POETS ARE THE VOICE OF THE PEOPLE AND THE EXPRESSION OF SOCIAL CONSCIOUSNESS

"The arts can make us act, and we need action in response to the threats, and the realities of climate change"

Those are powerful words from award-winning St Lucian poet Kendel Hippolyte, speaking at the launch of a Caribbean campaign on Climate Justice at the Orchid Garden here last Thursday evening dubbed “The1point5tostayalive”. The purpose of this campaign was is to raise awareness, momentum and popular support in favour of the Caribbean’s negotiating position in the lead-up to the 21st Conference of Parties (COP21) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to be held in Paris in December.

 Climate impacts -- including elevated temperatures, sea level rise, changing rainfall patterns, more intense droughts, storms, and ocean acidification, all pose grave risks to coastal lands, water supply, agriculture, biodiversity, fisheries and other sectors and assets. But it goes beyond this as climate change threatens the very existence of some Caribbean islands. 

The poet, who has a long history of engagement in social and environmental justice, on Thursday called on “musicians, painters, dancers, writers, all artists to become involved in this campaign by using their arts, their shows, their websites, their Face book accounts and their concerts” in the coming weeks, to join the call of Panos Caribbean and its partners for Climate Justice for the Caribbean. .In particular, he called for participation in a weekend of action on 31 October – 1 December, a month prior to the start of the Paris Conference.

This is just another demonstration of the significance and power of poetry and the relevance of poets in societies as “the voice of the people and the expression of social consciousness. 

All poets, all writers are political. They either maintain the status quo, or they say, ’Something’s wrong, let’s change it for the better.’ – Sonia Sanchez

This is going to blow you away when you find out the truth about poetry; how easy it is to write if you will just simply be true to your emotions.

The famous poet Robert Frost said; “Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought and the thought has found words.” 

Another famous poet William Wordsworth called poetry "the spontaneous overflow of feelings." You see, it's all about putting feelings into words; carefully chosen words that reflect you truest emotions.

When writing; the writer must capture emotions experienced in a significant moments or event, it may be untouched memories lying just below our consciousness, hidden from public scrutiny that which we try to hide even from ourselves. Let them flow freely with every word and gesture. We all have this abundance of raw material for writing if we could just harness it.

LOOK AT THE VIDEO 

THEN TRY THIS EMOTIONAL PROMPT 
JUST FREE YOUR EMOTIONS AND LET IT SING

Creative moment Emotion Prompt

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

• After looking at this short video, make a list of the emotions you feel
• Choose one of the emotions.
• Don't name the emotion but describe it in detail and with lots of concrete images a (how does it look, how does it make you feel?)
• Personify this emotion. If it were a person, what would it do? (Try "emotion + verb.") Example: My heart sings with euphoric laughter.   
• Write a simile (x is like y; my love is like a red, red rose).
• Write a metaphor (x is y; my love is a red, red rose).

DON'T BE SHY GO AHEAD AND TRY, IT'S EASY!
BEFORE YOU KNOW IT YOU'LL BE WRITING POETRY
Wait a minute, did that just rhyme? Dam I'm good lol

                                                                                                                                                      

IN MEMORY OF ANSON

FAREWELL ANSON WE WILL REMEMBER YOU

Writers Union of Trinidad and Tobago (WUTT) had its National Poetry Day Celebration on Saturday 17th October in memory of Poet Laureate Anson Gonzalez. The evening was spent with readings of his work and a presentation by Dr. Rose-Ann Walker, writer and educator who was personally mentored by Anson. The evening went nicely and our guest speaker Dr Walker really spiced up the evening with her spunky, interesting personality. There were some other "Big Names" who read in his honour as well, though I can't remember their names. I also read a poem that I had recently written in honour of Anson, very short and sweet but effective in conveying the message that he will forever live on in his work and in the many seeds of love he had planted.

This is Dr Ross-Ann Walker reading a poem   

written for Anson by Ms Jennifer Rahim.

These are the two other Big Names I mention,                           

 the lady in the middle is a Dr.

And of course, this is me doing my reading, honouring Anson with my poem. This was an unplanned thing though, as I had class that day and was in class, when I was asked to read via a message on face book. Yeah for the power of face book, go social media. Anyway, I was glad to be part of this as I too was mentored by this great man for a short period before he migrated.                                                                                                    

MY POEM IN HONOUR OF ANSON GONZALEZ

THE MASTER IS GONE

After he left

Mouths could not speak

Limbs stood frozen

Eyes became filled

And all lamented his leaving

Then, laughter rang out

And praises resonate

Echoes of euphoric memories

As fingers caressed ink-stained pages

Even the silence spoke

In celebrant jubilee

And New Voices shouted from dusty shelves

Reminiscence of his labour of love and mastery

Evidence of his immortality

By Cheryl Griffith

Another Unsung Hero Gone

The great wordsmith and revered master of the pen Anson Gonzales, has left us. Anson who was critically ill, struggling with a heart condition for some time, eventually surrendered to the battle on September 6^th not long after leaving Trinidad and migrating to Wales.  Anson is known for his great contribution towards the development and sustenance of the literary culture of Trinidad and the Caribbean.  He was Founder of the “New Voices” in 1973 which actively ran for 20 years with published works from Anson himself, along with hundreds of Caribbean writers. This poetry journal, give voice and a stage to many young poets some of which are established authors today, such as Jennifer Rahim.  Interestingly, he ran a bookshop from his home where he actually did all the printing and editing for the various New Voices’ Journals

There was also a radio programme and other publications as well, like the New Voices News letter which conveyed information on writers, competitions, workshops, grants and more. Anson was also Co-founder and former president of the Writers’ Union of T&T (WUTT) but Anson did not stop there, in 1979 Anson went on to establish National Poetry Day, which is celebrated on October 15, initially in T&T and now in eight other Caribbean territories. He also taught creative writing courses and workshops across the Caribbean, some of which I was honoured to be a part of and he sat as judge for many poetry and literary competitions across the region.

This great man had a natural knack for creativity and dabbled in various art forms such as dancing and photography as well as acting. He did some acting with Trinidad Theater Workshop and even tried his hands as a director and made some appearance in several Dimanche Gras productions as well.

WE CELEBRATE MASTER ANSON GONZALEZ, A FORMER TEACHER OF UWI, FOR HIS POETRY, HIS LABOUR OF LOVE AND HIS CONTRIBUTION TOWARDS THE LITERARY ART; HE WILL ALWAYS BE REMEMBERED, A FIXED FIGURE IN OUR MEMORY, FOREVER IMMORTALIZED IN PAGES.

BELOW ARE PHOTOS OF MYSELF AND OTHER MEMBERS OF "THE CIRCLE OF POETS" HAVING BREAKFAST AT ANSON GONZALEZ'S HOUSE. THIS WAS A THREE DAYS POETRY WORK SHOP ANSON HELD AT HIS HOUSE AS HE MENTORS US IN THE LITERARY ART OF POETRY. WE WERE GIVEN CERTIFICATES OF PARTICIPATION AT THE END OF THE WORK SHOP. THIS IS THE PASSION THIS MAN HAD FOR THE LITERARY ART

INHALE THE EXPERIENCE EXHALE POETRY

NOW LET THE POEM SPEAK!

Hi everyone hope you enjoy this post, "INHALE THE 

EXPERIENCE EXHALE POETRY" in this poem called 

"SPEAKING OUT", the poem gives me a voice to speak 

and exhale my life's experience. 

This is a picture taken of me via phone and 

some graphic work was done to create the look of rain falling 

as I exhale.

SPEAKING OUT

This poem?

This poem strives to bring reason

Straining beyond the agony of words

Stretching beyond the deep, dark tunnel of time

Where emptiness leeks

And sorrow sucks your spirit dry

Draining your blood like, a leech

Struggling to face life’s task

Forced to wear a mask

Clear my throat and move on

Coughing up courage mixed with hope

To go where fate demands

And walk this road not made with human hands

This poem has turn frail, tired eyes

On years of sweat and tears and kept her peace

Forever bearing a smile

That hides the pain that lies behind

Silently sobbing out her sorrows

Like clothes beating against stone till white

This poem has taken much

And will not be hushed

This poem will speak!!

But at the edge of the heart, wisdom is weak

Are words enough?

This poem is not about metaphors, similes and such

This poem too deep

This poem has spent nights in hell

Bears the scars of scorching fire and live to tell

 Where demons shadow swallowing your peace

Devouring your flesh, your sleep

And fear pours thick and yellow

Like pus from a septic sore

Obscuring all beauty

Yet forced to hold my head up high

And walk with dignity

A dignity that didn’t come easy

But came through strain and age

Much poverty, rejection and lamentation

Too much to put upon this page

 I this poem say;

I’ve paid my bills of pain and sorrow

And cashed my share of tear-filled tomorrows

Forever gathering my life like scattered leaves 

Yes! I took all that life spurned

But earned a peace that many yearn

Many are dead, their dreams silenced

At least I have a heart to grieve 

And why is it that human tenderness is usually late?

Like long, lost mails

And when it comes at time so frail

The fact is, humans are as complicated as the truth

This whole world is a market of doom

And I have had too many gloom

Seen too many setting suns and dark rough seas

It’s time! This time the sun will rise for me

Me; God’s blessed clad in regal dignity

Had fallen, broken body

A somewhat paralyzing deformity

Joy it seems is fused in misery

A cruel irony

Something evil is always aiming at your smile

But I will stand again

Like a star that brightens dark skies

 I will shine again

I, like a broken bird will fly again

And dance upon the walls of this world

That tried to imprison me

For I am Free!

By Cheryl Griffith

DID YOU SAY SLAM? OH SLAM POETRY!

No! Slam poetry is not slamming someone with poetry or slamming some poetry around. It’s much more than that.  Let’s start from the basics. It is clearly understood that written poetry and oral poetry are two completely different things altogether; one is in print while the other is voiced orally.   Oral poetry is not something new though, in fact; oral was there before print as poetry was something done orally in early civilizations. Oral poetry was used in many cultures across the globe package in various forms as a way of teaching children, passing on knowledge or information (in a simple or coded form) relaying history or praising heroes or God etc. 

Print came way after. Out of oral poetry came performance poetry, although it is somewhat the same but, with performance poetry especially in today’s times is a little different to long ago; you can employ music, dance, miming, drama and other  artistic elements rather than just voice it or sing it as was done in the past. And performance poetry is specifically composed for a performance before an audience. Today, performance poetry is even being used as a means to promote literacy in public school systems which I think is pretty cool. But the big thing now or I should say the ‘in thing’ is Slam Poetry.

There’s very little between the two; generally, if you incorporate music or dance it’s referred to as performance poetry because it’s all part of performing arts, whereas slam poetry tends to refer to spoken word poetry in a competition. The general format is that each poet performs their piece and gets judged by a panel of five members selected from the audience. Each performance is then scored out of ten.  At slam events you are judged on your performance, content and ability to memorize your poem. You get about three minutes to perform your poem and often in a slam you are not allowed props, music, dancing or anything that you would be allowed with performance poetry.

Put simply, slam poetry or poetry slam is the competitive art of performance poetry, with dual emphasis on writing and performance, encouraging poets to focus on what they're saying and how they're saying it. Being a performing poet or slam poet takes a lot of practice and hard work to master the art, I have dabbled in both so I can tell you it's not easy, but it's do-able.  I was winner twice of the National Poetry Competition and have perform poetry in a number of places in Trinidad and Tobago. It can be fun so don't be afraid to give it a try.

HERE’S A VIDEO THAT CREATIVELY INTRODUCES YOU IN TO SLAM POETRY I KNOW YOU'LL ENJOY!

(The video is actually longer than the 2:27 minutes so if it reaches the end and stop just click at the end and it will continue)

THE PERFORMANCE OF POETRY IS AN ART JUST AS MUCH AN ART AS THE ART OF WRITING!

BELOW IS ANOTHER VIDEO WHICH SHOWS POETRY SLAM BEING USED AS AN EDUCATIONAL TOOL FOR STUDENTS TO NOT ONLY DEVELOP THEIR VOICE AND SELF CONFIDENCE, BUT ALSO DEVELOP THEIR CRITICAL AND WRITING SKILLS AS THEY LEARN THE POWER OF WORDS

HEY IF ANYONE IS INTERESTED IN PERFORMING POETRY AND NEED SOME PERSONAL TIPS OR TUTORIAL, JUST MESSAGE ME

SO TIME FOR ME TO SLAM SOME POETRY

RACISM A UNIVERSAL NIGHTMARE

Madness, sadness

Hating, degrading

Dehumanizing

Humanity dying, dying

Die, die

Fight, fight

 To what end?

Twisted believes

Wounds unhealed

Each one bleeds, each one feels

Fear, such fear

Tears, such tears

Restless catastrophe

Past ideologies affecting the present

Wasted lives past away in strive

And hope's dreams night conceals

Red, yellow black, white

Straight hair, kinky hair

see here!

Colours, mere colours

Of inferiority and superiority

Violent ideologies, mad philosophies

Distorted facts

White good, bad black

On and on fighting, hating, killing

Humanity dying, dying

Ebony and ivory

No sight to see

Each man’s beauty and dignity

Each colour unique

God’s creation all

But who cares?!

Racism here

A universal nightmare! 

By Cheryl Griffith

  IN LIGHT OF THE RACIAL DIVIDE AFTER THE RECENT ELECTION

I THINK PEOPLE NEED TO STOP, THINK AND REALIZE