POETRY IN MOTION — Javon Johnson tells a rapt audience how it is.
Photo by John Domogma
Their hands moved through the air with grace and authority. Smooth voices rising and shaking with passion as their diction weaved poems that weighed heavily on the conscience and heart. Spoken verses so beautiful that audience members held onto each and every word, relishing its splendor.
SWC hosted “Love & Liberation: Javon Johnson and Rudy Francisco of Fiveology” along with several students from Helix High School to perform spoken word poetry to an audience packed into the art gallery.
Speaking on different aspects of African-American culture and identity, the passionate poets dictated to the audience seated on bales of hay and chairs.
Epic poems and narratives that riveted spectators almost had the power to distract from the large mural of an African-American man with a slaves iron collar that each poet stood in front of. It was a stark reminder of the country’s past and gave more power to the poems that spoke of racism, ignorance and hatred that the African-American community has faced.
After a brief introduction the first and only female poet, Bry’onna Mann, confidently strolled to the stage. A student from Helix High, she did not appear nervous. She had a luminous smile until she began her poem. Starting off calmly she began to speak about how men think they can treat a woman. Her confidence was radiant, she demanded attention from each audience member and was not afraid to tell each man what she demanded. She said how as an intellectual woman she would not take average men belittling her as their form of romance. This verse resonated with women in the audience, they nodded their heads and smiled while men seemed to take note. Her passion rose and she was angry. She demanded respect, and when she finished the whole audience saw this high school student in a different light.
Later, Helix student Drake Phillips entered the stage. Whether it was nerves or confidence, he appeared stoic in front of the audience. He had a deep, rich voice not congruent with a slender teenager. His poem was commanding from the second he spoke, with an authority in his voice that rang through the gallery. He announced that he was sick of being treated as a second-class citizen and that only ignorant people would believe that racism from slavery would not affect him to this day. Then suddenly he stopped in the middle of his poem. Originally it seemed Phillips was overcome by emotion, but he had actually forgotten the rest of the words. The silence in the room was unbearable. People softly encouraged and comforted him and he began again. After a couple more attempts, he walked off of the stage. Audience members seemed sad, because they were eager to hear what else he had to say.
Once the highlight poets Javon Johnson and Rudy Francisco took to the stage, the audience was captivated for the next hour of the performance. Both men seemed completely at ease, Francisco was dressed like a preppy East Coast student while Johnson was in casual attire.
Photo by John Domogma
They began with a duet poem with such precision that any artist would be impressed. Facing different areas of the audience they alternated verses, reiterating that they were proud and strong black men although society and fellow Americans sometimes portrayed them as terrorists. Their voices were in unison and powerful. They seized the audience with the statement that true terrorism was not men in the Middle East, but the racism oppressing contemporary African-American men. That poem felt like a punch to the stomach, it took the audience’s breath away.
For the rest of the night’s performance the two men would take turns reciting poetry and touch on subjects like racism, self-esteem, history, awkwardness, domestic violence, religion and injustice. Some phrases sounded so beautiful pieced together that one would try to trap those words into their memory to not forget their poignant splendor.
Francisco talked about being an awkward teenager evolving into an awkward adult that the audience laughing at his witty lines. Once it was his turn to speak again he turned the lighthearted environment of the room into a somber mood when he revealed the title of his poem was “A Letter to Chris Brown.” He had the ability to take the audience members on a roller coaster of emotion and critical thinking that was thrilling to experience.
In contrast to Francisco’s style of spoken word poetry, Johnson spoke with a more serious tone. He would crack small jokes between poems, but his subject matter was heavy. He recited a poem that he imagined would be Malcolm X’s last conversation to his eldest daughter before he was murdered. Fathers and beloved daughters could not help but feel their throats tighten and their eyes water.
An evening of spoken word poetry promised to be entertaining, but most audience members that night began to see things differently. African-Americans and other Americans were touched and transformed.
