spoken word – The Concordian

What poetry means to the readers at Kafein café-bar’s 100th Poetry Nite show

Spoken-word poetry not only helps the reader share their personal battles; it also helps listeners who are going through similar experiences, according to poet Eliza Prestley. She was among the group of new and returning poets who shared their work at Kafein café-bar’s 100th Poetry Nite show on Jan. 16.

“It’s a healing process,” she said. “When there are poems that address a topic that multiple people are dealing with, you can hear it in [the audience’s] reactions. There is an understanding that someone else feels this too.”

For Prestley, poetry is an art form that connects with its audience in a way that not many art forms can. “If someone else has written it, they [expressed] what you have felt or what you’ve experienced, but you [wouldn’t have] put it into those exact words,” she said, adding that hearing someone else express an experience you have been through can identify and validate your own experience.

Last Tuesday night, Prestley read two poems centred on the theme of sickness and its challenges. “It’s about different ways that people are sick; how I consider myself sick and how others view me as sick through things like thinking that homosexuality is sick,” she explained.

Mariam Saleh, another reader that evening, described poetry as liberating. “There’s something empowering in telling a room of strangers all of these deep, personal things about yourself and knowing that it’s okay because it’s just a poem,” she said. “It’s about making something beautiful out of emotions that are negative.”

Saleh’s first poem was about her journey to Canada. “My first poem was about being care-free, love and being young,” she explained. “I came here to Montreal after living in Egypt, and I just wanted to encapsulate the feeling of summer and languidness.”

Saleh emphasized the importance of words in our society. “I think everyone is a writer at heart,” she said. “What is really beautiful about humanity is that we have language, and the things we can do with language are really amazing.”

Preksha Ashk, who also read a piece at the event, said poetry is an emotional release. “For me, it’s my therapy. It’s one of those things that kept me going when there was nothing else.”

This wasn’t the first time any of these poets had read at Poetry Nite. According to all three, every time they get up in front of this audience, they can be themselves without judgment. “I’ve performed at Kafein a couple of times,” Saleh said. “It’s a safe space. Especially with sharing art, it puts you in a vulnerable position, and it’s not always easy to do it. It’s always great that there are places like these that are made to be a safe environment where everyone can contribute and share [their poetry] and accept and support each other.”

Prestley, Saleh and Ashk each encouraged students to write unapologetically whenever possible. “Focus on yourself and what you want to share. Don’t think so much [about] how others will react,” Prestley said.

Photo by Alex Hutchins

Saul Williams appeared on stage at La Tulipe and spoke into the microphone with authority. After rifling off the names of 50 or so prominent musicians, activists and poets from his song Coded Language, he grabbed his makeshift drum and started wailing away with all his might.

With Bob Marley’s face brimming from his chest, Williams pounded the same eight-note sequence over and over: his three-piece band quickly joined suit and they eased into Volcanic Sunlight’s first high-tempo song, “Patience.”

With this raucous entrance, Williams had signalled his arrival. Most artists would be sapped of energy on the last night of a North American tour, but Williams clearly had something left in the tank and wanted to share it with his audience.

It was in stark contrast to the conversation I had with him last week where he sounded relaxed, almost zen-like, in preparation for that evening’s show in Salt Lake City.

The musician, poet, actor and activist from Newburgh, New York turned 40 last month; I took the opportunity to wish him a happy belated birthday, especially because mine’s a day after his.

“Actually I turned 10,” he said, reminding me that his birthdate, Feb. 29, only comes around every four years. “It’s a great way of keeping me young at heart.”

Williams’ fourth album was released in May last year. The title and album cover, which shows him outstretched in front of a glowing sun, signify a new beginning. If The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust! was the album in which his message of change and empowerment was most evident, his latest release overflows with optimism and rebirth with song titles such as “New Day” and “Triumph.”

“I had nothing to prove on this album, it was just a matter of being myself,” he said.

He made a point of stopping between songs during his show to encourage the audience to dance, and pretend like we were alone in our bedrooms. The songs off Volcanic Sunlight resonate with the same appeal.

“The last album was a statement,” he said. “This is the sequel, in a way, to Niggy Tardust. He is a character who has evolved—it’s the idea of him coming through a door so everybody could see him. Now that he’s through, this is what he sounds like. It was a natural progression,” he said.

His influences resonate in both his lyrics and sound. You’ll hear the social consciousness of Public Enemy and Run-D.M.C., the jazz-rap of De La Soul and the rhythm and beats of African music.

Williams’ talents as poet and musician have never been more evident than on Volcanic Sunlight. The hip-hop/rock interchange combined with poetry that examines religion, spirituality and the existential puts him in a category of his own, far away from the superficial candy-pop you can easily find on today’s most popular radio stations.

When Williams’ show neared its end, he approached a woman on the side of the stage and spoke to her for a minute. He re-emerged with a familiar red square pinned to his shirt, the emblem of the student fight against the rise in tuition fees in Quebec. The fact that it appeared next to Bob Marley’s face didn’t go unnoticed and the audience let out a powerful roar when they saw it.

“It’s important to fight for what you believe in,” he said. “I commend you for that.”