‘This is my calling’
Poet Blu Bailey organizes four-day youth poetry festival in Orlando
“We’re going to make a cake,” Blu Bailey says. The four aspiring teenage poets who have joined her at the Orlando Public Library on a Saturday in May are momentarily at a loss. “There will be a rabbit helping us make the cake. The cake ingredients will be from our lives.”
As a poet, it’s not surprising that Bailey uses metaphors. The Orlando native is the founder of The Write, a nonprofit organization that works with teens and children throughout Orange County. “I facilitate spaces where they can grow and be creative,” said the Jones High School graduate.
Starting Wednesday, Bailey will launch her
most ambitious project to date: YELUSWAP, which stands for Youth Expressing Life Using Spoken Word And Poetry. The four-day festival will bring in kids from around the state to attend workshops and discussions as well as perform at public readings.
Founded in 2006, The Write hosts a variety of writing workshops and community open mics. A competitive slam poet herself, Bailey provides pointers on honing skills, but her focus is more on personal growth.
“Poetry is the cool thing,” said Bailey, 41. “But it really is just to create safe spaces for these kids to have a place to write and create fellowship and find other giraffes.”
Giraffes are another favorite metaphor of Bailey’s. “There are a billion hippos, but there’s only a million giraffes,” she said. “And they’re all spread out. In life, we have to push through people that are not like us to find people that are like us.”
In May, Bailey organized the 10th annual Orange County District Poetry Slam. Students from around the county competed in three rounds of original works.
While Bailey works with schools, The Write is not an official OCPS program. Instead, she does most of her events in the community. “I love the community, just because I have a lot more leeway,” she said. “With the schools, it’s so censored. There’s so many things you can’t talk about that these kids really deal with.”
Topics at the slam included sensitive subjects, such as racism, suicide, school shootings and sexuality. Several poets prefaced their works with trigger warnings, letting the audience know that their material might be challenging (though the event was free of adult language).
“I think it is very cool to be able to express ourselves as young people where most people don’t listen to us at all,” said Boone High School student Tayler King, who won the slam.
“Poetry in general deserves so much more participation,” said 10th-grade competitor MJ Jones. “That’s exactly what we’re doing.”
Five schools from Orange County were represented at the district slam. Going forward, Bailey hopes to get more teachers and classes involved with The Write. “It’s hard because [teachers] can’t see it or because poetry is not tangible,” she said. “So that’s what I’m doing is trying to make poetry tangible.”
Bailey’s own love for poetry goes back to her childhood. Growing up in a single-parent household, she often spent weekends listening to the radio. “I’ve always had an infatuation with music, with writing, with poetry,” she said.
Her mother, a missionary, led by example and instilled a desire to be active in the community. “I always knew that I wanted to do music and poetry and service,” said Bailey. “This is my calling.”
Giving children this outlet is about more than scoring points, according to Bailey.
“They’re forming opinions,” she said. “They’re talking about things that are important. They’re having the conversations. As they grow, this means that they’re going to continue talking about these issues.”
Ultimately, it comes down to a dream, expressed again through a metaphor, but one that reads more like a fervent hope.
“The cure for cancer is in one of these kids,” said Bailey. “And they’re going to have to know how to speak.”
YELUSWAP begins with a kickoff party 6 p.m. Wednesday at CityArts in downtown Orlando. Other events include preliminary slams on Aug. 2 at Dover Shores Community Center and finals at the University of Central Florida Center for Emerging Media in Orlando. Tickets to the finals are $15. Details: thewrite.org