Trio of Poets bring poetry perspective to Fort Smith

 

story and photos by Ruby Dean
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“Giving of love is unconditional and with the animals returned unconditional too. She is on this earth to take care of you, heal all wounds, dole out food and water acting as a mother.”

The above is an excerpt of Jena Gessaman’s poetry she performed at Second Street Live! during the Trio of Poets show held Thursday (Jan. 13).

About 40 people attended Trio of Poets where poetry came alive through the animated performance of Regie O’Hare Gibson, Timothy Mason and Jena Gessaman. The spoken word of poetry from the three moved the audience at times making them laugh and other times making them say “hum.”

The poets have been on tour together for two years with the goal of changing people’s perspective about poetry. The poets made the words dance off the pages from which they had been written whether they were reciting it or singing the stanzas. They were exciting to watch as their words came to life through body movements or through the emotion they showed.

During the performance, two local poets, Carla Ramer and Daniel Merry, were guests who came upon the stage and spoke their words of poetry.

Gessaman writes poetry daily. Her inspiration for poetry came from her English teacher, Mrs. Roe, during 9th grade at Plano Senior High. Gessaman mostly writes about funny things she sees or experiences — like a grocery list she found in a parking lot.

The grandfather of Gibson is given credit for his gift of being able to write his form of poetry. Gibson’s grandfather was illiterate and a story teller. Through these tales, it helped his grandfather remember things. Gibson said that “if he (grandfather) remembered the story too well, it probably wasn’t true.”

“Here we are in a sea of stars, somewhere between Venus and Mars. Short lived hominids hanging about doing our best to figure it out,” was just a few of his words during his performance.

Mason acted in plays during high school. He wrote his monologue and attributes that to his start in writing poetry.

“Gently, like water cracking stone, the droplet finds the granites fault and changes the face of the mountain with persistence and patience,” Mason said in the recitation of a poem.

The performance was thought provoking and melodic. The trio was balanced and the performance was smooth. At Second Street Live!, poetry was definitely hip and hot.