Children, their parents and the Flint community are invited to come witness the unique ability of Semaj Brown to bring characters to life during the virtual children’s poetry show, ‘Imaginative Dreaming,’ at 6:30 p.m. June 29. Poetry lovers and those who are curious are invited to witness Brown in action whether they have before or this will be their first such experience.
Brown is Flint first poet laureate. Brown credits her mother with helping to encourage the development of her exceptional talent.
“In my early life, we read poetry,” Brown said. “My mother was very adamant about me expressing it (when I read poetry). She would ask me: ‘What does that mean? Do it again-with feeling!’”
Brown’s mother would take turns reading with Brown, then her sister, on alternating nights. This helped spark Brown’s love for literature. Brown has chosen to share that love with literature with others.
Reading to children enlightens imagination, according to Brown.
“A child must have imagination so they can see themselves alive and thriving, so they can create their future and so they can envision what the possibilities are beyond oftentimes an impossible situation,” Brown said.
She also said she expects adults to enjoy the show.
“There’s a child in all of us.”
According to Brown, the James E. Kennedy Life Center is a suitable place for the show to take place. The executive director of the center is Pastor Ralphael D. Read, who has a reading program called “Reading with Pastor Read.” He is the pastor of Mt. Carmel Missionary Baptist Church. Read is also one of the partners of the Poetry Pod Project (P3); Brown’s interdisciplinary literacy platform. Brown and Read discussed having a children’s evening poetry event at the James E. Kennedy Life Center in which Brown would recite poems and perhaps do a workshop.
Then, the COVID-19 pandemic hit Flint.
“Both of us were thinking ‘how am I going to get to the children, to the people that can’t gather. It’s not really safe, and at this time they need poetry more than ever.’”
Brown describes poetry as a “like a soothing blanket.” She said these are difficult times with a lot of upheaval and a lot of misery.
“Poetry will bring happiness, and if the children and the adults start writing their thoughts down, which I hope is going to be one of the results from this, it helps get the thoughts out of their psyche so they can have some form of relief.”
Five hundred dollars worth of children’s poetry books were purchased by the Genesee County Medical Society Alliance for the Poetry Pod Project. Brown said these were culturally relevant books, as well as very old literature, such as Shakespeare-all the way to the new hip-hop literature. Brown added a book consisting of poems from all over the world, including Japan and Africa.
When selecting poems for the upcoming virtual show, Brown was looking for the theme of dreaming. She read every single book and put sticky notes on poems she found with this theme to begin the process of elimination. She narrowed down the number of poems to 11. Some of the poems are very short. Among the poems are Langston Hughes’ “Dream Keeper” and “Dream Boogie,” as well as “Just Me” by Margaret Hillert.
Brown’s original plan was to have the show in person. Brown’s friend Andrea Richards, a youth minister for Grace Cathedral Community Church, helped encourage Brown to go both virtual and live with the presentation as the first person who showed her how to promote and have a live event on Facebook when the Poetry Pod Project books came in. She told Brown people needed Brown’s enthusiasm in the middle of the pandemic.
Also, the Reading with Pastor Read program has been live online.
The partnering organizations for the show are Zeta Beta Zeta Chapter of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. and the Pierians, Inc., Flint Chapter. The Pierians have accepted the responsibility of helping to promote the event. Zeta Beta Zeta Chapter of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. also have put information about the show on their website and are promoting the event heavily.
Brown said she believes the show will be different because she will have to use more of her own imagination-to see the children and the audience in her mind-and talk to them as if they were really in front of her.
“What will be the same is the magic of poetry. You can read poetry yourself or you can be read to, you can look at it being read on television or the computer or you can listen to it in your ear-it can be audio. Whether it’s read on Facebook live or in person, poetry transcends mediums. All of these are ways to absorb the magic of poetry.”
Also, to keep the youth engaged in writing Brown plans to have a call for poems on the topic of freedom. She will ask participants: “What is freedom?” For details, follow Semaj Brown on Facebook!
