Editor’s note: This is the second part of a series on Kaua‘i spoken word poets seeking to raise awareness about violence against women and girls. Part one ran Feb. 12 and featured poets Jadah Sellner and Leah Tamara Harry. Harry’s
Editor’s note: This is the second part of a series on Kaua‘i spoken word poets seeking to raise awareness about violence against women and girls. Part one ran Feb. 12 and featured poets Jadah Sellner and Leah Tamara Harry. Harry’s poem, “The Truth is Shocking” is reprinted here due to an omission when previously published. This week meet Kaua‘i High School English teacher, Paul Cline and Kaua‘i Police officer Roderick “C.R.A.S.H.” Green.
KAPA‘A — Among the dozen performers presenting at the YWCA sponsored poetry slam at Trees Lounge Feb. 4 were Roderick “C.R.A.S.H.” Green and Paul Cline.
The V-Day events are a global movement happening in 130 countries and intent on raising awareness about domestic abuse. They culminate this weekend with Eve Ensler’s “Vagina Monologues” at 7 p.m. today and Saturday at Kaua‘i Community College Performing Arts Center.
Composer. Musician. Spoken word poet. Teacher. Paul Cline is many things — none of which he claims ownership.
“As corny as it sounds. I am a vehicle. I grew up in hip-hop and writing lyrics and rhymes — playing bass and guitar. My first time hearing spoken word was in a class I taught in Oakland,” where visiting artists from nearby Berkeley presented spoken word to Cline’s students. “After that I started playing with rhymes and wrote a few poems then went to an open mic at Cafe International in San Francisco. I’m not about competition though. I like how (spoken word) is the expression of a being. I am a conduit. It comes from God. One of my values is time — being in the moment. If people lend me their ear I want to be worthy so I practice a lot. Before the Trees event I practiced 17 times before I even got there. (When it comes to the performance) it’s all those moments that lead up to that moment that count.”
Ever the student himself, Cline seeks instruction in music where he is devout in his pursuit of technical perfection.
“What I want to do with my life is write and compose music. I want my work to be delivered in a precise way. After studying structure (in music) I can be more flavorful in my expression. Being an English teacher I’ve fallen in love with grammar. I try to impart on students the power of language. Grammar is a tool. When I write a poem I don’t know myself what I want my words to do. A moment happens and inspires the poem — like “The Peaceful Warrior,” there was all this posturing I had with this guy and in that moment I know there are things I have to say. Then the poem grows.”
Here the first stanza of “The Peaceful Warrior vs. The Tough Guy” the poem performed by Cline two weeks ago at Trees Lounge.
The Peaceful
Warrior vs. the
Tough Guy
The peaceful warrior
contemplates the “myriad things.”
Gives those around them wings
And challenges them to fly
Meanwhile,
The tough guy is busy giving stink-eye
Why?
Because everyone he meets or has met
is a potential threat
And I’ll bet
That his sense of self
is based on being “more” or “better”
than another.
To the peaceful warrior
everyone is a brother
while the tough guy
thinks in terms of
“Self” and “Other.”
Assuming the name “C.R.A.S.H.” as a teen in Chicago, Paul Green has been living up to the acronym ever since — Creating Rationale Among Senseless Humans.
As a police officer for nearly two decades and triple that time as a hip-hop artist with records under two lables, Green straddles two worlds conveying a conscientious message: One framed by law and order and the other by self-expression bent on healing the human psyche.
“I’ve always felt like I had something to say. Today’s rapper lyrics are drug and crime related. I lost a brother and two of my best friends to guns. (Musicians) have a responsibility — don’t glorify crime. When Leah (YWCA youth service educator) asked me two years ago to write the domestic violence piece (“Break the Cycle”) I couldn’t go there. Then this year I was in a different head space. This was a poem written specifically for that (V-Day event). None of it is fabricated. That’s God. That’s divinity talking through me. We’re just vessels.
I call it “Break the Cycle” because sometimes people do things because it’s what their parents did. We have to break that cycle. We all have our choices to make.
I want my words to resonate with the listener. When I am in that environment — in a poetry setting — people are listening to the words. These were lyrics that wouldn’t get air time. For those who don’t necessarily like hip-hop, when they hear it a capella in a poetry setting they are more open to hearing. As long as I have something to say I’ll keep doing this.”
The following is an excerpt from the poem Green performed at the V-Day poetry slam at Trees Lounge Feb. 4.
Break the Cycle
It’s a dangerous combination when you have pinned up aggression combined with the inability to positively express yourself. Too many men in our community get to a boiling point with their insignificant others, then resort to physical violence because they lack the intestinal fortitude to adequately check themselves. And yes I said insignificant other because if she was significant to you brother, then you would treat her with the same level of respect that you would expect someone to treat their very own mother. I’m not even in your household, but I can close my eyes and visualize the busted lips and swollen eyes, the broken glass, the muted cries, the overturned furniture and the tormented lives…
Now imagine yourself being in the shoes of a seven year-old, having to ask yourself. “Did I see what I just saw?” Something so vicious, so violent, so raw. You see because I was that seven year-old when I actually saw my father ball up his fist, punch my mother in the face so hard that it literally broke her jaw. As for her medical expenses, I couldn’t tell you the cost. But I vividly remember her having to consume her meals through a straw…
So what are we going to do? What are we going to do to help combat this problem of domestic violence? If you ask me, we as a community need to come together and form some sort of an alliance. We need to educate our daughters and let them know that they do have a choice. And give them the strength to be able to utilize their voice. But more importantly, we need to teach our sons. That in order to be a man, you have to actually act like one. And teach them that if they find themselves getting to that boiling point of aggression on any particular day… that they can find the intestinal fortitude, treat their woman with respect, and if need be… just simply walk away.
The Truth
is Shocking
By Leah
Tamara Harry
…And all he gives is anger and violence,
and in the silence I know that your heart is talking,
telling you to keep walking,
The truth is shocking
Look back into the sack of lies,
Into the cracks of our lives,
where lies the cries of kids,
who know what he did…
if we forget the past, the pain will last, and last,
and here’s the news flash:
“It’s time to deal
with a word like pedophilia
it’s all too familia…
But you don’t want to,
but when you do,
and you speak true,
from the heart then we can start a real revolution, with a new conclusion.
and in the end we’ll look back and laugh,
because we’ll have passed,
this test,
we can protect what comes next,
and we’ll know the difference between love and hate,
and from the young to the old we’ll all be told:
“Your body is a place that is safe.”
