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March 26, 2009
Seven poets 'Stomp the Stage' Angela Morris ski/ill Iter
Stomp the Stage, a poetry group based out of Galileo's Bar and Grill in the Paseo, performed their written art Tuesday at the Jazz Lab for the Broncho Jam. This group, all with different backgrounds, experiences and jobs, has been going around to different schools for the last few months working hard to get their poetry heard. "We've been going into inner city schools," South Oklahoma City native and host of Stomp the Stage, Kosher said. "We want to let the kids know that a lot of us have shared similar experiences and we just want to teach them what we've learned through it all." Speaking from personal experiences, Stomp the Stage read for UCO students this past Tuesday night. "Does anyone here get easily offended?" Jennifer Hudgens, the first poet of the evening, asked as she walked onto stage. After no response from the crowd, Hudgens jumped into poems about female empowerment and encouraged the audience to stomp on society's conventional ideas of acceptable places for females in the world. She also shared with the audience a love poem about the true passions two people can have for one another. "I want the kind of man that will covet my scars like religion," Hudgens said. The next poet to take the stage was 11-year veteran poet who goes by the name Tapestry. He got into the poetry scene at Galileo's more than a decade ago and has since found writing and sharing his poetry to be the most therapeutic experience he has ever had. "And it's cheaper than seeing a shrink," Tapestry said. "Poetry, I get from the dark edge off of me," Tapestry said. "Poetry takes the leash off of my personal demons." He read two poems off of his collection entitled, "Five Categories of Crazy." One poem was a work about how people lie when responding to the greeting, "How are you?" "How are you? Fine. Two people starting a conversation on a foundation of lies. Definition one of the Random House College Dictionary defines fine as 'of superior_ best quality or high grade or excellent manner, very well.' But who here can honestly say that is how your life is actually going? Anyone here says your life is completely perfect, please do us all a favor and go back to Leave it to Beaver, 1 Tapestry wrote in his poem titled "Fine." The next person to take stage was Dr. Freedman, a teacher at Langston, who spoke of an old girlfriend being, "the most beautiful cocoa colored queen with hips like the best tambourine anyone had ever seen." He also read a poem, "Slave Trader," which was inspired by a previous job he held involving gang intervention groups. Freedman was then followed by one of
Photo by Vista photographer Matt Danner
Local slam-poet Tapestry preforms at the UCO Jazz lab on Tuesday, March 24 at "Stomp the Stage," a Broncho Jam event.
the founders of the poetry scene in Oklahoma City, Tracy Nelson Townsen (TNT). Townsen, a RAIN maker (Rape Abusive International Network), recited poems of the sexual abuse experienced within her family. After Townsen concluded her poetic presentation, Mannie, a former military soldier, recalled stories of his times in war being hell. Mannie, a professional poet out of Lawton, loves interacting with ihis audience as he lets the poetry come from his soul and mind. , "I'm not reading my poetry; I'm letting it all flow from inside and upstairs," he said. For Mannie's last poem, he got off stage and walked through the audience as he spoke about how individuals dismiss the thought of humanity. The last woman to take the stage for the evening was Melissa May. She started seriously writing and reading at age 16 and now, at 22, she was been honored at the National Poetry
Slam as one of the top 26 poets in the nation. She read a poem, "Fairy Tale," which personified a mirror as society's outlook on what beauty should be and how women should take a stand against this outlook. "Mirror, I have paid your dues; my -fingers down my throat for you, lied for you, cried for you, but today you die... Mirror, mirror, tell me how you changed adjectives into insults that drop like atom bombs and disfigure like Hiroshima. The words fat and skinny are not warring cousins out for ancestral blood. They are just words mirror and they have no bearing on the term beautiful," May read. The host, Kosher, wrapped up the evening with a few of his poems and then invited Mannie. and May back onto stage to do one group poem titled, "Our Struggles." The chorus of the poem, which the three wrote together said, "Sometimes our struggles can feel like our home, but no when you struggle you are never alone." Stomp the Stage performs Galileo's Bar and Grill for Open Poetry Night on Wednesday's starting at 8 p.m. If interested in reading some of your own poetry, sign up starts at 7 p.m.
Photos by Matt Danner
Poets Jennifer Hudgens (Left), Mannie (Middle), and Dr. Freedman perform at the UCO Jazz Lab on Tues., March 24 for "Stomp the Stage," at the UCO Jazz Lab. They were three of seven poets who participated in the event. This was one of the events the Student Programming Board has arranged in their list of events for Broncho Jam.
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