Poet kweisi hosts book signing at Steamboat's Off The Beaten Path

Steamboat Springs —The morning mist still clung to the pine needles along Lincoln Avenue when the first readers arrived, drawn not by the crisp mountain air but by the promise of a story that had traveled nearly 1,000 miles to be told in person. Inside Off The Beaten Path bookstore, the scent of old paper and roasted coffee mixed with the low hum of anticipation, a quiet sanctuary where the chaos of a global career could finally settle into the rhythm of local life. It was here, in this familiar gathering place for Western Slope creatives, that poet and radio personality kweisi transformed his personal wreckage into a public offering, hosting a pop-up poetry reading and book signing that bridged the gap between his past in Chicago and his present in Steamboat Springs.

The catalyst for this journey was Hurricane Rosella, which hit him with the catastrophic force of Katrina hitting New Orleans. Emotionally devastated and deeply heartbroken, he sought sanctuary, reaching out to an old friend of twenty years in Steamboat to pitch his work to the local bookstore and the Bud Werner Memorial Library. The response was swift; by July 23, both institutions had agreed to host the events, and by the 24th, they were already marketing them. He found a way to be there, driven by a need to anchor himself in a place that felt like home, even as he navigated the complex history of a love that had spanned nearly three decades.

His story with the woman he calls BLAK HEAVEN began in the spring of 1996, a magnanimous courtship that lasted until the ambiguous parting of spring 1998. They had met in church after he was invited by an actress named Jacqueline, the lead in his friend Bernard’s thesis film, Throwing Stones. When he saw her, he asked Jacqueline for an introduction, only to be told, “kweisi, you are on your own.” Yet, he approached her anyway, introducing himself as Robert, his birth name, rather than kweisi, the persona he was known by while hosting the popular poetry segment “phood pha tha soul” on WGCI radio. He wanted her to see the man, not the public status that usually spiked public interest from zero to ten the moment he said his name.

For twenty-five years, they did not see each other in person, though she never truly left his heart. He constantly asked Jacqueline and another mutual friend in Hollywood how she was doing, until they grew exhausted from his persistent inquiries. The silence finally broke on March 10, 2023, on his mother’s birthday. Unbeknownst to him, her nephew was a co-owner of an upscale downtown Chicago venue, The HUE, right when he was planning his first Chicago poetry set in two decades. Her nephew called her to ask if they were still on good terms, fondly remembering him from the mid-1990s, picking BLAK HEAVEN up while proudly wearing a traditional kilt. She smiled and gave her blessing: “Yeah, we’re cool. Let kweisi host.”

Though her schedule kept her from his initial community engagement events, on Friday, March 10, BLAK HEAVEN walked into The HUE. He was in mid-conversation, but the moment she crossed the threshold, the world stopped. He walked straight to her, closing a quarter-century gap with a single step. Now, in Steamboat, he offers that same intimacy to the community, asking the question that has driven him: “Why, when a man gives a woman everything, everything isn’t enough?” The answer seems to lie not in the giving, but in the seeing, in the quiet moments where the noise of the world fades and only the truth remains. Outside, the wind picks up, rattling the windows of the bookstore, a reminder that while storms may hit with catastrophic force, they also clear the air for what comes next.