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Kool B

  • Kool B's Wordville 1330
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Kool B

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A Temple of Familiars: A Mini-Chat With Kool B.

 

The poem is available at every moment; open to the active gaze, resting in the sounds that vibrate the focused ear, awaiting with excitement as one touches or tastes upon the physical elements that are at hand. Even smells reveal their truths, without question, to poets undertaking the exploration of living. All occurrences have potential influence over the act of musing. This is evident when sifting through the wide array  of compositions written by the many who would dare to exercise this practice of creative language use; the writer Kool B says. He goes on to point out that the emotional environment that arises during this experience is a manifestation of the human soul proving as it strives to make meaning or sense of the world that surrounds it. The struggle to articulate the myriad of arousals  that are derived from navigating this earthly expanse is the challenge that all bards face. Choosing the appropriate syntax, or word placement, to capture the voyage on paper is where the difficulty seeps in at times. Especially if the writer is trying to express that journey to a reader or listener. To take them along, meaning and perception of the rendered language are key factors in the connection between “guide” and  “follower.” B asserts that his application of poetry mechanics focuses on maintaining a familiar construct of script that aids in unifying the poem with its audience. He believes that the path which connects audience to writer, the two being worlds apart, at times,  is forged  by synchronized understanding. A meaningful / relevant poem is one that all can traverse without getting lost in a forest of metaphors and analogies that fence them out and away from its substance . There must be a general ease that must be afforded to the reader if they are to return to a page of creative language. People love temples of their familiars; Kool B concludes.     

 

Wordville Staff Writer: Bingo Lee

06/27/2021

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For Alvin LeBlanc, a.k.a. Kool B, a veteran of poetry slams going back to 1990, the South is nothing less than “a literary haven,” with Houston in particular “primed” for poetry. “People in the South talk,” says the 54-year-old LeBlanc, who grew up in Lafayette, La., and came to Houston to study sociology at Texas Southern State University. “They see you down the street, and they want to say something. Southern people are also used to listening to orators, preachers. From all of that, poetry has an ear.” 

LeBlanc, an instructor at the Adult Reading Center, brings his poetry to the people as producer of the online show Wordville and a member of the DJ collective Rebel Crew. In performance, LeBlanc recites his poetry in a way that is fluid, yet sounds unrehearsed, as if the words were being pulled out of thin air. In a performance at the Jazz Church of Houston, with his visor wrapped around his long, braided hair, the bespectacled LeBlanc moves gracefully as he speaks, illustrating each line with slow, simple gestures, like a Tai Chi master talking jazz: A village of windblown desperados in pursuit of a gold train loaded down with precious metals, pressed into bullions that grow like sunset, Texas to California dreamin’… It was the sound of black thunder and gallop that made the canyons quake. Let’s make no mistake about it: There’s no honor among thieves and siege is how the west was won. 

Though poetry has always been a tool for political protest, LeBlanc believes the art often reveals more commonalities than differences. “It brings the races together,” says LeBlanc. “Coming from rural Louisiana, where you would get chased home if you didn’t stay on your side of the city, poetry has shown me that people can work together, that people do have the same heartbreaks and the same anger. Poetry is where you can hear the humanness in people.”

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