We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Haunz Noire a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Haunz , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?

Writing poetry came natural to me as early as 7 years old, I would write little short stories about everything under the sun, that always had a rhyme scheme, over time it turned into me writing raps to my favorite songs, writing a poem about a day in the life of a HSGCA student, to later take a performance poetry class in college and then it was only up from there.

I’ve learned a lot on the journey as a writer, as a human being, as a man, I don’t know if there was something I would have done differently because I truly believe what we go through helps us to the next level, without all the good, bad, ugly and uncomfortable, I wouldn’t be able to say what I say, I wouldn’t be able to put my blood, sweat and tears into the production, I am exactly where I am supposed to be in my journey, my level up is on it’s way.

If I had to pick an essential skill as a poet, I would have to go with the cliche answers, and say, authenticity and genuine vulnerability, the secret language of poetry requires you to have a silent conversation beyond what the listener is hearing, as human being we all are searching for something, we all want to be understood, the easiest and free flowing way to empathize with someone is sharing experiences and finding points of commonality, I said from day one as an artist, I will never lie, I will never write when I have nothing to say, because the integrity of what I do matters, it doesn’t matter to me if it’s not what others are doing, it doesn’t matter what an algorithm suggest, it’s about sharpening my skills and carrying on those conversations, without those two things you can’t really call yourself a poet.

One major obstacle that I didn’t realize was a thing until I was in my 30’s is human jealousy, what you wanna do, where you want to go, can really be interrupted by someone who doesn’t really want to see you win, and it will show up in the craziest ways, dramatic endings, false narratives, social media blow outs and you’ll really be lost at why you’re standing in the middle of a shit storm, in the words of the late great Maya Angelou, “when people show you who they are, believe them” furthermore, when your body tells you, ran, get away from that person, place or situation, do not avoid that feeling, it will save you from taking so many wrong turns. listen to you, chose you, and stay aware of who is around you, major key to life.

Haunz , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

If you’ve never heard me or stumbled across my page

Hi, My name is Haunz Noire, I’m a Brooklyn born, Bronx raised poet who uses real life experiences and empathy to try to redirect the world back to self.

My main goal in poetry has always been for at least one person to walk away differently than when they came into the venue, when I first started performing poetry my life was chaotic, a flighty relationship, fake friends, too many story lines going at the same time and poetry was my refuge, I remember my first feature at Bronx View up on 233rd st, I wrote response to Tupac’s “rose that grew from the concrete” concept, expressing how difficult it was being a black man in progress and then, I found myself becoming a regular feature their an expanding all over NYC & NJ

Poetry isn’t a profession in my mind because everyone can’t do it, I feel like you’re called to write poetry and I answered, my work, my focus is based on human things without all the politics, I wanna say, what I say, do what, I do and keep it pushing, if you love it, thank you, if you hate it, there are thousands of other poets in the artistic seas, if you feel called to seek other artistry by all means, those who get it, get it those who wanna join the conversation always do.

One thing that I am most proud of as an artist is that, I did it from nothing, no funds, no following, no team, no support, I went from stage to stage, before and after work, hit some lows, traveled in packs, moved, recorded poetry in my car, had my studio set up destroyed by an ex, yet these three things remain, the artist, the poetry and the influence, I’ve left impact in 6 states (so far), and this was really mind boggling to me, my poetry is streamed out in Africa, I’ve never been, but my words live, people write me an express their feelings and why’s, and when that happens it makes the origin story that much sweeter for me,

You never know what someone is going through, if I had to leave this audience with something it would be, be nice to your fellow human, I don’t need fans and accolades, there isn’t much on IG for y’all to stalk, however I wanna restore the core of community, it’s not about money, it’s not about fame, its literally about revitalizing the natural order of things, here are three things I wrote, that I keep in mind and I hope it does something for you, “don’t be an asshole on purpose”, “your greatness is yours, but don’t go interrupting anyone else’s”, and “do everything or nothing else matters, life gonna keep going if you move or not”

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

I love this question

Society hates artists in my opinion, it gets way too political in the artistic space, however if society miraculously got their shit together, we would create more opportunities for self expression in the formative years, I don’t think the government got it right when they taught children how to be emotionless drones that aspire to do nothing but work, self expression is necessary to be a well balanced human being, and as we can clearly see now a days, there is something really wrong, and it’s because these people don’t know how to communicate or create space, this is where creativity should come in and fill the void but instead they de-fund the arts, bury the artistic scholarships and make popcorn artistry the new norm, and then have the nerve to ask for a savior…let people be who they want there is the thriving ecosystem needed worldwide.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

Whew these are layered…

One big thing I had to unlearn is “holding on too long”, jobs, people, places, mindsets, when it’s time for something to end, let it, I think that was one of the hardest things for me to break, even today I’m constantly drilling in my head “listen to your body, hear how you feel” because your body will never lie to you, I didn’t have a healthy relationship with discernment or my inner voice, I chose to listen to others, over listening to myself. I don’t have regrets however if this me today was present when I was allowing people places and things suck the life out of me, I would have kicked my own ass and course corrected immediately.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://instagrm.com/HaunzNoire
• Facebook: https://Facebook.com/HaunzNoire
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/HaunzNoire
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@haunznoire
• Other: Website & Soundcloud Coming soon