Little Rock poet, social activist set for Wednesday Night Poetry
Little Rock poet and social activist Randi Romo will be this week’s feature for Wednesday Night Poetry at Kollective Coffee+Tea, 110 Central Ave.
The regular open mic session for all poets begins at 6:30 p.m. Romo will perform at 7 p.m., followed by another open mic. Admission is free and open to all ages.
A dialysis technician working with patients who have endstage renal disease, Romo is a Mexican-American whose early years were spent as a farmworker. She has been a social justice organizer and activist for 30 years. Her first experience in activism began when she was 15 at the Rebekah Christian School for Girls in Corpus Christi, Texas, after having spent two years in a Florida mental institution.
“I was sent to those places because I was a lesbian,” she said in a news release. “I and others were submitted to food deprivation, physical beating with a razor strop and forced to kneel on rice for failure to memorize Bible chapters. I spent long stretches in isolation, often with my hand handcuffed to my ankle.”
With 15 other girls, Romo brought these conditions to the public’s attention, which forced the closing of the school and the jailing of its owner. This resulted in the Texas Legislature establishing the Childcare Licensing Act. In Arkansas, she co-founded CAR (Center for Artistic Revolution) in Little Rock and served as its director for 11 years working with the Arkansas LGBTQ community.
Romo started writing poetry in the mental institution when she was 13. “The circumstances there were horrific. There were times that I was certain that I would die. It was during this time that I read Maya Angelou’s, ‘I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings’ and I understood there was power in writing about struggle, hopes and dreams. For many years I wrote, but rarely showed anyone what I was writing,” the release said.
It wasn’t until Romo turned 30 that she began to share her work with the public. Timidly at first by submitting to journals and then at poetry readings in South Carolina, Arkansas and other Southern states. Since then, she has been part of many spoken word events like Tales From the South, Guillermo’s, Poets in the Back at Vino’s, Poets “OUT” Loud, Pub or Perish and Words & Curds. Her work has appeared in several publications, including Sinister Wisdom, Tales From the South, and G.R.I.T.S. — Girls Raised in the South.
Her first book of poetry, recently published by Sibling Rivalry Press, is titled “Othered.” According to reviewer James Lecesne, “’Othered’ is more than a collection of poetry; it is proof positive that becoming one’s true self is still the most revolutionary act that any human being can undertake.” The book will be available on Wednesday night.
Email budonfoot@yahoo.com for more information.