Award-winning Atlanta poet Queen Sheba provokes action through the spoken word

December 6th, 2023

Poet and Spoken Word artist Queen Sheba is a Grammy-nominated, 22-year veteran, award-winning spoken word poet, author and professor at Clark Atlanta University. (Courtesy of Queen Sheba)

On the “City Lights” series “Speaking of Poetry,” Atlanta’s most prolific wordsmiths discuss the art of evoking emotions with words. This edition of “Speaking of Poetry” features Queen Sheba, a 22-year veteran, award-winning spoken word poet, author, and professor at Clark Atlanta University.

“I would describe my poetry as social politics. It is definitely thought-provoking, provocative,'” Queen Sheba says.

“Provocative in a way that is politically-challenging. I definitely have my voice, my own view, and my charge in my poetry is to make people consider things that they are doing in their lives and hopefully make changes for the better.”

Queen Sheba started writing poetry as an adult in 1998 when living in Norfolk, Virginia, looking for an outlet due to being in an abusive intimate-partner relationship. “I needed an outlet. I needed a way to cry for help. I needed a way to talk about the things that I was going through. I needed to look for like-minded people.”

She started at a local spot called Urban Safari, which became her escape every other Friday night.

Since then, Queen Sheba’s poetry has taken her on an award-winning poetic journey, recording nine albums and becoming known as one of the most talented and recognized poets in the Atlanta poetry scene.

“I do nothing without the guidance of God, or Higher Power, or What The Bleep Do We Know, or The Secret or whatever you believe,” Queen Sheba says. “I believe that there is a stronger energy than me, and so I ask this energy source, I ask this God, I ask this Higher Power than me, what should I do to serve in this performance?”

In this segment, Queen Sheba shared an excerpt from a rant she wrote called “I Believe.” You can find the full version on her Grammy-nominated album “A-You’re Not Wrong, B-They’re Not Either.”

Queen Sheba has been nominated for a Grammy for “Spoken Word Album of the Year” for her album “A-You’re Not Wrong, B-They’re Not Either,” The Grammys will be held on Sunday, Feb 4 in Los Angeles.

More information about Queen Sheba is available here.