published with next month’s article as well as posted on the MWA website.
Submit Your FUN WITH WORDS Prompt
The MWA is a 33-year-old state-wide association (501c3) dedicated to encouraging and mentoring Maryland writers, poets, playwrights, and authors. Go to: www.MarylandWriters.org for more info.
Cindy Herndon
Aug. 3, 2021Writing Slam Poetry The feelings I had tamed-- The anger that had abated, The fury I had under control, The rage that was hibernating-- They are all alive and well. They have even grown while unattended. Some have flourished during my neglect. Ignoring them did not extinguish them. Like the 17-year cicadas, they are back-- BUZZING—VIBRATING--REVERBERATING! My disappointment, frustration, hurt, and ire Have found a voice. I yell, I fume, I snarl; I have flaunted my dirty laundry. But I have not changed anything. I have only spread my venom. Is it better to let a sleeping dog lie?
Teresa Ward
Aug. 3, 2021The day your soul departed your physical body and brought you eternal peace/ wrecked my world/ Your last breath. I held my breath. Tears ran endless./ Eventually I was exhausted. To keep living? Everything felt hard and heavy./ The grief journey feels like a long, hot walk through quicksand./ Wave after wave, sometimes crashing, other times lapping, but always causing me to question my ability to swim in this new water that is grief./ I am okay. And then I?m not/. Good days now outweigh bad. I see signs and know you are near./ But just out of my reach./
CIndy Herndon
Aug. 3, 2021I DO I do. He doesn’t. He said he did. He promised. “I do” was supposed To be forever. “I do”-- The promise Of dreams Family Growing old together Friendship Faithfulness. I said “I do,” But now You say “I don’t” Your “don’t” Paralyzes me. I can’t sleep. Betrayal and anger Are leeches Sucking my life. Broken promises are Frayed tightropes Flat tires Empty fuel tanks Blighted crops Each day I walk On jagged shards of glass. I bleed. I heal. I bleed, I scar. My bruised heart Is calloused by my sighs And deafened by my tears.
Jon Ketzner
Aug. 2, 2021Put Your Stuff Back Baloney! / Stop it! / Quit telling me everything’s going to be fine when it’s not going to be fine it’s never going to be fine it’s terrible / Quit your lying/ Put your stuff back / Daddy’s not going to be here everyday but he’ll be here some days some Saturdays some Sundays not everyday it’s horrible / And who’s Trisha? / I hate Trisha / Mommy won’t stop crying mommy cant’t stop screaming mommy’s bawling I’m bawling you’re leaving stop it / Stop it stop it / Put your stuff back / Put your damn stuff back
Steve Baker
Aug. 2, 2021DEATH SLAM! They sent me for a "dirt nap", 'cause I'm deader than a doornail;/ I've been deep-sixed with the worms, so the gophers bring me mail./ It seems that death has won, but please do not get squirrelly;/ I've been greeted by St. Peter, at some gates that sure are pearly./ The streets are paved with gold, and my harp is really swell;/ I turned some heads when yelling: "THIS PLACE IS NICE AS HELL!"/ Thank God my mansion's not downtown, I reside in Heaven's 'burbs;/ cloud-nine is the place to be, you're not crowded in by nerds!/ Since my body is quite dead, I do not give a poo;/ that back there upon the earth, my estate tax is now due/
Brett Dimaio
Aug. 2, 2021If you push open the heavy door/ And slip into the darkness/ And dip your fingers in the cool blessed water / And find your way by a flickering candle,/ Lit with a prayer to Almighty God to the place where you can be known as you are/ To the certainty of being understood/ For what you have done/ For what you have failed to do/ Mea culpa/ mea culpa/ mea maxima culpa/
Lawrence McGuire - Charles County
Aug. 2, 2021SOMETHING TO PASS THE TIME AWAY Mom, you lived for solitaire, Never played on screens. You worked a deck of cards marked for magic, Yet you never cheated. Night after night, you shuffled that deck, Disorder your foe. Night after night, you ordered the chaos You deliberately sowed. Whenever I asked you why play, You replied, "Something to pass the time away." Time passed away and took you with it: February 9, 2020. Your cards now lie buried in a junk drawer stinking of grease, Left in a chaos That no number of hands Will ever bring To ordered peace.