By Kelsi Peace, Managing Editor
There are far more profane things in the world than a few curse words. This I learned from Liza Jesse Peterson, one of the Def Jam poets who came to campus last weekend and perhaps one of the most intriguing people I have ever encountered.
Liza, along with Bruce George and Steve Connell, inspired the crowd and provided me with one of the best nights I have spent in Abilene – and despite what I know was a controversial choice, the university made a great decision in hosting this group.
Between the people who lauded the weekend for the “dialogue” it would start, those who at best frowned and at worst condemned the poets for their use of profanity and those who simply never had heard slam poetry before, the performers walked into a group with muddled feelings on their coming.
Their brash performances did make me squirm – but not because they said “damn.” Instead, the raw humanity each poet expressed in his or her performances needled me.
When Liza talked about the prison system, how paroled inmates are taxed but not allowed to vote, I bristled. When Steve extolled love, but also exposed its real quality, I held my breath.
And when he talked about morality and told Christians, “God might think abortion is murder, but I’m pretty sure he thinks murder is murder, too,” I cried.
During the panel discussion afterward, the panelists decided the audience heard truth that night. We did.
Truth from the poets did not come in the form of Biblical prose, a classically trained preacher or a carefully planned Sunday morning lesson. Rather, it came from the well-chosen and incredibly heart-felt words of the poets – words that were sometimes stark, sometimes course and sometimes shocking. But so were the topics – genocide, war, racism, suffering.
Those very words moved the students on this traditionally conservative campus to rise to their feet in standing ovation and stirred many enough to stay the entire three hours the evening lasted. The poets spoke truth, but they also represented a truth we sometimes forget: the greatest lessons can sometimes come from unexpected – even cursing – sources.
Liza was right – there are more profane things than the choice words the poets used this weekend. The more obvious problems- societal prejudice, murder, oppression – represent incredible profanity.
But overlooking the powerful messages the poets brought or missing a valid point because of its unusual delivery would also be profane.
Even if the performances did not stir everyone to goose bumps, tears and indignation as Friday night’s performance did me, I
hope everyone can appreciate a message and delivery that many related to.
After all, they say we are the generation of authenticity, and little is more authentic than the raw quality of Def Jam’s societal critiques.
I just wish I could write like that.
