1-3 Soldiers unwind at poetry night

Photo By Jared Eastman | Master Sgt. Brandon Short and Sgt. 1st Class Inez Armas, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 3rd Base Support Battalion, read poems during poetry night at the Falcon's Nest on Contingency Operating Station Falcon, March 2.  

BAGHDAD, IRAQ

03.04.2010

Story by Pfc. Jared Eastman  

1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division

BAGHDAD — In a dark room lit with glow sticks at the Falcon's Nest on Contingency Operating Station Falcon, March 2, artists weaved written words into poetry spoken through a microphone.

The monthly event has become more than a way to unwind from everyday deployed life for the Soldiers of 1st Brigade Combat Team-Augmented who attend; it is also a way to reach out to others with their spoken words.

"I've been writing since I was 12, and I'm 32 now," said Spc. Arvinette Brooks. "Poetry appeals to me because I get to express who I am and all of my work. Everything that I write is personal, it's about me. So I write my life down on paper and express it to the world. I've come to find out that whatever it is that I'm feeling, someone is feeling the same way: they just can't express it."

Soldiers from units all around COS Falcon attended the March poetry reading; most proved brave enough to share with the group at an event that Master Sgt. Brandon Short, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 3rd Base Support Battalion, considers very important.

"People have to realize that it's not just professional people who are established poets coming in here to talk on the mic," Short said. "The word for poet today is spoken word artist. There are a lot of spoken word artists out there who don't even know they are a spoken word artist until they come in and do something like this."

Topics ranged from past relationships to deployed life as spoken word artists "put their hands to paper and their mouths to the mic," said Short.

Welcoming a few new poets, the group snapped after every reading, a traditional sign of respect in the spoken word community.

"Be yourself," said Brooks to the new poets. "We don't judge poetry. When there's poetry night and you're on the mic, there's nobody in that audience that's going to judge you or think differently of you. ... Whatever thoughts come to mind, put that on paper. It doesn't have to rhyme, as long as it makes sense to you; you're a poet."

Brooks also stressed the importance of being nervous, whether you are a veteran poet or a greenhorn.

"Don't worry about if your audience understands what you are saying because as long as you understand it, that's all that matters," Short said. "A lot of poets are nervous, and that's a good thing. If you go up to the mic and you're not nervous, there's something wrong with you."

Some of the Soldiers also aspire to get their work published.

"I'm trying to write a book," said Short. "It's called Random Noise. I'm also writing a book with a series of short stories. I started writing when I was younger, I just wrote things down. I started out writing rhymes, wanting to be a rapper, and then realized a lot of my raps were poetic."

Although the poetry group meets once a month, many Soldiers and employees of Morale, Welfare and Recreation are pushing to have it twice a month.

"It's an outlet," said Short. "Once people realize that it's not a clenched but loose atmosphere, I think it will take off."

• Date Taken: 03.04.2010
• Date Posted: 03.04.2010 09:26
• Story ID: 46143
• Location: BAGHDAD, IQ