Friday, October 22, 2010

Poetic Lyricism: Spoken Words for Words Unspoken

By Cybill Shaffer

We are a generation that has so many avenues of technology to exploit our feelings and thoughts, but rarely a place to do so that is artistic and well-supported by fellow artists.
Poetic Lyricism is an FSU organization that gives students the chance to express themselves however they choose through word and song.

Ecclesiaste Guerrier is the president of Poetic Lyricism. “Poetic Lyricism is great because of its diversity,” he said. “Aside from priding ourselves on the inclusion of students from various ethnic, socio-economic, and racial backgrounds, we feature a wide variety of styles of poetry, song,and music. Our membership features over 50 poets, vocalists and musicians combined.”

Their mission is to “…Speak and be heard through the art-forms of song, rhyme and spoken word,” Guerrier said. “Our intent is to provide ventilation for thoughts unaddressed and emotions suppressed by a social construction afraid of confrontation.”

Richard Wilson, Poetic Lyricism’s treasurer, said, “The best thing about Poetic Lyricism has to be its creative mind set, family atmosphere and inclusiveness… I felt it was the perfect vehicle to help me improve and express my art.”

Danielle Lyn has been a part of Poetic Lyricism for almost three years and this is her second year serving as public relations director. “[We] embrace all talents and find a way to include them in anything we do,” Lyn said. “As an EBoard, we function as a family. We take time to prepare our performers for any genre of performance or environment of performance.”

They have a big event coming up, and you may have seen black flyers around campus. The “Tallahassee Collegiate Poetry Slam” is happening on Nov. 11. It’s free to go, and it’s at 7 pm in the FSU Ballrooms.

Poetry slams are competitions in which poets read or recite original work and members of the audience or specially designated judges adjudicate their performance. There will be more than 12 student organizations as sponsors, and the slam consists of eight teams vying for the title of best poets in Tallahassee. Last year the Artistic Deliverers of Hostile Diction (Team ADHD) was the reigning supreme. They will be returning to fight for their title against the seven other competing teams.

Slams are either solo or group. For this event, it is required to have a group of 4 – 5 active FAMU, TCC or FSU students. Rosters should be submitted to poeticlyricism@yahoo.com and need to include full names, school, classification and contact information. The registration deadline is Oct. 22.

Participation in the slam isn’t mandatory for members. If you’re not ready to branch out quite yet, you don’t have to do so. Events and meeting times are at calendar.yahoo.com/poeticlyricism, and the Facebook group has lots of pictures and information on how to get started with involvement.

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