2008 Woodie Awards
Poetry provides a way of outlet for some
By: Joe Borlik
Issue date: 3/17/08 Section: News
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He used it to express his religious beliefs.
"God gave me a gift with words, but it's not about me - it's about God," Parham said.
Parham performed a version of Christian rapper Da Truth's "The Portrait," which questions Dan Brown's bestseller, "The Da Vinci Code," a novel suggesting Jesus Christ was married and had children.
He was one of a number of performers at the Collective Action for Cultural Unity's "Words of Unification" slam poetry session Friday night in Bovee University Center.
The performances were set to the African congo drumming of Efe Bes. Bes is from Zaire and has been drumming for 10 years.
"I was born to play the drums," Bes said. "In America, drumming is set in the background, drummers play to keep timing in songs and that's it. I want to bring drumming forward."
Bes is known for blending traditional African drumming with modern contemporary sounds and has played up to 25 drums simultaneously.
Other local poets and students had a chance to step up and show off their stuff in the UC.
Detroit senior Gary Pettway is the president of CACU and organized the event. Pettway also is a fan of poetry himself.
"Poetry is a great release of emotion. It's a creative and artistic way of conveying yourself," he said.
Pettway performed an original piece called "Dancing to the beat," which he said wrote while he was "mad watching BET."
Battlecreek senior Asher Long-Mendez, who also performed, said he would try to participate in poetry readings whenever he can.
"Poetry allows you to express yourself with raw emotions," he said.
Saginaw senior Natasha Moore used singing to express, and performed a medley of songs by Jill Scott and Musiq Soulchild.
"I've been singing since I was 6 or 7," Moore said. "I love the coffeehouse atmosphere."
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