Submitted by DaVaun Sanders
Just six short years ago, Arizona State University's Welcome Black Poetry Explosion was born, and the annual event has done nothing but grow each year since its inception. The African American Men of ASU (AAMASU) offered yet another engaging evening of expression on August 27, exposing returning ASU students to some of the premiere spoken word artists of the Phoenix metro area.
The Poetry Explosion continued its format of featuring a national spoken word artist to headline the event, performing alongside a showcase of Phoenix area professionals and student poets. HBO Def Poet Amanda Diva (@amandadiva) played the host for this year, jolting the young crowd into laughter and thoughtfulness simultaneously with her pieces and commentary. Subtle as a cattle prod and fearless as a lightning rod, she added her own stamp—no fingersnaps, please—to an event that is easily considered a mainstay on ASU's campus, and looked forward to yearly in the Valley of the Sun.
Diva joins an impressive array of poets to contribute their talents to the Poetry Explosion in shows past such as Jessica Care Moore, Taalam Acey, Black Ice and Marc Marcel. After challenging fire code regulations year after year, the event has successfully moved from the MU basement to the upper ballrooms.
“Attendance at the Poetry Explosion has grown tremendously from 150 to 200 attendees to 700 attendees. This is a great accomplishment,” says Nicholas Walker, the current faculty advisor to AAMASU. “The Poetry Explosion is attracting more students who will ultimately be future AAMASU student leaders on and off campus. In addition, the increase in attendance is (reflective) of more African American students enrolling at ASU."
“It's positive that (the students) have that as an outlet, and get exposed to something new,” says Divine, one of the Phoenix area artists who lent her skills to Friday's event. Several students who took to the stage mentioned her as an inspiration for their own writing.
“The growth is good, it's cool,” she says. “But understanding of what we're doing is necessary.”
Jarrad Henderson, former AAMASU president, was the brain child of the first Welcome Black Poetry Explosion in 2004.
“Writing has always been a way for me to talk about successes, and frustrations,” he said, recalling his childhood days in St. Louis when his family was forced to move frequently. As a sophomore at ASU, Henderson was challenged by AAMASU advisor Lasana Hotep to come up with programming that reached out to African American students.
“I wanted to incorporate my own love of poetry and bring it to the campus.”
Henderson and a dedicated AAMASU core collaborated with Phoenix poets Divine and Black Poet Ventures in the formative years of the Poetry Explosion, which still strives to engage African American students returning to campus. In the decidedly forthright naming decision for “Welcome Black,” Henderson cites AAMASU's mission, which is committed to the “recruitment, retention and graduation of African American male students at Arizona State University.”
“We were unapologetic because we understand that Black people at the university level suffer disproportionately from factors that don't allow them to finish their degrees,” Henderson says.
If the response of this year's returning students is any indicator, the Welcome Black Poetry Explosion continues in the path of the students, advisors and community artists who first envisioned it.
Follow DaVaun Sanders on Twitter @davaunwrites
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