Rebecca “Butterfly” Vaughns: My Cousin’s a Poet and I Know It!

I just received the 2008 calendar from the Miami poet MC Rebecca “Butterfly” Vaughns, and I love it. She’s a prolific writer and slam poet, and she’s also a phenomenal self-promoter.

Butterfly has published volumes of poetry, and performance CDs, and for the past few years, she has also organized tribute events for the artists that have inspired her, such as Aaliyah and Janet Jackson. Anyone who thinks that poets are quiet people that live in attics would be proven quite wrong! She came to New York for the first time to visit Aaliyah’s grave in Ferncliff, NY in 2002 for the first anniversary of the singer’s death . She spent the rest of her time here performing her spirited poetry all over NYC. Since then, her NYC fan base has grown, and she visits often.

Of course I have to mention that she’s my cousin, which is interesting for two particular reasons: 1) Rebecca and I are the only creative performers of our family, and 2) our grandmothers are actually first cousins. When trying to explain, we skip the family tree, and just say we’re related. Good enough for me!

If you want to check out her fan website (yes, she has fans to do this for her!) check her out here!