Words do not travel at the speed of light. They can be soft, gentle and curiously placed in the ears of listeners. The pen holds no color barrier and the microphone becomes a welcoming refuge for the culturally inclined. When it comes to those common ties, poetry is the proverbial glue that binds each of us despite our race, culture, or ethnicity.
I can recall the first time I read Nikki Giovanni’s “Knoxville, Tennessee.” Images of being barefoot against the summer sun, and recalling a season that embraces the sweltering heat with soul food and sanctuary appealed to me. Drawn to Giovanni’s words, I found myself traveling in the moment of her intended journey. This is what poetry does. It transcends the shading of the flesh and brings people together in a gathering of interpreted truth. It allows the Wall Street business suit and the vibrant dashiki to find not only common ground, but a novel appreciation for our celebrated differences. Through revelation, confession, and literary compassion, the whimsy of words does more for the accord than recognized.
My own personal relationship with poetry has allowed me to cross paths with many. Noted venues like The Blue Room and an eclectic mix of grass root gatherings in Kansas City bring together a harmonious heritage that includes, among many, African American, Latino, Italian, and Asian ancestry. It embodies the young and the old, blends the realists and the idealists, and mingles among the revolutionaries and the visionaries, all the while placing each in a position of candid, passionate power that remains influential of the spoken/written word.
The true plethora good of this literary craft is evident in such artists as Natasha Ria El-Scari. As a writer and poet living in Kansas City, El-Scari could be described as intellectually heroic. Her words are beautifully intense; her message unforgivably raw, but delivered in a way that leaves you feeling, from the moment you meet, as if you’ve spent the evening catching up with a close friend. El Scari believes that the common ties of poetry begin with blending in the “all of you.” For her, being a part of the progressive circle is an opportunity for cultural impact.
“This is the lens that I live,” she says. “Ultimately, all of who I am ties into my work. I cannot avoid who I am; the social response, or my spiritual self. The call and response is key; incorporating music into my work, and tying political views that directly impact women of African descent. I like when I have to live in someone else’s world. I know mine, but to experience in a poem how it feels to live in them or that feeling, is always powerful. I don’t think I believe in universal themes as much as I believe in experiencing what people have lived through or how they see things.”
El Scari believes in experiencing more than what one has lived through, but visualizing the mind behind it. She speaks eloquently about her ties to the poetic community. In addition to the spoken word, she mentioned the time she spent in a women’s writers circle with Faith Scott, a poet I have had the privilege of seeing perform. The writers circle has proven to be, for both artists, another way to share meanings of heritage and womanhood. Scott graces the stage with the gift of delicately lacing the threads of her Latina heritage into her work. Her poetry gently tucks in beautiful strands of her Latina heritage. Scott’s style, reminiscent of Sandra Cisneros, serves as a vibrant voice for her culture.
Men and women alike find the art of poetry and the venue of the spoken word a safe haven. It is a dwelling of self-realization; a world centered on limitless perceptions of race, generation, political party, and personal preference. Miykael Yisreal, a spoken word artist that couples spiritual fulfillment and authenticity, values the enrichment of the craft. Miykael found writing in 1997 as a college student, during a time in his life that he describes as a ‘spiritual transformation’.
“I really couldn't relate to a lot of my friends and teammates at the time, so writing became my outlet. Poetry became my voice. Culture, is the lens through which we see. From love to politics, peace to war, comedic to dramatic, it all is informed through my background and has its significance based on it.” Miykael believes that his perspective of the world must be enhanced. He appreciates different cultures, often finding them fascinating, and feels that poetry is one of the many common threads that bind the principalities of our world’s cultures.
My conversation with Yisreal ended with what I believe to be a statement that captures the very core of what makes poetry such a binding force. “Diversity, I believe is good, but harmony, and oneness illustrates the meaning of life, and that's the experience that I really would like to have in such a collaboration as this.”