A Poetic Journey to Restoration
Mother’s day is not all candy and roses for everyone. It’s okay to be angry at God; she/he can take it and will still help you heal.
I hope my May poem choice for the Mad Poets Society PA blog helps those who are in need of healing from their own personal grief during this time so that you can welcome the love.
http://www.madpoetssociety.com/blog/2023/5/8/mad/poet/of/the/year/tonita/austin/aka/toni/love-r297y
With love,
Toni ❤️
It’s National poetry month and I hope you are reading and/or writing more poetry this month.
Please click the link below to see my first poem and blog post as The Mad Poets Society Poet of the Year. Please subscribe to the blog for monthly updates. We’re doing this all year!
Love, Toni ❤️
I’m thrilled and honored that The Mad Poets Society of PA chose me as their 2023 Poet of the year! I’m looking forward to sharing insight into my poems and new work on their blog starting in April (Poetry Month). ❤️
Check out their Facebook post https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid0wn2vUGRamdhjkRKQdFh7H1VYxrzndJsaZkuxxCwSzokYQAgD2mKXwnr415FYeP7tl&id=100064588273257&mibextid=Nif5oz
Starting in April, I’ll be posting a poem each month along with insight into the poem. Some will be old favorites and some will be unpublished. I hope you subscribe to their blog and share with another poetry lover.
#loveistheanswer ❤️
Love, Toni
Fearless ~ #originalpoetry
Sometimes you have to forget that you’re somebody’s momma, someone else’s nurturer, someone else’s provider, boss, therapist, housecleaner, mentor, hero and role model and just be. Be free. Be in spaces and places no one would expect you to be. Hair and toes out, dancing /swaying/moving/ calling in joy, calling in Josephine Baker, Dorothy Dandridge and every ancestor who conspired to form your hips, lips and freedom.
Be seen, be joyfilled, be unapologetic, be around people eager to give without expectation of receiving. Just once my beloved sisters, be fearless. Be free.
Repeat often until it’s comfortable.
❤️M. Tonita Austin aka Toni Love (c) 1.4.23
My ODE to George.
The first night of your trial I stood waiting for my son to return home.
The cops showed up first after stopping him for running.
My heart jumped outside of my chest as I struggled to prepare myself for the worst.
As he does every night,
he was running
Running in his own neighborhood.
Running at night because as a black boy He knows that black men who run in the daytime get chased and murdered.
So he runs to feel freedom in the dark of the night.
Stopped just minutes from his home by four police vehicles.
That’s 4 x 2 officers approaching a 19 year old boy who wanted to run but by the grace of God stood still.
Anxiety. Heart racing. Traumatized. Sweating. Sweating. Breathing.
Refusing the courtesy ride home in the back of the police car.
He was innocent.
No apologies for being accused of fitting the description of someone who was running and not doing anything but fitting the description of every black boy profiled.
A black boy running at night.
The cops told me that he wasn’t running when they stopped him. Thank God, I thought.
Because black boys who run get murdered.
So today I feel sad for you and all of the children we’ve lost to racism.
Today I selfishly thank you.
Thank you George for your life because it may have saved the life of my son.
A black boy who just wanted to breathe fresh air.
A black boy who just wants to feel freedom.
I pray for him.
I honor You.
You couldn’t breathe but he will breathe and run and stop and take breath and return home again today
I pray .
~ M. Tonita Austin aka Toni Love
written on the second anniversary of George Floyd’s murder. 5.25.22
She’s here! I did it Daddy! 💥The paperback version of “Toni’s Room is available for sale! 🤸🏿♀️💓 I dedicated my first poetry book to my children because they are my biggest fans. It is currently available as Kindle version and paperback on Amazon. I am planning a few local book signings and also have signed copies available to order on my website at 👉🏽bit.ly/tonilovemerch . Thank you all and especially my coach Gwenn Prinbeck for gently pushing me to uncover all that I am.
“What’s the greater risk? Letting go of what people think – or letting go of how I feel, what I believe, and who I am?” ~ Brene’ Brown
Media, PA
For Inquiries and Promotions:
tonitalove2@gmail.com
I was interviewed and featured by Connected Woman Magazine last year shortly after the release of my poetry EP titled The Restoration. My expectation was different than the outcome. I thought I would be talking more about myself as a writer and possibly my journey and experience producing my first body of work; I ended up exposing my life story and sharing my experience strength and hope to all of the women (and possibly men) in need of restoration!
Connected Woman Magazine was gracious enough to revive last year’s article and you can check it out for yourself. If you want to hear the CD, you can purchase a limited edition, autographed copy for $10 to celebrate the second anniversary of the release!
I hope you take time to rest, reflect and rejuvenate over the holiday weekend and come out of it restored and ready!
Make today great and remember #loveistheanswer!
The Restoration CD
"Toni's CD is a lovely and intensely positive affair, taking her highly personal, even intimate poetry and setting it to soulful grooves and atmospheric arrangements. " - Robb McCall
$10.00
Have you had your heart broken and are afraid to love again? Do you feel like you give yourself to others and don’t know how to love yourself? Do you yearn for a surge of passion and romance in your life? Do you love good music and poetry? If you can say yes to any or all of these questions, then do yourself a favor and click the link below to order my debut EP titled “The Restoration”. I intertwine poetry with the brilliant music of Robb McCall to explore all of the above emotions and feelings. As you allow yourself to become immersed in the music and share in my journey, I am confident you will fall in love with love again!
You can purchase the entire EP with the bonus track or download the digital version by clicking the link below:
Order The Restoration on CD BABY.COM.
If you would like an autographed copy of the EP, or a Toni Love T-shirt, please visit my site by clicking here —-> Order Toni Love Music and Merchandise.
All CDs, t-shirts and tickets ordered from my site will arrive with a hand written thank you note and autographed as you choose.
The Restoration is my gift to you. I believe we can do nothing without love first. I offer you a chance to release old love, rekindle your current love or to believe that the love you seek will become more than a dream. Get the love you desire today!
~ I thank you for the love! Toni
#loveistheanswer
My baby has finally arrived! I’m so excited to announce that my first ever poetry CD/EP is available for purchase. There are six tracks and one bonus track of my original poetry and original music produced by Robb McCall of RPX Productions. I am currently working on getting the tracks formatted and uploaded to CD Baby so that the EP can be purchased digitally but until then you can email me at: tonitalove2@gmail.com and I will send you a PayPal invoice for $15 which covers the total amount of the CD and postage. I have a limited number of these special edition copies and I will personally autograph it for anyone who orders a physical copy. I am also happy to deliver the CD to you personally if you are in the Philadelphia area. Once again, I couldn’t have done it without the support of my GoFundMe.com contributors, family and friends. I’ve shared some of the comments I’ve received about “The Restoration” below:
Dope!
Loved it and the music enhanced the words. I would like to purchase a copy to share also!
Don’t ever stop doing what you’re doing!
You made me believe in love again!
I need three more copies!
Captivating!
Blown away in the most literal sense of the word!
I am thrilled at the responses but I think you should get your own copy and form your own opinion 🙂
I truly appreciate your support and thank you in advance for the LOVE!
~Toni Love #loveistheanswer
Bev was my best friend. Although she lived on the opposite end of my block in West Philadelphia, where I was born and raised, our paths never crossed until I was in my late teens. I was the smart kid who got teased a lot and kept to myself. She got the nickname Queen B because she would walk around the neighborhood like she was royalty. She was always laughing and would strut down the street with her hands on her hips, and it seemed to me that she never let what anyone else thought about her, bother her.
I was the smart, quiet teenager with hardly any friends, and she was the loud, charismatic, funny popular one with lots of personality, and introduced me to the cool people on the block. When I was hanging with Bev, I felt popular and protected. She wouldn’t let anyone say anything bad about me and my Mom treated her like family. My brothers were DJs so there were always turntables set up in our basement, and Bev and I and whoever else came over from the block would put on our favorite albums and sing, drink beer and laugh. She wanted to be a star and she had such a beautiful light within her. We lost her at the age of 40 and I now carry her light within me. Each time I walk on a stage, I think of her and this is one of the poems I wrote in remembrance. Happy heavenly birthday Bev!
I Remember You (basement duet for Queen B)
We sang into West Philly-bred microphones
Scents of stale beer and cigarettes floating under our basement borne concerts
Roberta Flack
Natalie Cole
Teena Marie
They were us we were we and we were free
Imagining concert halls filled with fans gasping for gardenia scented motions of us
We danced swaying under water pipes and wooden rafters
Dressed in summer swag, tossing braids and permed ponytails while we bumped hips and dipped knees
We were stars on the dust filled unfinished basement stage
It was all we knew
We were inseparable until you strayed
We went our separate ways
You succumbed to painful nights soaked in old men calling for you to dance again
Asking for alley romance and offering snow dust dreams and green smoke behind masks
You danced to stale music with no voice
Now you’re gone and with you our Webster street duet
Yet
I still hear you
We walk together in a parallel universe
Pushing my stroller under the suburban sunshine
I think of my sister pushing through the door at the crack of dawn
Both rising to meet our children
Both trying to define success in the way we could see
Yet
I still see you
Walking alone waiting on the bus stop in clothes wrinkled in the scent of cigars and whiskey
As I secure the seat belt of my luxury car at the corner of my single home
We both sit cloaked in sadness
I walk with you though you don’t see my journey
Resting in the sorrow of acceptance that I could not save you from yours
I remember you
I see you
I carry you
I sing for you
I write for you
I swing my hips for you
I inhale smoke filled rooms and sip beer through a straw for you
I plant my feet and grab the mic in remembrance of you
You support me
I carry you
I love you
I remember you
I REMEMBER YOU
12/11/15 © M. Tonita Austin aka Toni Love
Fellow Upriser,
I am looking forward to being with you at the Rebel Wind Poetry Uprising tonight (Thursday, 1.26) at Bittersweet Kitchen
– Terry Rumsey
TONIGHT! Thursday, January 26, 2023
7:00 PM Start Time
Bittersweet Kitchen https://eatatbittersweet.com/
18 South Orange Street
Media, PA 19063
Featured Reader: Toni Love – Celebrated author, performer, poet, & singer
Poet of Ceremonies: Terry Rumsey – Political activist, social commentaor, & writer
Open Poetry Reading to Follow Featured Reading
Baked goods, coffee, tea, and cider will be available for sale tonight. Please support Bittersweet Kitchen, since they are supporting performance poetry.
I’m excited to be featuring at the Rebel Wind Poetry Uprising held at my favorite breakfast spot in Media, Bittersweet Kitchen. This event on January 26th at 7pm is hosted by Terry Rumsey who will also be reading. Come early to sign up for the open mic. Seating is limited. There will be coffee, tea, cake, hot cider and other goods available for sale. There is no fee to get in so please support this business. They do amazing work in our community.
I will also have my books for sale and if you purchase Toni’s Room in advance, I’d be honored to sign it for you. I hope to see you on the 26th!
Love, Toni ❤️
Kiss
Kiss
These lips
They are eager for your gentle touch
The anticipation of soft skin against skin
Tender
Moist
Oh how I love the sensation of your tongue
Gliding ever so slowly around my oval
Moving deeper inside
Teasing my anticipation
Increasing my drive
Feeling warmth and compassion each time our lips collide
I can’t take the multiple explosions anymore
So I moan some form of your name
Begging you to come up for air
To give these lips
One
More
Kiss
1/2/16 Toni Love
#takecareofmetuesday
This photo by @zamanifeelingsphotography I call my “ok God, what’s next?” stance.
It was taken on a night that was a pivotal moment for me because I was surrounded by people who believed in me and didn’t want anything from me but to see me shine. I let go of my plan for the evening and let them help me, and it was greater than I ever imagined. I was the spotlight performer and ended up bringing a 3 piece band of good friends and we shut the place down (check out a clip of the performance below)! ✨️
When the rug is pulled out from under you without a warning, you can either stay where you’ve fallen and wait for someone to pick you up, or you can take the time to meditate and envision the beautiful, safe replacement “rug” God has in store for you, get up and go get your blessing.
✨️Just for today Let time take time, say no to people who are constantly taking and not giving and do what brings YOU joy today.
✨️Trust the process, everything will come full circle
God I’m listening
#loveyourself ❤️
Toni's Room 