Barz Behind Bars
On October 7th, students performed at Avon Park’s first poetry slam, Barz Behind Bars. Here’s what they had to say about their experience.
“Saturday got live that day, before the sun went down. It was October 7th, ''Bars Behind Bars'' was in effect. It was electric, shocking lines like ol' skool telephone wires. Lyrical literature and clever word play.
I was the emcee, but where I'm from M.C meant move the crowd. And just like that, a movement began. I facilitate Exchange for Change’s spoken word class at Avon Park Correctional Institution. I've seen these men fall back like a baptism into an inkwell and come out born again poets. For the majority, this was their first fist fight with stage fright, bright light limelight. Where they displayed their oppression creatively and respectfully. Poetic justice on a mic.
I viewed and mingled before the show began. You know, being social with society, exchanging penitentiary pleasantries. Then the event started. The poets turned the bass up and s*** got real.
The street artist were and are amazing. I salute all of them for supporting us like crutches. I believe they were caught off balance though, at first, but it didn't take long before they caught the vibe and threw it back. Maybe they were expecting Dr. Suess to host and some Cat in the Hat poetry. Instead they witnessed a drive-by of facts, a shootout with truth and the murder of stereotypes.
'' GET FREE POET! '' became the theme. The audience went AWOL with us for a few hours. Holla'n like Tarzan every time a poet flew lines over their heads like a drone. I sat in the cut like benzoil peroxide soaking in the moment, watching everyone act bubbly. I took it in like a barren woman would a stranded baby on her front porch. I was proud of my fellow poets. I saw them grow despite the conditions like a rose garden in Hiroshima. Their troubles, struggles, everyday hustle and pain rained on the crowd like a sun shower in the desert. So relieving yet so unexpected.
Of course the content in the pieces was a little heavy, some might say obese. D.O.C being the antagonist theme on the scene. But for a slither of time these men felt respected, they felt heard and recognized. For just a slither of time, WE felt alive.
It was an experience you'd have to experience. It was a contagious vibe. ''Bars Behind Bars ' would have made you holla, GET FREE POET!” Eduardo Martinez
“My life behind barz.
The Barz Behind Bars event was one of the best days of my life. I had a chance to let my talent take flight and connect with established ports from the outside world. For the first time in 16 years, I was not seen as a prisoner. I was seen and thought of only as a man of value. Although no one will understand unless I personally explain it to you, E4C giving me the opportunity to participate in Barz Behind Barz literally saved my life.” Bryan Blaylock “Spoken”
“What can I say about Barz Behind Bars? It was something I never would have thought possible in a place where your voice is confined to a cell, where 4 walls is the only audience. I can only say how grateful I am that Exchange 4 Change has lended us their ears so that our words don’t die in here.” Norbete “Gordo” Rivera
“Barz Behind Bars was a freedom for my voice. I felt as the cuffs around my creativity were undone for those brief moments that my words were given a furlough for 8 hours of breathing and exhaling, all of my experience, all of my trauma, all of my pain and pressure… So, if you're asking me how my experience was at Barz Behind Bars and how I felt about it? I felt as if I was close to Divinity, as Jesus felt when He ascended from this Earth over 3,000 years ago. And that’s something spiritual.” Z. Lugo "ZaZa Rivers"
"Anyone who was there is in agreement that Barzs Behind Bars was not like anything any of us had ever experienced inside this system before… It was through this poetry that for a few short hours, every person who attended Barz Behind Bars was free, even if they were not when the show was over.” Bodustin Blue Price
“For me, prison is like a dark cabin with a
flame as a small candle sitting on a table
in the midst. The Light from the flames shines
on a small area, but every so often a draft comes in and causes the flame to flicker and shift,
chasing shadows away from more spaces than
visual. I am that flame. Exchange for Change and events like Barz Behind Bars are that draft.
Causing my light, my talent, my voice, to chase
away the shadows, the negativity, from other
sections around me. I know my light shines,
but E4C helps it reach through the spaces of
the abyss, Barz Behind Bars was an event that
will have a lasting effect on me, from the
poets, to the sponsors, the supporters, and even the
Spectators in the crowd. That flame will never be doused…” Marcus Jones
“My hunger, overpriced soups can’t satisfy.
I’ve starved mentally for so many years that I
started eating calendars.
Exchange for Change sponsoring Barz Behind Bars
to me was food for thought
Every poet that got on stage served; mainly those
Incarcerated. I sat on the front row & ate & ate & ate.
I’m full now & ready to serve too & what we serving
Around here as a main course is fulfilling
We also serve dessert in the form of high calorie street
Poets. Man, they were too sweet.” Andres Dulcey
"12 Cylinder engine firing on all pistons while the street poets were lacking. Not what I expected from them, uncooked beef but we came with the herd.” Ishmael
"The men of Avon Park, Exchange for Change, Barz Behind Bars, are probably facing more charges because they killed it.” Al Padgett “Fertilizer”
“As a spectator, it was definitely an event to behold. It’s criminal that the outside world wasn’t able to see it.” Jonathan Melvis
