Jeffery Martin

Juan: Jeffery, thank you for all the love you put in to your community through the power of Art and expression. I admire you for that beautiful selfless value you possess. My first question is what inspires this?

 

Jeffery: My love for the community is inspired actually by sad things I experienced as a child. The way my stepfather treated and spoke to me gave me this desire to never to treat or speak to others in that way. I wanted to inspire people instead of discourage them. It started with childhood friends and as I matured and began reading it just naturally spilled over into community activism.

 

Juan: How long have you been helping your community?

 

Jeffery: All my adult life in some form or another. I've always believed that silence and inaction were as big a sin as injustice. As a Writer, someone who could speak with a pen I had a responsibility to the craft.

 

Juan: Who do you think is your biggest influence as a Writer?

 

Jeffery: I've had so many influences in my journey as a Writer. Some writers, and are others not. But all played a vital role in my development. James Baldwin comes to mind, but so does the elderly black man who encouraged me to do something special with my life as we talked in a homeless shelter. My influences have been varied and if I am even a decent Writer it is because of the lessons from all of these interactions.

 

Juan: What other artistic pursuits do you practice, if any, besides writing?

 

Jeffery: Singing, martial arts, drumming, dance, theater acting.

 

Juan: Do you have any future upcoming/ongoing projects?

 

Jeffery: I want to put together a poetry CD this year. Share poetry and music with the homeless, and finally I am trying to put together a project where 8-10 poets take their poetry to Asia, Africa, South America and Europe.

 

I also wanted to add that I spent 5 weeks in Colombia and am going to put that experience in a book...Also have written 8 books (4 poetry, 3 children, 1 play).  

 

I don’t have a website at the moment, but I can be contacted at: anomaly050460@yahoo.com

 

Juan: Thank You Jeffery, the kind of support and Love you give to your community through your life experiences are nature's example of Life blooming everywhere.

 

This interview was brought to you by Juan Cardenas from Los Angeles Poet Society.

Write on! - February 2015

 

Jeffery Martin has been a Los Angeles Poet Society Member since 2014. He is the host of the Open Mic on Friday nights at Tia Chucha's Centro Cultural, and is also a member of the Revolutionary Poets Brigade - Los Angeles, and 100 Thousand Poets for Change, Los Angeles.