Photo (L to R: Prentice Powell, friend Shaunte B., myself and K-Love) by TC Photography
Solace Souls Coalition & Open Mic is a coalition of artists from Chicago and surrounding areas who have come together to entertain, give back to the community, and create a stage for artists all over the state of Illinois to come and share their talents. “We are actively fighting the stereotype that all young ethnic people in the urban communities of Chicago are destined to be a stereotype.”
That mission fits perfectly with one of the features who graced the stage at the Solace Souls 2nd Anniversary show on January 15, 2017. Spoken Word artist Prentice Powell visited Chicago to share his gifts and shed a positive light on Black fatherhood.
“They don’t see us, and they think that we abandon our children. They never see us crying. They don’t show us like that on TV, so I was grateful for the opportunity. I was going to have an opportunity to talk in front of millions of people, that they saw a representation of us that they don’t see often, and that’s a father who loves and misses his son.”
His poem “Good Father” was what helped bring his work to light when he performed it on the Arsenio Hall Show in 2014:
I talked with Powell before he hit the stage at the Solace Souls anniversary show on the motivation behind this piece that changed his life. “It’s really nothing more than a father heartbroken, I go through it every day. It’s never easy to know that your son is 3,000 miles away.” Powell, who lives in Oakland, California and who’s son, now age 8, lives in Florida.
“To me that’s not a poem, that’s real and every time I do it I feel a certain type of way afterwards—I feel drained. But what I did learn is that your pain can do a lot for other people.”
Don’t be selfish with your gift, your joy, your blessing or your pain because something that hurts you can heal somebody else.
Since he delivered that poem two years ago he’s been receiving emails and letters from people all over the world, especially fathers, with photos, letters and even good news about gaining custody of their own children.
[bctt tweet=”“I realized that my pain could help other people…”” username=”BLISS_BCS”]
Featured artists Prentice Powell and K-Love (center) pose with Solace Souls Sundays Coaliton’s Kent Wade and Jerode “Jernoimo” Rodgers.
“Poetry is really therapeutic for me. I’ve been blessed to have an avenue where I can articulate myself in a way to express exactly how I feel. It’s going to be no question that I cared about him, that’s what’s most important to me,” said Powell sharing what he wants his son to realize about the piece when he’s older.
He recently finished a poem on a letter to his wife’s exes which he performed at the anniversary showcase. One of my favorite lines from this piece is:
“I get it she’s rare, like an unfinished novel but somehow already a classic. The best book I’ve ever spoken to and you are blessed to be a chapter in her story and I can only continue to hope to grace the blank pages that have yet to be written…”
Prentice admits that he doesn’t do poetry on love topics often; when it comes to love and sex he tends to keep those topics private. But it can easily become a cliche’ topic in the poetry world and online as we all see everyday with #RelationshipGoals.
“There’s that social media side, but what people don’t see or ever talk about is the flip side, the thing that allows you to sustain that type of love. I think that love is a lot deeper than people acknowledge.”
“You haven’t felt true love until the day your soul helps your broken heart pick up its own pieces…” -Prentice Powell (excerpt from a spoken word piece)
Prentice Powell performs at the Solace Souls Sundays Coalition’s 2nd Anniversary show in Chicago.
The challenge for Powell is to write about things that “make me uncomfortable so that I can become comfortable. I really want to master this craft—that’s my goal; I want to be great at this.”
This year his goals are to be on a Grammy campaign and perform at least three major awards shows. His ultimate goal is to fill up an arena doing his work. “I respect the coffee shop, that’s where I came from, but I want more. So I want to do something different that people haven’t done with our art craft…”
When it comes to being in Chicago, the people remind him of home in Oakland. “Beyond writers they’re good people. The people in Chicago really are authentic, they don’t put on facades…there’s no question where they’re from.” And that’s what Solace Souls is about. They host spoken word artist, poets, musicians, dancers and more to their open mic and showcase every third Sunday evening in the South Shore neighborhood in Chicago.
For more on Prentice Powell, you can listen to his work, share and support: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and his website will be launching soon.
