Lit Scene
Poetic sounds of music take Wordstew stage
By Catherine E. Toth
Advertiser Staff Writer
The pair sat on the concrete benches outside the Honolulu Academy of Arts, talking words.
Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser
She in a dress the color of the Caribbean, flowing like tides around her legs; he in an orange T-shirt and rubber slippers that matched his comfortable smile.
Poet Kathryn Waddell Takara and Wordstew organizer/poet Jesse Lipman will let words guide them at Monday's Poetry Night at The ARTS at Marks Garage.
The rhythmic repetition of passing cars could almost be ignored, the quick hello-goodbyes of exhaust. Brief moments of silence — the solace granted by red lights — were a reminder of where you were: on the outskirts of a concrete jungle, directly across the street from a city park, witnessing rush-hour traffic. A moped rattled by.
This is place.
And place is important to the woman, a performance poet whose words will reverberate at The ARTS at Marks Garage Monday night.
Born and raised in Alabama and living in Hawai'i for 33 years, her place is among the experiences she carries. She has lived in Pennsylvania, Boston, France and Berkeley, Calif. She has visited China and West Africa. And after spending three eye-opening weeks in Zimbabwe this summer, her vision of place has only expanded.
"We are the sum of our experiences," said Kathryn Waddell Takara, an ethnic studies professor at the University of Hawai'i-Manoa. "And the more consciousness that we can hold on to and be in the moment, the more enriching our treasure trove of inspiration is."
hover near the sacred tree shaking branches rattling the dry grass compelling calling the hungry ones to wake up to remember the ancient mysteries to resist the would-be conquerors. — excerpt from "Zimbabwe XI" by Kathryn Waddell Takara
Of the nine or 10 pieces she plans to perform Monday night, half will center around this notion of place, tackling both the visual and socio-political landscapes of each poetic destination.
Spirits of the dead
"I think place is pretty significant," she said. "When we go to different places, we cross boundaries, we get into out-of-pattern situations. And out-of-pattern situations create different states of consciousness ... Because of these moments, we become self-reflective. This notion of correspondence of what one is familiar with and what one is not familiar with, that kind of creative tension that comes from being in a different space, that's significant for me in the creative process."
Though she scribbles down poetic thoughts in the car or at the beach, she always returns to her home in Ka'a'awa to string the words and emotions together.
Upstairs. A studio with windows, views of the Ko'olau Range on one side; a back yard full of plumeria trees and orchids, the ocean two blocks away. The walls are an introspective blue adorned by framed paintings, African statues and rows of books. In the distance, the waves. Quiet.
"I think the creative process is really magical," Waddell Takara said, "that one has to allow this space of silence and has to put oneself in, for me, a more peaceful place and I let it just come through me. I wouldn't say it's me; the energy comes through me and I just write down what comes."
And what comes is more than just empty words. Her poetry is naturally rhythmic. So it makes sense that she performs her works to music, subscribing to the spontaneous philosophy of jazz. She will read her poetry, in a sequence aptly named "Labor, Love and Trouble" for a Labor Day performance, to drums and keyboards, to dancing and movement.
Wordstew Poetry Night
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Presented by the Lizard Loft
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Featuring Kathryn Waddell Takara, Adela Chu, Kim Duffett, Peter Chamberlain and Ivan Krillzarin, with an open mike
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7:30 p.m. Monday
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The ARTS at Marks Garage, 1159 Nu'uanu Ave.
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$1 donation if you read, $3 if you don't
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843-1390, wordstew@cs.com
"I really feel it's much more effective because everything complements everything else so that the message falls on different centers," she said. "You get into the rhythm and movement of it. It just brings (the poetry) alive. This whole notion of something that's alive, that it's happening and it's never the same."
Expect her words to fill the space and take it over.
"Kathryn's poetry will take the audience to places of celebration and pain while maintaining a soul that is based in love," said event organizer and poet Jesse Lipman, the fellow in the orange T-shirt.
"This performance is unique in that the feature will truly expand on the meaning of poetry by combining the poetry of language with the poetry of dance, rhythm, music and improvisation," he added. "I prefer being surprised and haven't watched them rehearse so I don't know exactly what they'll do, but I'm looking forward to it."
An open mike adds another dimension to the performance. It gives the audience a chance to define who they are, where they are, why they are. A chance to speak out, to let go.
And that contributes to the night of the unexpected.
"It's like I'm throwing a dinner party of words," Lipman said. "I can't tell you what to cook or how to make it, but if you come, you know there will be something good to eat."
