The weekly writing workshops held at
MLK library every Tuesday, hosted by Split This Rock, have always been quite
popular amongst the youth. It’s a place where teens are welcome to come and
partake in the magical process of writing poetry. It provides one with a safe
environment where one can share their thoughts and opinions without being
judged or ridiculed. However, things
took an interesting turn on the second Tuesday in June.
This particular workshop, hosted by
Alison K.(20), and Devyn J.(18), two Split This Rock interns, was themed
completely around the Stonewall
Riots that happened in New
York over 45 years ago. The month of June was chosen for LGBT Pride Month to commemorate the
Stonewall riots, which occurred June 28, 1969. Consequently, Alison and Devyn wanted to theme the
workshop around the Stonewall Riots to give the youth a little history lesson
on how the LGBT movement got started.
During
the workshop two videos were played. The first gave the history surrounding the
riots while the second was an interview with a transgender woman who was part
of the uprising. As the videos were played, you could feel the sense of empathy
in the room. Everyone was affected by the information they were taking in, many
of them for the first time.
Once
the videos were over, Alison and Devyn read two poems aloud to everyone. The
first poem was entitled Pride written
by Ashley Catharine while the second was an excerpt from A Place I Never Been: Especially for Malcolm X written by Louis Reyes Rivera. Afterwards, everyone was given the task to either personify liberation
or to personify one of the items used during the Stonewall Riots. We were given
20 minutes to write a poem using one of the two prompts given. Following the
completion of the poems, each individual shared their piece with the group.
Towards the bottom of this article you can view an excerpt from the poem that I
wrote in response to the prompts.
The
workshop was enjoyable as always but I particularly appreciated the fact that I
was being educated on a topic that is very much relatable and relevant to
society today. Theming the workshop around the Stonewall Riots afforded the
youth with the chance to learn about a major part of the LGBT civil rights
movement that they might not learn about in their everyday history class. It
also demonstrated how spoken word can effectively influence or spark change
within a group of people. This might have been the first themed writing
workshop but I look forward to attending many more in the near future.
The following is an excerpt from the poem that I
wrote for the prompt:
I was 25¢ short of 2 hours
Seconds
and minutes seemed to tick by without a care
people
walk past me and don’t even acknowledge my existence
I am
merely a bystander
The clock strikes midnight
I’m 10¢
too full and gravity is starting to weigh me down
BOOM!
Doors
burst open
Screams so
loud they’re only audible to the stealthiest of bats
Tears
sting rosy red cheeks flustered by worthlessness
The time
keeps on ticking
Faster and
faster it seems like its haunting me
I try to
move but I’m stuck under the rubble of my insecurities
WAIT...I
hear footsteps
Clasped
fingertips leave me gasping for air
“I’m
FREE!”
I no
longer feel the weight of my rubble
BAM!
Metal
collides with skin
Why does
the pain feel so good?
BAM!
The
luscious liquid leaking from his forehead tastes an awful lot like Kool-Aid
BAM!
Their
screams fall on deaf ears
BAM!
Another
body goes down
BAM!
Flesh
meets asphalt
I didn’t
know pigs could bleed the brightest color of the rainbow
BAM!
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