Sex, love, race explored at the Poet's Lounge

Sean Orfila/On-line Forty-Niner

Independent poet, Nikki Skies was featured at the Poet's Lounge, a monthly event presented by the University Student Union Program Council. Her brand of poetry ran the gamut from steamy sex accounts to social commentary. Skies, a Los Angeles-based spoken word artist, encouraged those in attendance to write and save a record of all of their poems.

Poetry: Spoken word is the channel of choice for tough issues at the Poet's Lounge.

By Sean Orfila
On-line Forty-Niner

"Always learn and grow," said featured poet Nikki Skies, speaking to a capacity crowd at the "Poet's Lounge" last Thursday night in the Soroptomist House. The free poetry event featured readings by the guest poet, an open-mic session for all poets wanting to read and music by the J. Evans Project.

The event drew about 100 to 150 people, packing the small house at Cal State Long Beach to a sweaty, stuffy limit. Skies, who originally comes from Kansas City, Mo., used powerful imagery and poetic strength in her deliverance. Most of her poems were about race and love.

Her opening poem, "One Day White Woman" was about a black woman and a white woman who recognize each other's different features, and come to see each other as beautiful. After other poets performed their work, Skies graced the microphone again with a couple of powerful sex poems about deep love experiences.

The J. Evans Project, is comprised of a drummer, a keyboardist and a bassist seemingly flirted and mingled through sound with Skies while she read. J. Evans is the resident band for the Poet's Lounge. Their skills helped to carry the energy of the evening and soothed the ears of the crowd. The J. Evans Project is performing in a separate show on Nov. 29 at The Pier in Long Beach.

The microphone was available to anyone who wanted to recite. The topics were basically twofold; poems were either about social issues such as race and war, or about love.   The audience reacted favorably to most of the poems, especially poems about sexual experiences. Yet, not all the poems about love were coming from a happy place. One poet loudly recited about being used by a man and faking sex. Another woman read a poem about a prostitute. The topics varied and were spoken from deep, sometimes profound places.

Before leaving Skies spoke to the audience, "Never be afraid, never be afraid to read a poem." She also encouraged the mostly young crowd to continue to read and write poetry with passion.

Program Council will host the next Poet's Lounge on Nov. 20. Skies will perform at the upcoming poet-thon at the Kotton Club this weekend.