Photos by Brian Wills - The Battalion Junior English major Darrin Carkum transferred to A&M from the University of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina devastated his former university's campus. He uses poetry as a tool to combat the subtle signs of inequality he faces every day.

Martin Caesar, a senior English major, presents his latest poem in the upstairs of Rumours Deli at the MSC while friends listen in.

The lights dimmed in the J. Wayne Stark Galleries and open-mic poetry began:

"A boy's in the well/ And you poison the well/ As the walls of the well are caving in/ You make no attempt at saving him."

Darrin Carkum, a junior English major, began the open-mic poetry forum's fourth night by reading his poem "Oh Well" - a poem about his stepbrother who was recently shot in New Orleans.

"Speak or Be Spoken 4" is an open-mic poetry forum held every Wednesday from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. in the Stark Galleries.

Martin Caesar, a senior English major, and Carkum started the open-mic forum as an outlet for students to express themselves and to get to know each other on a personal level.

"I knew people but not personally," Carkum said. "This forum is a way to get into the mind of someone you didn't know and a good way for people to introduce themselves."

Caesar and Carkum, transfer students to A&M, formed the forum two months ago despite their different backgrounds.

Caesar transferred from Texas A&M University-Galveston and was shocked to find a limited number of entertainment venues in College Station.

"I think A&M is just behind the time," Caesar said. "This is the first place I've been that didn't really have open-mic. Like in Galveston, it was 20 black people on campus, so we're not really going to have an open-mic, but you can get together and somebody will free-style or somebody will read some poetry. I mean there were options in Galveston. This is not a very entertaining, diverse campus."

Caesar attended open-mic night at Revolutions Café in Bryan after hearing about it from his peers and ultimately became the driving force behind the open-mic readings on campus.

"I mean, everybody has programs, but I wanted something consistent - something all the time," Caesar said. "If you can't make it to open-mic this Wednesday, don't sweat it - you got next Wednesday."

Carkum, a Katrina evacuee from the University of New Orleans, wrote poetry before attending A&M. He said writing songs hooked him into rhyming.

"Heavy metaphors were huge when I was in New Orleans," Carkum said. "I like saying poetry and not worrying whether I'm offending someone, but I do care about what other people think as far as constructive criticism."

Like Caesar, Carkum said he had a difficult time adjusting to the new environment in which he was immersed.

"I don't even know how to describe the situation here at A&M," he said. "I'm not used to this environment. It's so much like hell to me. At A&M, everyone wants to erase reality. There's so much oppression here - so many people holding their tongue."

Carkum became involved with "Speak or Be Spoken 4" because he felt like a view from outside of College Station was needed. He said he also had a personal vendetta towards the critics against spoken word.

"There are so many styles, so you can't put all poetry into a certain category," Carkum said. "I don't like it when people dismiss spoken word as a lost art form."

Caesar and Carkum feel the most important aspect of the forum is censorship. Both said they would not have been involved in it if it was censored.

"To be honest, some of my poetry is meant to be offensive, and if you are offended, then my poem applies to something in you," Caesar said. "At the same time, you have to be tolerant and open-minded. I'd like to think of this forum as artful expressions but with respectfulness."

Dustin Kemp, a junior sociology major, has been writing poetry since the eighth grade. He performed "After the Honeymoon," a poem he wrote after getting out of a rough relationship.

"This poem was to bring light to the generalization of relationships gone bad," Kemp said. "I was speaking from personal experience and collective experiences from friends."

Kemp appreciates open-mic because he feels it is an hour that people have to express themselves in any way desired.

"It's like I controlled the audience for about five minutes," Kemp said. "I had some things to say whether they cared or not. They were here, so they had to listen."

Article Tools