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Every month, a group of central New York writers dedicate themselves to expression through poetry at the Community Folk Arts Center. Writers came together Tuesday and prepared for an evening of poetry with journals in hand.

“Our goal is to get people on the stage, reciting poetry,” said Cedric T. Bolton, CFAC’s education outreach program coordinator.

Bolton and Kofi Antwi, an English professor at SUNY Cortland, held a Poetic Black Fusion Writers Workshop at the CFAC. The event seeks to create a space to support local poetry and help poets improve their craft. The poets recited original poetry with varying styles and approaches.

The CFAC offers a black box theater, art gallery and other resources for local artists, which Bolton wants the community and the poets present to take advantage of. Bolton even offered to pay for the gas of the guests who drove far distances to reach CFAC.

Attendees included Syracuse University students, locals and members of other communities who share a love of poetry. Some were Master of Fine Arts students studying creative writing while others were studying organic chemistry. The attendees discussed what poetry meant to them and the world.

“Why does poetry matter? How can poetry serve as a medium for creative expression?” Antwi said at the event’s start.

After taking a minute to consider this question, most participants shared a response. Despite everyone independently writing an answer, their reasons were very similar.

Some attendees argued that poetry overcame limitations to imagination, or that it expressed vague feelings through clear words. One person argued that it was about finding the right words when it feels like there are no words.

After sharing their responses, the attendees analyzed Nikki Giovanni’s poem titled “The Laws of Motion.” They paid attention to poetic details like enjambment, meter and assonance, but also to their emotional response to the poem.

Antwi told the writers to pay special attention to what resonates and that the best poetry comes from authenticity. Being from Staten Island and Brooklyn, he decided to incorporate slang and other personal elements into his poetry and urged others to do the same.

“It’s about writing how you are, not trying to be different,” Antwi said.

As part of a writing exercise, various words were displayed on a screen and the writers were instructed to use these words to write poetry. The words varied from “music” to “liberate” to “faith” to “parachute.”

After about 20 minutes, the poets concluded the writing process then recited their works. The writers praised each other for their moving and diverse topics, and Antwi was visibly proud.

One poet at the workshop, Ricky “Randum” Maeweather, walked around the table while he recited. When Bolton asked him why he walked around, Maeweather responded, “Because I wanted to feel it.”

CFAC is sponsoring an event on June 12 called Level Up Poetry Slam, a citywide high school poetry slam competition, with 2 rounds of elimination. Bolton wants the event to reach high schoolers who are interested in creative writing.

Antwi aims to eventually publish an anthology of the attendees’ poems. The Black Arts Movement inspired him because of how it reached communities unaware of poetry through modern vernacular, simple and emotional style and contemporary topics.

“Their words were used not just to inspire people, but it was also to give them a community and that’s what we’re trying to do here at CFAC,” Antwi said.

For Bolton, it’s about getting people to keep attending workshops to hone their craft. He said even though some of the poets had more experience than others, that didn’t matter in the end.

“If you do more of these, you’ll grow,” Bolton said.

Published on May 1, 2024 at 12:53 am