Published by Fractal Edge Press
Perfect Bound, 32 pages
5½ by 8½ inches 2004
ISBN# 0-9733126-03-5
$10.00
Conscience Under Pressure
The collected signature poems of Billy Tuggle show the unified vision and clear voice that has carried Tuggle as a representative of Chicago into the 2004 and 2005 National Slam Poetry Championships. An accomplished vocalist and human beat-box combines the melody and rhythms of his other passions in poems that ring with the call for social justice, the tolerance for differences, and the pride in ethnic roots that is the delightful and moving legacy of a retired graffiti artist.
About Billy Tuggle
Billy Tuggle, AKA Karme Threesixty, is a B-Boy poet and vocalist born and raised in the Chicagoland area. He is a HipHop cultural activist: H co-founded Chicago crews S.T.O.R.M. TROOPERS and 7 In a Cipher, as well as serving as a local organizer for the Temple of HipHop.
Billy had performed in bars and clubs, museums and colleges and the Red Line at rush hour in Chicago, and has made his way around the continent as a slam competitor. As a regular at Mental Graffiri, he represented Chicago/Wicker Park in the 2002 Midwest Slam League and, in 2004, at the National Poetry Slam. Billy appeared as a slam poet in New Film Productions 2003 release, Urban Poet. Bill briefly hosted the open-mic “Elevation” in the Lakeview neighborhood of Chicago, and he was a member of the PolyRhythmic Arts Collective. He currently is one of the co-hosts of the “In One Ear” readings on the far north side of Chicago.
Billy work was published in the 14th Columbia Poetry Review, and he has appeared as a music journalist in Underground Weekly Hip-Hop newspaper, Velocity Magazine, and the Black Rock Coalition Newletter. Jim DeRogatis of the Chicago Sun-Times calls Billy’s style “uncompromising, anti-corporate and straight-forward.”
His biggest ambition is in recording. KarmaO can be found on projects by Hip-Hop artists DJ Risky Bizness (800 lb. Gorillas), 0-Type Star (Frontline), and Vector Sigma (Third Op). Billy You can find him on dance/soul/poet Das Bruce’s single “I Think I’m in Love” in independent record shops.
He has a self-published chapbook called The Way of the B-Boy from 2012.
Contents
Invocation
Concrete Lion
Crush
Rough Draft
Chasing the Dancer
Bush Doctor
17 of Hearts
Is
10:00 News
Chance
Aftermath
Groundation for the 6th of February
Manifest
Sample Poems
Invocation
Power from the streetlight made the place dark
Peace, groove theory, and rhythmic prophecy
Hindsight meets foresight, providing light
Breathtaking beatbox and heartbeats
Provide soundtrack for post-history
This love is not limited to a chosen few
But given to all who come through
Representing “uplifting”
all who keep it moving
From the park to the United Nations
On word-of-mouth and vinyl vibration
Bearers of ancient codes called Street Knowledge
Authors of peace treaties spanning the turn of millennia
Gangsters who put down guns, picked up communities
Then hit the underground with diplomatic immunity
Scientists of style
Purveyors of that next shit
B-boy-in-the-hood griot
Rhythm warriors coming equipped
For battle well after-hours
Chanting in tongues
Birthing urban dialects and reviving tribal aesthetics
From concrete blocks and rooftops to the boondocks
Freeing souls from industrialized stereotypes
Manipulating currency on gold and platinum standards
While coming classic
Even the tiniest have a chance to shine
We be the Alpha and Omega
Rending art from politic and prophetic rage
Turning the curse of poverty back upon itself
We repped before corporate co-opting
And predicted its downfall
Ghetto superstars?
Our ancestors make us ghetto supernatural!
Morphing ink styles into history
I get up with a time signature and paint life as a mural
Visceral poetry in motion
we dance these words
Turntable alchemists spin wax into funk
Hands crossfade witching hours into twilight
And set clocks to the bodyrock
Kids flip headspins in free-fall with only thin air
Between them and the breaks
We throw our hands up to the gods
Giving thanks for the strength to beat the odds
And the vibration upon which to write the New Testament
Hip-Hop pushed city limits to the sky and beyond
Blowing the spot like a force of nature
And when we go out
When we go out…
We going out like
Eternity!
17 of Hearts
Yes, that was me
whispering lullabies to you
as you drifted off
Here is a deep breath
for your nervous laughter
and a smile for your blues
Wrapped in secure blankets
and each other
new vivid dreams will arrive
You are the star,
waking thoughts of us
are cinematic reverie
Your scent brings anticipation
like the minutes before the rainfall
For you, I pour verses
like so much red wine
yet I am hung-over
Walk the horizon with me
Weave the truth with me
Winter days are forgotten
breaking in your mercurial halo
Just take my hand
as the love you make
is as simple as you make it
In your hands, an uncut jewel
my undivided attention awaits your appraisal
If you were a month of rainy Mondays,
in you I’d still find shelter
Say the word
No more will you have to confront
vagrant heart’s dysfunctions
No doubt you’re weary of
sipping bittersweet tea
brewed from your own tears
Save tears for a withering flower
and toast the heavens with moonshine
As the wildflower, love, grows stronger
passions boundaries weaken
With nothing but heartbeats between us
Even distance is no hindrance
Paint us together
I will match your devotion
if you can find trust
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