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Poetry By Brian Sheffield

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if you haven’t noticed i’m plagiarizing By Brian Sheffield When the last poem is ever written there will be a tempest of leaves falling away from the giggling face of a hoary ash tree in the front yard. The sun will be angled in the sky like the lure of a deep sea fish; and though there will be no teeth, there will be lights, a crash, and then a mother bending somewhere to pick up broken shards with a torn rag she intended to throw away three months ago. As a given hand — shaking either in gawking old … Continue reading Poetry By Brian Sheffield

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POETRY WINNERS: NOSTALGIA

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The theme for the Fall 2021 edition of Eloquent Mag was NOSTALGIA. The winning poems will be posted on the website this month. They will also be published in the digital ISSUU copy of Eloquent Mag on September 15th. — Driver’s Ed by R. Skye Lambert My driver’s ed teacher used to prompt me all the time: Accelerate at the apex of the curve. Not before the curve. Not after the curve. At the apex. I just couldn’t wrap my 15-year-old brain around the concept. Why would I quicken my movement at a pivotal moment? Shouldn’t that be the slowest? … Continue reading POETRY WINNERS: NOSTALGIA

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Dark, Brooding, Fierce, Powerful: Racquel Jones’ IgnoRANT is No F*cks Given

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DISCLAIMER: IgnoRANT is not for the pansy class. Middle-aged white dudes, beware. This album should be blasted in residential neighborhoods at peak volume. Anything else is unacceptable. On her latest album, IgnoRANT, MC Racquel Jones weaponizes stereotypes against women and hurls them in the other direction. She’s not afraid to puncture an existing wound or stab a man fresh off a new transgression. The trip-hip, R&B, calypso, and electronic hip hop album is hyper-conscious, hyper-sexual, and highly stimulating. Her daggers are her words, the music a sounding board for higher frequencies of high-speed voltage to bounce off of, and Racquel … Continue reading Dark, Brooding, Fierce, Powerful: Racquel Jones’ IgnoRANT is No F*cks Given

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INTERVIEW: Monique DeBose and Her Brown Beauty

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By JD Brant THE MULTI-HYPHENATE Monique DeBose is a storyteller with intent, this much is clear. As I listen to her album You Are the Sovereign One I hear a resilience in her voice, years in the making, that only a true-to-grit jazz singer can upholster into a luxurious 16-track music anthology, each chapter in her story more intimate than the last. The award-winning musician, entrepreneur, and coach is breaking free from any singular definition of “artist” and reinventing what it means to be MORE in today’s entertainment age. Monique is a multi-hyphenate wielding the universal power of music to … Continue reading INTERVIEW: Monique DeBose and Her Brown Beauty

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Poetry by Michael Grandsoult

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            G.B.C. By Michael Grandsoult 2 22, born and raised in Scarborough Ontario. Dual/duel, 2 nationalities I bear and hold carried over the border by my parents through customs cultural baggage of a Guyanese substance, bubbling in my body tropical hot blood like casareep in pepper pot. Declared not native to this nation foreign fruit that doesn’t take root, “climatic unsuitability.” Snowbound by cold racism, withholding growth. Soils used to maple, palm trees be gone please rejecting me to go back home. But home is unknown. Only folklore fork loads of food musical milieu, cultures much more. My exotics whitewashed, … Continue reading Poetry by Michael Grandsoult

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Poetry Submissions Now Open

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Submissions are now being accepted for the first Fall 2021 digital ISSUU of Eloquent Mag. Theme: // N O S T A L G I A // Each writer can submit up to three poems. If we print your piece, you will receive an honorarium. Submissions will be published in the first Fall 2021 ISSUU of Eloquent Mag. The publication will cost $2 to download, but published writers will receive a free download. Email your submission with a small bio and photo/headshot to editor@eloquent-magazine.com. Google docs format is preferred, but we will also accept Word format. Deadline: August 15th. Continue reading Poetry Submissions Now Open

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Social Justice in Music: Emerging Indie Artists of the Pandemic

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By JD Brant // Contributing Writing By Saliek Ruffin Hip hop has come a long way since the OG days of “Rapper’s Delight.” The track was the first hip hop song to reach Billboard’s Top 40 at a time when music by young black musicians was easily misunderstood. Now, almost 40 years later, hip hop still dominates Billboard charts. Streaming numbers have nudged the genre, yet again, into familiar hybrid pop/rock territory (Does anyone remember Blondie’s “Rapture”? That’s where it all started).  At its core, hip hop is a political movement, and contemporary artists’ attempts to smash the status quo … Continue reading Social Justice in Music: Emerging Indie Artists of the Pandemic

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Why Justin Bieber Headlining a Roc Nation Tour is a Huge Disappointment

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By JD Brant “It is really surprising to see his name in giant letters above an entire list of Black artists. Very strange approach especially during this time when people are being more mindful about their bullshit?” — Facebook commenter and music journalist Tia Brown expresses an attitude many Twitter commenters share about the Roc Nation MADE IN AMERICA tour announcement. — This week Roc Nation announced that a “new generation of musical greats” would headline the 10th annual MADE IN AMERICA tour. The only problem is this: Justin Bieber, one of the headliners, is from Canada. Not only that, but Bieber … Continue reading Why Justin Bieber Headlining a Roc Nation Tour is a Huge Disappointment