Cheryl Crockett is a
Christian poet who began writing creatively as a child and won a citywide poetry contest in Washington, D.C. As an adult, in the late 1990’s, she was encouraged to take all of the writing
she had been accumulating (hidden in a box under her bed) and began to share it publicly. She produced her first two chapbooks
at this time intended for sale at her speaking engagements.
In the spring of 1999,
two television programs were taped for District Cablevision featuring Cheryl’s poetry and music. In the autumn of 2001,
the Montgomery Cable Channel taped a television program featuring her poetry. In
late 2004 and early 2005, she participated in the Arlington 31 Poets CD recording and Arlington Cable television taping coordinated by respected poet
and publisher Richard Peabody. She has been commissioned to write poetry for
betrothed couples, organizations, and individuals, including best selling author Zane. She has performed when invited for
events in churches, communities and municipalities. Mrs. Louis Farakhan, unexpectedly in attendance at one of her rap and
poetry performances in May 2004, requested a CD of the pieces Cheryl performed.
She was asked twice to speak publicly by Mayor Kathy Porter of Takoma Park,
MD. One of these command performances was the reading of her “Ride-on Ride”
poem at the start of a new bus route after the unification of Takoma Park into Montgomery County. The other was for the program
of appreciation for Bev Habada, Takoma Park City Administrator, upon her departure from her post.
Her first experience
with slam poetry came in February 1999 when she competed in a Blackwords event hosted by Blackwords founder and CEO, Kwame
Alexander at Takoma Station in Washington, D.C.
Despite the decidedly adult atmosphere, she finished the evening in third place, having performed her profanity-free material.
Her slam experience also includes semifinal competition for the Washington
D.C. 2000 Poetry Slam team. A special highlight of her poetry slam experiences
happened in April 2000 at the Rockville, MD Barnes & Noble when she received a perfect score in the final round with her
poem "Rights and...". Pulitzer prize recipient, Poet Henry Taylor, served as one of the judges.
Her Barnes & Noble
slam victory led to an opportunity to create and host a monthly poetry event at that store. She named it “Poet-a-tete”
and billed it as the “Profoundly Positive Public Poetry Performance Venue”. Premiering in October of 2000, the
event includes an “open-mic”, a slam and features readings by published professional and famous poets including
Maryland Poet Laureate Michael Collier, Pulitzer Award Winner Henry Taylor, Tonya “Jahipster” Matthews and the
late, best-selling author, poetic superstar & peacemaker Mattie Stepanek. Poet-a-tete enjoyed overwhelming success
averaging 50 to over 80 in attendance every 4th Tuesday at the Barnes & Noble in Rockville,
MD. Poet-a-tete continued on
2nd Tuesdays in Arlington, VA
at the Clarendon Market Common Barnes & Noble until March of 2006. Preferring
to encourage other artists instead of competing, Cheryl is grateful for the warm reception she and her event have received
over the past 5 and a half years.
Cheryl is one of six
winners of the Moving Words (2006) Adult Poetry Contest. Her poem, Autumn Haiku was displayed inside Metrobuses throughout the Washington
area.
In 2003, Cheryl joined
the cast of Urban Change, an organization that presents a play previously entitled Satan's Expose' (now abbreviated ‘S.EXPOSE’ ”).
The play has been performed over 70 times in the Washington
D.C. area and on tour and has played to a cumulative audience of well over 60K.
Performances of S.EXPOSE', the Remix was recently released on DVD. More performances are scheduled in March and April
of 2007 at Urban Change's new home in Camp Springs, MD (near Route 5 and the beltway). For more information
and a sneak-peek of the play (including Cheryl in costume) go to http://www.jaycameron.com.
Cheryl's self-printed chapbooks
entitled: "Honeycomb" is currently available. It contains a balanced mix of her thought-provoking written works and her
slam winning spoken-word compositions. Her first two books, "Bird's can't hold hands" and "Light Beyond the Shadows" are
no longer available. The domestic violence poem: “My Name is Nicole” is available as a single and includes a story
of how a hurting marriage began to heal after the first reading of this poem. Her prophetic spoken word poem,
“Red Rosy” has been overwhelmingly well-received and is also available as a single. Her "Praise Raps" and her
very popular signature piece “Standard English”, for which she is best known, are available in bookmark form.
