Student poetry fills Student Union lounge

The Associated Students Program Council turned the University Student Union's Informal Lounge into a showcase for live music and poetry Thursday night as part of its series of readings, "Poets' Lounge: Voyage to Atlantis."

The event got under way late and many of the poets trickled in even later, but once the room was filled the performers seemed to feed off the excitement.

"I like the vibe," said Matt Carreon, a Cal State Long Beach creative writing student. "The jazz music is good and it's got an urban feel. Not too many people know about it. It's underground."
 

"I just come for the food," said CSULB student Naylen Ortiz, Carreon's girlfriend.

Besides the sandwiches, cookies and coffee, jazz band The Sanctuary provided the icy groove and rhythmic counterpoint: the only thing missing from the atmosphere was appropriately dim lighting and a full bar.

Not that this spirited group needed it.

Host Obvious got things started with an urgent rap punctuated by the refrain, "As you try to deny / What happens in the blink of an eye." His smooth, singsong delivery, booming voice and infectious spirit set the mood for the evening and would not be matched by anyone.

Exhorting his fellow readers to improvisational performance, Obvious disposed of the reading list and instead simply called upon volunteers to step up to the microphone.

Carreon followed by delivering the most purely poetic lines of the evening in a voice that rose with necessity. "A locksmith works the piano / He shuffles through the keys / With his fingers that unlock /rhythms from the wooden case."

His rich metaphors which fused sound and image in a unifying whole would have pleased poets Langston Hughes and Jack Kerouac, who both sought a common language that would unite jazz and poetry.

The eclectic evening continued when CSULB English student Christian paid tribute to Jimi Hendrix and German poet Rainer Maria Rilke by way of Middle English.

"I'm going to try to slam some Middle English poetry," he boasted.

We couldn't tell if he was crazy or simply ambitious.

The evening moved on, featuring an exchange student rapping in German, a shamelessly erotic poem spoken in alternating lines of English and Spanish, lurid haiku and an improvisational scat that would have impressed jazz legend Jon Hendricks.

"I'm feeling this and feeling this," exclaimed Obvious midway through the reading. He then delivered "Negro Incognito," a work in progress, his authoritative and stylistic vocal prowess punctuated by deranged laughter and howling song.

"Poets' Lounge was successful last year so the students wanted to do it again," said series organizer Precious Robinson. "Other people are doing lounge poetry but we don't think its overkill. It gives students an outlet for creative expression, a platform for ideas and the opportunity to meet and socialize."

As if to prove her point, Robinson delivered two poems herself, one a celebration of the dual nature of spirit and flesh and the other a defiant rejection of narcissistic, materialist images in advertising.

"I'm going back to my black is beautiful reality," she intoned to howls of appreciation.

Poets' Lounge continues April 6 and May 2 in the Informal Lounge of the Student Union.