A Sonrise Worth Waiting For
I don’t break out my fishnet stockings for just anyone. But about a year and a half ago, a very special occasion and poet prompted me to pull out the nets.
I found myself co-hosting a Mars vs. Venus poetry set for 30something Entertainment. And while that was an honor in and of itself, the highlight of the night for me was finally getting to hear an online friend, Byron “Indigo Son” Armstrong, perform his poetry. His status updates and notes were deeper and more thought provoking than anything I’d come across in the virtual high school we call facebook. So deep, in fact, that I often found myself consulting my dictionary just to keep up. I eventually wore him down with inbox messages asking him to consider returning to the mic. I knew he hadn’t performed in a while, but what I didn’t know until that evening, was that he was returning to the mic for the first time in 10 years.
Not sure if it was my fishnets that did it for him, but that night was enough to keep Byron coming back to the mic. He has since been featured at Nai’s 1st Poetry in Motion and don’t be surprised to find this poet writing and performing under several different names. He is known by Tauremini and was given the name Indigo Son by an acquaintance who invited him to live in a Buddhist monk temple atop the Omei Shan mountain. Louisville won out and Sol Son, as he is now known, decided to stick around and bless us with his light and insight.
That light began to shine at an early age. A little 10 year old boy grieving for an aunt who was murdered when he was five, Byron expressed his thoughts on paper for the first time. After coming across a picture of the Super Man birthday cake his aunt had baked him, he went to his room and wrote, “God please keep Aunt Pat in your arms. Her hugs are love. So are her cakes.”
As a teen, Byron continued to express himself through freestyling and singing amongst friends. His first open mic performance took place at a Louisville teen club when he was 14. Louisville has been a large part of the mosaic that makes up this poet. Born in the ‘Ville, he has spent 17 years living here. The others years were shared between Eminence and LaGrange, KY, Detroit and the St. Louis Area. Before his 10 year hiatus from the mic, his voice was heard at many venues, including Florida’s Club LaVela and The Shelter in Detroit, an iconic music venue referenced in the movie 8 Mile.
A prolific writer, Byron sets a goal to write at least three pieces a day. He enjoys the ease of saving his work on his Smartphone, but admits that pen and paper will never become extinct for this writer, evidenced by satchels full of written work. He will tell you that his goal is almost always achieved thanks to the limitless inspiration and material around him. While you will be struck with the positive messages in his work, he is often stirred to anger by what he calls “mental deviants.” One of his favorite quotes is Einstein’s “Condemnation without investigation is the height of ignorance.”
Sol Son is battling that ignorance with every stroke of his pen.
