[THEME SONG BEGINS]

>>RACHEL: Good morning, it's time for Chompers, your morning and night toothbrushing show. 

Start brushing on the top of your mouth on one side, and brush the inside, outside and chewing side of each tooth

>>KIDS: 3, 2, 1 brush!

[THEME SONG ENDS]

>>RACHEL: Its Interviews week, and tonight Jasmine is back with Mahogany Browne, who writes poems.

>>JASMINE: What do you write about in your poems?  

>>MAHOGANY: I write about joy, I write poems about people. about myself. Where I lived, where I’m from.  I write about seeing yourself in the world. I want my poems to be like the music for folks that hear it for the first time. I want it to be like, a celebration, a party.

>>JASMINE: SWITCH to the other side of the top of your mouth…

[SWITCH BELL]

>>JASMINE: -and don’t brush too hard. Would you read a few lines of one of your poems for us?

>>MAHOGANY: Yeah. I'll give you a stanza from Woke baby. "Woke baby, up before the sun smiles, eyes open. Look at your fist, fingers curled into a panther's paw, reaching up, up, up. Reaching for justice." 

>>JASMINE: So beautiful. Switch to the bottom of your mouth…

[SWITCH BELL]

>>JASMINE: -and keep brushing. Is there only one way to understand a poem? Like does every poem only have one thing that it's trying to say or one meaning not? 

>>MAHOGANY: No I think poems have many doors in which we enter. A poem is a house and the house has many different doors, right? So when you walk through the back door you still get into the house when you walk to the front door you still go into the house with the windows open you can get through the window to get to the house and that's how a poem is. There's many different ways to enter a poem, to understand a poem.

>>JASMINE: Switch to the other side of the bottom of your mouth…

[SWITCH BELL]

>>JASMINE: -and make sure you brush your front teeth too. Do you have any advice for him for kids who  like poetry and want to get started writing their own poems? 

>>MAHOGANY: Yeah, if you like poetry read it when you can and write it as you can and never ever stop believing that your voice matters. Writing it down and sharing your feelings is the most important part of poetry. 

[THEME SONG BEGINS]

>>JASMINE: That’s it for Chompers tonight. Special thanks to the poet Mahogany Browne. Until next time. Mahogany count us off! 

>>MAHOGANY: 3 2 1 spit. 

[THEME SONG ENDS]