segunda-feira, outubro 29, 2007

POETRY : Slam poet Lady Krysis guest at Monday’s OPWC


POETRY : Slam poet Lady Krysis guest at Monday’s OPWC
Cat Donnelly living@nwarktimes.com
Posted on Sunday, October 28, 2007
“ I simply love writing, the art of playing with the words and phrases and creating entire worlds from my imagination. It’s a beautiful experience to me. ” — Kim Marshall (Lady Krysis ). Ozark Poets and Writers Collective will meet 7 p. m. Monday at George’s Majestic Lounge, 519 W. Dickson St., in Fayetteville. The featured guest will be writer and performance poet Kim Marshall, aka Krysis, who is also the vice president of marketing and public relations of Poets in the Streets Inc. (PITS ), a nonprofit literacy organization based in Little Rock.
Marshall has a Bachelor of Arts in writing and mass communications with an emphasis in journalism and a minor in Honors Interdisciplinary Studies. She graduated from the University of Central Arkansas magna cum laude in 2005.
Marshall grew up in a military family. She was born in Seoul, South Korea, but lived in Texas, Florida, Washington D. C., Kansas and Alaska. When her stepfather retired, the family moved to Conway.
“ In my childhood, I used to draw fairies and princesses. And as a child, I mostly remember reading, ” Marshall said.
She would check out 12 books at a time from the school library and immerse herself in alternate worlds. She picked up the passion for writing while in middle school in Alaska.
“ I wrote for the same reason I read so much — to run away without running away, ” Marshall said. “ Reading and writing allowed me to go to these places [real or fictitious ]. ”
Marshall didn’t think writing was lucrative, so she prepared herself for a pre-med track in college. Her 12 th-grade creative writing teacher, Monda Fason, made her realize that she could never love the medical field the way she loved writing.
While attending the University of Central Arkansas in Conway, she was the editor of the literary magazine “ Vortex. ” She became editor-in-chief of the university newspaper, “ The Echo, ” by her senior year. Marshall currently writes mostly prose, short stories, fiction and is even working on a few novels.
Marshall’s list of favorite novelists, artists, songwriters and prose writers spans Mririda n’aït Attik to Jay Z.
“ I admire those poets who have the guts to envision a world and to astound me with it, ” Marshall said.
Marshall was a junior when an acquaintance invited her to attend the Little Rock slam at Vino’s. It was the PITS Invitational, so Little Rock was competing against Fayetteville, Hot Springs and Memphis.
“ The poets who competed blew my mind, ” Marshall said.
That’s also where she met The Mo-Man, one of her PITS colleagues, and he tried to convince her to get on stage.
“ I politely declined and indicated never in my life, ” Marshall said. “ He encouraged me to perform and then compete, and he was there every step of the way — guiding me, giving great advice and providing the support I needed. ”
Marshall blogged under the name Krysis for years. When she started entering the performance / slam scene, someone suggested that she use it as a stage name. Marshall feels that Krysis encompasses a different facet of her personality. Occasionally, poets and emcees will add “ Lady” as a type of title.
The Mo-Man and Marshall lead creative writing and performance workshops across the state. In addition, PITS sends poets across the nation for performances and competitions.
“ Slam and performance poetry is fantastic, and it is certainly where poetry started, but I don’t think it is poetry, ” Marshall said. “ It’s more of a genre, just one aspect of what poetry is so that it certainly can’t define the entire art. ”
Marshall was on the 2007 Baton Rouge Southern Fried Slam team and the 2007 Arkansas Unified National Poetry Slam team. At Southern Fried, she placed eighth and had the honor of being a sacrifice on finals stage. A sacrifice performs a poem for the judges to practice on, but it doesn’t count in the competition.
Her advice for aspiring slammers is to attend a slam, support your local venues and practice.
“ Don’t be afraid to talk to those poets who inspire you, ” she said.
Marshall will have merchandise for sale and will be available for signing and meet and greet. “ Still Shot Graffiti” has been republished with a brand new cover, and there are two additional chapbooks — “ Poison Dream Collection” and “ Spider Web Affairs. ” “ Shadow Living, ” the newest, is in the final design stages, and should also be available for purchase. In addition, she will have 4-by-6-inch and 8. 5-by-11-inch senryus and haikus printed on gloss paper with a stunning full-color graphic for purchase.
Also available is a spoken word CD, “ Up From the Underground, ” which is a collaboration with The Mo-Man. PITS has T-shirts for sale as well. You can find some additional information at www. poetsinthestreets. org and www. myspace. com / ladykrysis.
PITS is listed on the Arkansas Arts Council Arts in Education and Arts on Tour artist rosters, which provide grant opportunities to schools and other nonprofit organizations that want to bring poets into their classrooms or events. Their workshops can be customcreated to suit the needs of either the classroom, the teacher or the school. PITS hosts a slam on the second Saturday of every month.
Join OPWC, the longest-running live poetry venue in this area, for an evening of poetry and prose with Lady Krysis. We encourage open mic performances where any kind of creative writing is welcome and each performer has four minutes to share original work or a “ cover. ”
Admission is free, though a hat is passed to provide a stipend for the featured guest. The University of Arkansas Press gives away a book during the event. OPWC is a friendly forum for wordsmiths from beginners to veterans. For more information, visit www. uark. edu / ua / mmasull / opwc. OPWC will continue to meet the last Monday of each month from now on, instead of the last Tuesdays as they have for many years.
Yazzetti’s will provide great homemade Italian food, just like they do at lunchtime on weekdays. Because dinner is now being prepared on the premises, George’s will no longer permit people to bring in take-out or arrange delivery.
Cat is a nontraditional undergraduate student in the Creative Writing Program at the University of Arkansas and lives in Durham with her husband, two sons, two pugs and 30 chickens.
FONTE: Northwest Arkansas Times - Fayetteville,AR,USA

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