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Bridge Across AtlanticHere is what the talk is all about. This is the story more than a thousand years telling. It travels from the ancient paths of Africa to the superhiways of America. It is about love, it is about hate, it is about joy, it is about pain, it is an America story as it has never been told before. Read an Excerpt. Here's a Q and A with the author, IBé. See what people are saying. If you are so moved, click the button below to get your very own copy. If you live in Minnesota, you can find it at these local stores. Or you can always buy it from Amazon.com. An Excerpt from the book, Bridge Across AtlanticOrphan I miss you Mother (Chopping) (Typing) The other day My busted pants you used to sew I miss you mother I miss the way you walk I miss you Mother Sometimes when I walk into my apartment “Treat people like they want to be treated.” See, when you thought I was not listening I miss you mother You want to know a secret? Mother Nine years I miss you, miss you so much Q and A with the AuthorQ: So, IBé, you are a poet now? A: You don’t become a “poet now”. Is a poet, was a poet, will always be a poet. Anyway, I like to think of myself as a writer. Q: Finally, you got a book on the shelves. How does it fell? A: Like a big load off my shoulders. Wow! It’s exciting. But man it’s a lot of work. I didn’t know writing was the easiest part of writing a book. I’m proud of myself. This is something I’ve wanted to do a long time, and spend many months and years preparing. I’m glad it’s finally here. Q: Self-published...is that code word for not good enough to be published? A: It's code word for writer freedom, for some editor fell asleep and let a gem fall off his desk. But, you're right though, that's the first thing that pops up in people's head as soon as they hear "self" attached to "publish". But the truth is publishers don't reject a manuscript because it is not good. They reject it because they don't see a market for it. But as we all know the market (or people's belief in it) gets it wrong many times. At first they got D.H. Lawrence wrong, at one point or the other got Mark Twain wrong, Whitman wrong, DuBois wrong. And the list goes on. It sounds to be I'm in great company. Q: Is this the book you’ve always wanted to write? A: It is definitely one of the books I’ve always wanted to write. There are lots of books I want to write. And I hope one day I get a chance to. Even as we speak, I’m working on my next. Look around you, everywhere stories are crying to be told. I will be damned if I let them go to waste without trying my hardest to grab some. Q: How long did it take you to write this book? A: How long? When something is part of you it’s hard to give it any time stamp short of your entire life. But I can tell you the oldest poem in this book is about 8 years old. And I started putting together the collection at least some three years ago. I’m not going to say I spent all that time getting it together, but it definitely took some hours. Q: I heard you are quite the prolific writer. You must have like a thousand poems written… A: I’m not counting, but quite possible. Q: So how many poems in this book? A: About twenty. Some very long ones. Q: Yeah, yeah, I heard you’re known for your 7 page poems. A: You know, some things take a while to say, even in verses. Q: So, why these 20 for this book? A: Well I tell you it was not easy. First of I was going to include many more. Because personally, I feel all my poems deserve to be read. Just kidding. I didn’t want to make the book too big. I want people to be able to slide it in their coat pocket to read on the bus, in waiting rooms, etc. See, I admit poetry is not the easiest read. I don’t expect people to read it sunbathing or anything. Poetry is meant to be savored, sipped is small doses. And I try to accommodate this. So first I had to outline the story I wanted to tell. And I chose the ones I thought best help me tell this story. Knowing the story first, helped me narrow the poems. Q: Talking about the story. I see you have a big story here that the poems seem to tell. A: Yeah. I’m glad you caught that. This is not just bunch of poems put together. There is order to the madness. Like the title implies, this is an Africa to America story. The big story here is my story, it’s our (Africans in America) story. I deliberately chose When Night Fell as the anchor poem because it is the reason. We all have an action to this chain reaction. That there is mine. It’s my way of saying, here, this is why I come to be in America. After that, we can talk about the before and after. First in Africa, hence Africa 101, Mon Pays, etc, all the way to America. Somewhere in the journey, life happens. Q: Are you an American? A: I'm not Belgian Q: So, you know I got to ask this. Of all these poems, which one is your favorite? And please don’t give me that cliché answer like “they are all my babies”. A: But they are! Man, that’s a hard one. Honestly, I love all these poems. They all mean a great deal to me. But you already made it clear you are not going to let me get away with that answer. So, where does that leave me? Here: I really like College Daze. I read it to laugh at myself. I love She Smiles Tears. Tainted Sparkles is dear to my heart. I enjoy reading African in America. As a writer I’m most proud of The Lucky Few. How's that for an answer? Q: A politician wouldn't have done better . But I'm not going to press it further. I got to tell you a lot of these poems read like prose. I mean not a lot of metaphors and such. So I got to thinking, are these true stories? A: Well, I don’t lie. Q: You know what I mean. Are these your true stories? A: Okay if you put it that way, then no. Though each and every line is rooted in the truth, of course it is not all my stories. These are composite stories. I take a lot of people I know, a lot of experiences I’ve lived or seen my friends and family live, and paint them over one character, one scene, ect. That’s the lie writers with no imagination tell. Our make-believe is a lot of people’s believe. Q: So your mother is not dead like you imply in Orphan? A: God no. But I have a cousin that poem happened to. Q: Do you have your Green Card? A: Do you have your passport? Q: Tell me, who do you most want to read this book? A: Everyone of course! I want Oprah to read and ask the world to read it. But seriously, I always write for my people, Africans in America. These are our stories. But I think others will benefit highly from it too. It’s a small world out there, and I truly believe we should all do our best to see through our neighbor’s eyes. So yeah, though I think Africans in America will get it the most, I believe any and everyone should read it and try to understand it. At the very least it might give them the right questions to ask. Q: What’s up with spoken word artist? A: What’s up with it? Q: Everybody and their cousin is a spoken word artist. A: That’s good. A generation of people in love with the word, what else can anyone ask for? Q: But how do you weigh, if there is no standard? If anyone can do it, what’s the point? A: It’s that elitist mentality that keeps all the best things in life for a few people. They say whatever the masses consume is just not authentic anymore, it’s not worth having if Freddy on the corner can get his hands on it. Yeah, there are some bad spoken word artists with some bad spoken word pieces. But there are some bad quantum physicists with some bad theorists. And when it comes to art who’s to say which is bad and which is not? Some think Shakespeare can not write a bad verse. I know people that can’t stand his ass. Q: So how do you like it in America? A: I love it in America. If I was not here, I’d probably be holding vigil in front of one of their embassies. Q: What do you mean? A: It seems all the young people in many parts of the world, especially mine, all they want to do is come to America. So whether I like it or not, chances are if I was not here, I’d be dying to get here. Q: How do you feel about that? A: Well, I wish we would stay home and do something there. But they’d say, who are you to speak, why don’t you move back? Indeed who am I? So I can’t tell them to not come chasing their dreams. But I must tell them what I know, what they can expect when they arrive. I see a lot of my brothers and sisters here saying, “Man, I wish I knew.” I don’t want to hear that any more. Q: So you think "Bridge Across Atlantic" can shed light on how life really is like in America? A: It would definitely give you an idea. Stores Selling Bridge Across AtlanticCommon Good Books Magers and Quinn Amazon Book Store Macawbers
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