Stacy Dyson

Stacy Dyson is a black female poet who explores, illustrates, and illuminates the history, self-image, philosophy, life and times of the Black woman. “All those stories, all those songs, all those lifetimes. Someone has to sing for my sisters. I’m fortunate enough to be able to do that in my life.” Ms. Dyson has done one-woman shows in Oklahoma, Massachusetts, California and all over Colorado. She has published six chapbooks Black Diamonds, Obsidian Ice, Blues in the First Position, Woman 724365, Nefertiti’s Kiss, Por Innocencio and written a full-length manuscript In the Language of Sapphires. She has released three CDs The Madonna of Nevada Avenue, Por Innocencio, and A Woman Beside the Sun. An acapella vocalist, her song styles range from gospel to country to ballads to jazz. “My bio says everybody from Bonnie Raitt to Aretha Franklin. I try to sing songs that with the aim of the poetry and the feeling I get from the crowd. A playwright as well, her work For Every Sister Who Played with Fire and Got Burned was performed at the University of Northern Colorado. Her play Fannie’s Girls: A 4-1-1 in 5-Part Attitude won the Colorado Women’s Playwriting Festival. She was the Artist-in-Residence for the state of Colorado for six years and was featured on the Educational Performances Program list (both out of the Colorado Council of the Arts) for four. She is former coach of the Colorado Springs Thin Air Slam Poetry team and former director of the San Avelino Youth Guild Choir in San Luis, Colorado. Ms Dyson is the Poet Laureate for Imagination Celebration (Colorado Springs) and the CEO/lead poet of DragonsWing, a women’s art consortium. Currently touring, performing, doing program design, and presenting workshops in poetry and acappella music, Ms Dyson’s future projects include getting back into the studio this fall to record a new CD, touring individually and with DragonsWing, and making plans for performances abroad.

A sampling of Stacy’s poetry:

The black woman is forever
Symbolled
As strong, brassy, bold
Independent
Does anyone understand
That I need to cry sometimes?

This is not weakness
This is survival
The intelligence of acquiescing
To life’s caprice
Without buckling under the strain
Because if I go down, who will
Care for
My house
My heart
Everybody else?

The black woman is
Forever declared as
Fearless, brave
Courageous
Does anybody understand
That I am afraid sometimes?

This is not weakness
It is survival
The necessary decline
Into the protecting shadows
Because if I give in
Who will make a change?
Make a way
Forward?

Verbal, free of speech, declarative
The black woman is forever painted
In pose of articulate, lively
Vocalization

Does anyone understand
That I cannot always use
My voice,
Sometimes my action is required alone
Words would only defeat the purpose
Of necessary interpretation
Because if I cannot be silent
Who will dare to sing
To question
To scream outrage?

My way is older than civilization
Slightly younger than the dawn
Of what men call
Time
Too impatient to exist by other definitions
I live inside a world that needs me able
Does anyone understand
In order to do those hours justice, to create
And speak to effect, I must
Know where to speak
How to be afraid
When it is my duty to myself
To cry
Because if I fail
Who will care for

anything?