Where poets meet

Thursday, April 22, 2010
By Carole Perkins
Special to Go Triad

Alfred Harrell steps onto a small, square stage tucked in the back corner of Tate Street Coffee House.

"All right, everybody," Harrell says into the microphone. "Tone down your adult language. We have teens speaking tonight, and this meetup will be family-friendly and upbeat. This is your home, your play house, so let's go."

Tonight, a record-breaking crowd of 28 people have gathered to read their poetry as part of Triad Poetry Meetup.

Harrell holds his poem on a clipboard in his left hand and gestures emphatically with the other. His nervous laugh is replaced with the deep voice of a seasoned orator as he reads his poem about his desire to be free from his jobs to spend more time as a poet and community volunteer.

"To myself I say NO MORE," he says as his cell phone rings in his pants pocket.

"Here I am the host, and I can't remember to turn my own cell phone off," he says, shaking his head.

Harrell is the organizer of Triad Poetry Meetup, a social network group where participants can freely express themselves through poetry or the written word without criticism.

He also organizes Triad Teen Poetry Meetup where young people can improve their self-esteem through poetry readings.

By day, Harrell works as a sanitation worker for the city of Greensboro, but by night, he is a poet and blogger of Verbal Xpression (www.verbalxpression. com).

"My jobs are what I do for money, but what defines me is the work I do concerning meetup-related issues," Harrell says. "In any given day, I wear the hat of critic, organizer, adviser, planner, shoulder to lean on or just plain poet. Poetry is the cooling rain of my life."

* * * *

Harrell's day begins at 5 a.m. when he checks e-mail concerning the poetry groups before heading out at 7 a.m. By 7:30 a.m., he is slipping on rubber gloves and slinging garbage bags of yard waste into the back of the sanitation truck.

In addition to his day job, he works two nights a week in the produce department at Wal-Mart in Greensboro. He then stays up late at night posting on his blog or writing poetry.

Harrell uses his own money to cover expenses from the meetup groups. Though he would like to find sponsors, Harrell volunteers because it's his passion.

"I do this willingly in the volunteer spirit set by my mother who, when she was alive, was always there for other people, even when she was in dire straits," he says. "She was not a writer, but her love for people is written in my soul."

Harrell joined the original Triad Poetry Meetup in 2008, and after a few personnel changes, he took the helm last June. Inspired by Piedmont Slam, a similar group in Winston-Salem, Harrell and then co-organizer Janelle Strickland had a vision to improve the lives of others through poetry and reading.

"For me, Triad Poetry Meetup is an extended family with whom I express my greatest joys and sorrows through the form of poetry, which gives me great peace of mind," Harrell says.

Harrell wrote his first poem in high school as an escape from domestic violence and sexual abuse in his home.

He worked manual labor jobs after graduating high school, and his tenure as a firefighter inspired him to write a poem about being part of the rescue of a little boy.

In 2002, Harrell started writing seriously, finding courage and comfort in his religious beliefs. He drove faithfully from High Point to attend poetry meetings in Greensboro.

"I decided to use my pen like a surgeon's scalpel to start a true personal healing and to make a difference in my life and in the lives of those who would read or listen to my words," he says.

* * * *

Tonight at Tate Street Coffee House, Harrell is saddened with the news of a death in the family of one of the members. He has spent most of the afternoon making phone calls and sending e-mails to alert other members before the meetup. He also asks the crowd for a moment of silence to pay respect to the family.

Sitting in a corner booth like a queen on her throne is assistant organizer Deborah Streeter, otherwise known as the "Princess of Poetry." With a dignified walk, she approaches the mike to break the silence.

She recites her poem about lying in a hammock in the sunshine.

"I enjoy performing in front of crowds and meeting poets to share our works of art," she said. "Poetry gives me time to vent what's on my mind on any given day."

Sean Dowell, 34, a classically trained poet and executive vice president of Cushman and Wakefield real estate company, read his poem "But Memories."

As a teenager, Dowell was attacked by a gang at his school. Aspirations to be a professional artist were ruined after the attack, so Dowell turned to poetry as a way to express himself.

"I associated the rage and injustice I felt with art, so I never picked up a paintbrush again," he says. "I started writing poetry because I needed a way to get those feelings out. I've taken it to the next level now by studying poetry as a craft and not just writing because I need to.

"At the end of the day it's who else you can help. Poetry is lonely. To get affirmation through poetry in the dark night of your soul will keep you going."

Rosalyn Marhatta approaches the mike with the gentle air of a librarian. In her breathless voice she recites "Sculpting Shayna," a poem about an ice sculpture devoured by the sun. Marhatta, who says she started writing poetry seven or eight months ago, had never performed her poetry until she joined Triad Poetry Meetup. Formerly an assistant organizer, Marhatta works on computers at N.C. A&T and developed the idea of a critique group for the meetup.

"Poetry is about the beauty of words, it's almost like music. I get my feelings out and make it make sense to others," she says. "Coming to Triad Poetry Meetups keeps me wanting to write new stuff. It keeps me going.

"Alfred Harrell has been a force for poetry and uniting poets in the Triad. He has been personally encouraging to me about my poetry and I'm writing a lot more than I used to."

Harrell returns to the stage to recite a poem about sexual abuse. He says he chose the poem because he sensed someone in the audience needed to hear it.

"Writing poetry is a healing for some of us," he says. "My vision is to unite myself and other people who have had the same experiences I've had and uplift them."

"It's his passion, his calling," says Dowell. "Alfred is the voice of the community that brings people in."

But Harrell is quick to credit his volunteer staff for the overwhelming success of Triad Poetry Meetup and Triad Teen Poetry Meetup.

"We have a strong team of unrecognized men, women, and teens who open their hearts through poetry to make it all possible," Harrell says. "I'm just the choreographer who goes without sleep to orchestrate this dance."



Contact Carole Perkins at CPGuilford@aol.com.