Spring Break
Imprints: Finding His Voice
Student uses poetry to speak his mind
Chelsea Anderson
Issue date: 3/1/07 Section: News
"I have started to focus my writing around feminist issues. As a young black woman, I emphasize issues that affect young women today, along with other political and social issues."
Smith said reading poems has also made her a better public speaker and helped her connect with people on a more personal level.
"She has had an impact on my writing," said Dekker, who wrote a poem called "Falling in Love" for Smith. "You could just see what I was going through in my life through my poems."
As the group moves into the next year, Smith hopes to move back into writing more poetry individually, as opposed to perfecting a small quantity of poems for performance. She plans to organize writing workshops during meetings to allow writers to compose in the presence of other creative minds.
Dekker said he thinks the Black Poets Society is very important to OSU because of its emphasis on diversity.
"It's a cultural force," he said. "I think it provides a direct example of a lot of different cultures, because there are so many different kinds of people involved. It's also an artistic force in a campus that is based on math and science."
Dekker touches many with his words. In one of his poems he uses chess as a metaphor to vent about his frustrations with racial tension.
"I hate chess because it reminds me that I'm nothing but a pawn to a king … chess is the great divide, the white evil and power that resonates with the drum patterns of African slaves as their English masters sipped tea, and played a silly game with pawns, bishops, rooks and kings … no matter which side wins, the fact is that kids still only see the game through a two-shade lens," Dekker writes in his poem "Chess."
Many Black Poets Society members make appearances at places like Iovino's every first Wednesday of the month for open mic night, and every third Wednesday of the month for the lounge's monthly slam poetry show.
The organization was founded in 1998 by black students exclusively for black students to voice their concerns and come together in solidarity. Since then, it has grown to be a multicultural guild.
The group's Myspace page says that Black is symbolic of the unity of all colors. They believe poetry is the binding expression of the heart and the conscious mind.
"We still keep the original name because of its history," Dekker said. "We like to honor that."
Smith said reading poems has also made her a better public speaker and helped her connect with people on a more personal level.
"She has had an impact on my writing," said Dekker, who wrote a poem called "Falling in Love" for Smith. "You could just see what I was going through in my life through my poems."
As the group moves into the next year, Smith hopes to move back into writing more poetry individually, as opposed to perfecting a small quantity of poems for performance. She plans to organize writing workshops during meetings to allow writers to compose in the presence of other creative minds.
Dekker said he thinks the Black Poets Society is very important to OSU because of its emphasis on diversity.
"It's a cultural force," he said. "I think it provides a direct example of a lot of different cultures, because there are so many different kinds of people involved. It's also an artistic force in a campus that is based on math and science."
Dekker touches many with his words. In one of his poems he uses chess as a metaphor to vent about his frustrations with racial tension.
"I hate chess because it reminds me that I'm nothing but a pawn to a king … chess is the great divide, the white evil and power that resonates with the drum patterns of African slaves as their English masters sipped tea, and played a silly game with pawns, bishops, rooks and kings … no matter which side wins, the fact is that kids still only see the game through a two-shade lens," Dekker writes in his poem "Chess."
Many Black Poets Society members make appearances at places like Iovino's every first Wednesday of the month for open mic night, and every third Wednesday of the month for the lounge's monthly slam poetry show.
The organization was founded in 1998 by black students exclusively for black students to voice their concerns and come together in solidarity. Since then, it has grown to be a multicultural guild.
The group's Myspace page says that Black is symbolic of the unity of all colors. They believe poetry is the binding expression of the heart and the conscious mind.
"We still keep the original name because of its history," Dekker said. "We like to honor that."
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