Welcome to Fantom Island, where iLL-Literacy's legend finds its habitat. If you've happened upon this portal, may we be as bold as to assert that nested in you is a healthy curiosity. Whether you were drawn here by the Slanted i at this page's 1-o-clock, the quick flash of during loading, or simply because you have a click-happy finger – you've arrived. HihowRUhi?
The peculiar thing about Fantom Island is that it is but a mirage – an Imaginary oasis isolated in the confines of our brainwaves. We shall gradually reveal morsels of our folklore here, so please visit often. To return, simply bring your Imagination as your passport.
Fantom Island
WEDNESDAY WORD: Brooklyn Academy of Music's "Poetry 2010" + Mayda del Valle
Having been involved with spoken word for a decade now, it’s often easy to get jaded. Especially watching a form that was originated by the oral traditions of our ancestors, revived by the underground arts scene, and now used for Sprite and McDonald’s commercials – all while remaining unable to create a viable career path for so many talented artists – it’s been easy to fall into our group’s shared mentality that, for the most part, spoken word is a pretentious and self-righteous artform that sucks. It’s very self-contradicting, I admit. Without spoken word, iLL-Lit would’ve never had a platform to jump off of in the first place, and despite the oceans of poems that I’ve seen that have only inspired me to roll my eyes, it’s also true that spoken word has introduced me to some of the most amazing people in my life.
Last week we were blessed to share the stage with a slew of amazing poets and artists for Poetry 2010, the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s annual spoken word show. If there’s anything that helps snap me out of my cynicism, it’s engaging with the youth. It’s the reason why I still clamor to get to Youth Speaks events whenever I have the time, and remain impressed by poetry when shared by young people. Like many art forms that I love, the greatest challenge is sifting past all the bullshit and finding the core of why it inspired you in the first place.
The show, entirely directed by Monica Williams, was refreshing in its ability to introduce new realms of discourse through the work of hand-picked poets. These are artists who have given their all for the sake of spoken word – not as that derivative of hip-hop that is forever on the verge, but as a valuable platform that speaks from the gut of generations past. Although we as iLL-Lit started off our engagement with a shaky foot (the powers that be disallowed us from performing “An Old White Man Named God Told Me Not to Say Fuck”…ironically, a poem about censorship), we found solace in developing the brand-new “Finding Emo,” and reviving the age-old solo-turned-group piece “Self-Hatred’s Soliloquy.” Monica did wonders with both pieces, developing a great narrative and breathing new life into our faith in performance poetry. During dress rehearsals, we were pleasantly surprised when presented with the show’s accompanying educational guide, which featured our purdy lil mugs on the cover! Truly, the intersection of music, poetry, theater, and education – the essence of why we still do what we do.
Even with the wonderful performances, my most memorable moment came after the show, when Charles Jones, founding member of SNCC, came backstage to greet us. With tears welled in his eyes, he told us that torches had been lit, and that the efforts originated by the student movements of the Civil Rights era were being continued. It is moments like this that breathe new life not only into our tireless journey as artists struggling to do what we love for a living, but also often lacking in indications of whether the way we’re doing it is speaking to a greater purpose.
Like I said, there were a number of incredible poets involved, all of which I’ll be introducing to you over the course of the next few weeks. The first one I’d like to show you is the homie Mayda del Valle, whom I ended up spending a good amount of time with this weekend…dope dope artist, beautiful human being…and first person to successfully teach me how to salsa (many have tried, many have failed). Also, notice how consistently fresh her earrings are! Okay, enough blah blah from me. Wednesday Word coming back skrong!
