Pieces, Pages, Poetry | Collection #1- A Deeper Look Within
Someone once said poetry is just a bunch of words prettily strung together to sound nice. And while that statement holds some truth, there’s more to poetry than just pretty words and musings. The aims of poetry are limitless. Poems can express a myriad of themes, feelings, and occurrences. The non-linear form of expression holds depth, it holds power and passion. That power lies with the interpretation and intention of a given poem. When so much can be said with so little, a poem tends to be packed with emotions and meaning. Though not all poems are written to hold much meaning, the depth of relation rests on the reader.
WAA held its first poetry workshop on the 27th of July. The event was held by Khade Elwin, who is an active member of the Association and a storyteller at heart. Under the theme “A Deeper Look Within”, the workshop proved to be an eve of facing the mirror and wholesome sharing.
Following a set of prompts, developed by Khade, time was given to create, and then the poems were shared, received and appreciated.
“I constructed my prompts with the intention of creating a meaningful workshop. I wanted my fellow artists to leave with something, whether that was a newfound appreciation for themselves or a moment of deep introspection. I did not want to spend any time on basic poems. I wanted them to reach deep within themselves and put raw emotion on paper. My prompts were made to invoke feelings and birth poets.” -Khade Elwin
Prompt #1:
Think about something that you like about yourself; something non-tangible and personify it. Give it a body.
Poem I
Where you from exactly?
I hear in your voice something foreign, something unalike
It's not exactly yank, not really tourguide for hire,
But who raised you? Lizzie Mcguire.
A cross-culture phenomenon that feels just out of place, just about everywhere.
Head full of Disney Channel and Nickelodeon... Stars and HBO.
The eventuality of an only child who's only friend was a TV.
Alienating.
Special.
Weird.
Unique.
An odd accent: my voice's voice speaks.
Poem II
Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder they say
But the one who holds the beauty is not as fortunate.
As much as she tries she can never see what's in the beholder's eyes
Her perspective of her beauty can never be the same but instead can feel like a shame
They say pretty hurts and
Beauty is pain
Poem III
My Energy
A spark that ignites withering hopes
A throbbing mega-star bursting with volatility
Spreading warmth, cuddling the needy
My energy is wild but timid, depressed but uplifting
Like an erratic Soundwave, a vibrating stillness, ready and waiting to move the immovable
Poem IV
She is the thing that drives me
And spirals widely
Violently creates
making everything she touches
Her path a bomb of blooming possibilities, realities
She is the one that fills the rooms with her strut her hip dips
Her long legs
Dark ebony skin encompassing booming slivering magic dripping from her boney finger tips
-Khade E.
Poem V
If your feet hit the ground and it wasn't solid
You would not fall through
Your heels would dig in deep along the wit of the roiling earth and tumble along in placid monotony
Even when your essence lays low in slumber your heart never dims down on giving the very parts which lend golden streams of light
-Zaire H.
Prompt #2:
Describe a feeling or a thing that does not exist. Like a fifth season or a fourteenth reason.
Poem I
I run around the earth as you circle round me.
The tides of my emotions rise into fits of anger and sorrow.
Wild flailing, as I try to release you from my orbit.
A moon's moon.
Round and round we go and I wonder why?
get away from my face, boom boom fly.
Poem II
Art
The mountains danced, fluttering their silky, grassy skin
Bodies of water placed where the sky should be
A hummingbird evolves into a dragon, no, a kraken, or maybe a whale
The layers of life bend through the paint, bound by my love, set free by the audience
If god really exists, they work through the labyrinth of our collective creations, because we are all creators in the physical and spiritual realms
Poem III
It was the goodness and love of Satan herself
The ever flowing water from a barren river that fed me life
Swept me up and whispered to me sour everything's.
You made me feel like God on the 8th day of the week
Like it goes on forever and there really is no end in suffering.
I never saw so much while blind.
-Khade E.
Poem IV
Depression is like the "coconut” embedded in the single seed of fruits.
Just as you basked in the tantalizing flavors of life
Like a good neighbor
Depression is there
Waiting for you to bite that seed.
And find the surprise inside Sometimes its bitter
Sometimes it's tangy
Sometimes you spit out
Or some never bite at all I guess if life is the fruit I gotta put the lime in the coconut and mix it all up
Poem V
Then there were words, few that neither slithered nor crawled
They rolled off the tongue uncannily, unknowingly but surely
You didn't hear me say it,
But I did.
When your gales of pollen coated my lungs,
And the celestial gods came down to earth
I could only mutter these three words
And hoped you heard
Even as I could not speak
-Zaire H.
Prompt #3:
(Tough Prompt) Write down your insecurities or things you feel you aren’t good at. Then imagine that the best parts of you meet the worst parts.
Poem I
Absent Support.
Why do you two do this to me?
Better yet, why were you bestowed upon me?
Trying to find THE chosen chemise is like plucking teeth;
Cause you're both D's; so eyes follow you with ease.
I could berate you, bind you;
Cram you into society's dictated prison for the misdeamenor of--..?
...Ah yes,
Simply...being?
But without you, the mirthful freedom of the cloth..
Quickly becomes fleeting.
With a weighed heart on my sleeve,
The pretty disappointment returns to the rack;
Scowering for the One,
Who lovingly supports my back.
Poem II
Stop pushing them out like that Borjé fix them nuh
Why they so?
I wish I could reduce them If there was one thing I could remove is that
A few years and confidences later ... (in Sponge Bob narrator’s voice)
They are luscious Oh waw they fill up a room
Waw what a feature to have
They are trending
And to think they weren't good enough
My big lips and smile
Poem III
Speak up-
No stay hidden, they don't need to hear that twang of speech
Lay in the sodden silence of your own making,
Listen but don't say anything
When your ears are filled and your eyes are tired
Don't tell them how you feel, tell them words of solace and love
If they ever pay attention don't speak of your desire
Soothsay the words of stories untold in broken charred dissonance
Use your voice sparingly when you have to,
-Use your voice to speak your truth
Speak up
Poem IV
Hey,
I think we look good as one
There is no the ugly best friend
You ever saw mami water dance around the kinkiest of coils so short
dripping down to charcoal skin with bumps like mountains
Her body as beautiful as mother nature herself
Her song in a tantalizing dissonance with the white tongue
Have you ever saw a marriage so tied
So golden
Their vows as holy and sacred
A promise to ourselves
That we are a beautiful one
-Khade E.
A heartfelt thank you to the participants of the poetry workshop and to those who allowed their poems to be published on the blog. We look forward to more creative excursions of passionate poetry. Look out for more from us! Happy creative thinking, stay safe and drink lots of water; Ses jours, yo chaud.
