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Poet connects with Atwood
By Chris Heinitz
Published:
Thursday, April 8, 2004
With revealing, emotionally- charged and sometimes controversial works, acclaimed spoken-word poet Ishle Yi Park shared herself Monday in the Atwood Quarry.
Tackling tough issues such as racism, women's issues, sexuality and life's dilemmas, Park depends on connecting with her audience on a very honest level.
"If you give people truth from the soul, then it will connect with some people. I connect with people I never thought I would connect with," Park said.
She recalled a young black student in Arkansas who felt internally moved by her piece "Chejudo," about the hellish reality minorities can face in a tough world.
"This same socialized game taught me to be ashamed of my parents, their accent, to interpret their hard-earned funky loving smell as stink, to think my diamond cut eyes undesirable, making some of us try to Anglicize them with Elmer's glue and cosmetic surgery ... I am living in a land where schools teach me to erase my mother's memories and write them over with words of dry, white professors," Park said in poem.
The performance consisted of several spoken-word pieces and musical performances with a guitar.
Park grew up in New York City with Korean immigrant parents. Throughout her childhood she enjoyed art, writing songs as a child and poetry in high school. It seemed she had found what inspired her. However, conceding to her parents, she opted for business school instead of art school, which she gritted her teeth through for two years, despite the way it made her feel.
Unable to deny her passion any longer, Park began to explore her creativity. Since then, it's taken her to over 100 venues, including the finals stage at the National Poetry Slam and HBO's Russell Simmons Presents: Def Poetry Jam. Her work has also been featured in the Economist, Asian Week, The Black Scholar Review, Wasafiri and The San Francisco Guardian.
In addition to performance, Park has had a special interest in education and social activism. As a way to promote and encourage young poets and artists, Park offered a workshop for SCSU students as well.
She has also taught in prisons, community centers, schools and universities across the country.
"As a teacher, I always gain something - it's always a two-way street," she said.
Park realizes the dynamics of poetry, especially spoken-word poetry, make it a daunting task emotionally for people.
"It was very hard to open myself in performance at first. I had great mentors," she said.
Using her talent to change things she sees wrong in the world, Park is also an activist, fighting for equality, peace and expression.
"It's good for me. I want them to take my sincerity and understand if not sympathize. Respect the fact that I have a message," Park said.
Her first volume of poetry, "The Temperature of this Water," will be published this fall.
The event was sponsored by the UPB Literary Arts Committee.
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