- Winston Sill/Freelance Photographer
Roger Bonair Agard during a performance at the Weekendz Bar and Bistro on Constant Spring Road, St. Andrew.
Tanya Batson-Savage, Staff Reporter
ONCE UPON a time, Roger Bonair Agard was well on his way to respectability via the hallowed corridors of law. A student of Hunter College, where he studied Political Science, he took another road a week before taking his Law School Admission Test (LSAT).
Now he is that strange, often dangerous animal, tentatively labelled 'poet'.
Bonair Agard does not, however, regret taking the off-ramp. "It was the best decision of my life," says the Brooklyn resident. With his unkempt hair and tattoos, it is evident that his detour from law has taken him down his own path. It is a track that he trods willingly.
His tattoos are not mere drawings for their own sake but, like his poetry, have deeper meanings. They include his high school motto, the Ethiopian cross (to symbolise his grandmother, Lena Bonair) and a panther for the Black Panther movement.
The Sunday Gleaner caught up with the Trinidadian-born poet when he appeared at the grand finals of the 'Poets Rush Di Mic' competition, put on earlier this month by Root Cause at Weekendz Bar and Bistro on Constant Spring Road, St. Andrew. In the background, amateur poets take their turn in the open microphone segment of the evening.
Bonair Agard had earlier wowed the audience on the night, causing one woman to gush 'now that's poetry' soon after he had begun his first poem of the night, How The Ghetto Loves Us Back.
His performance at Weekendz undoubtedly brought him new fans as he demonstrated his lyrical dexterity with his poetic arsenal. Bonair Agard performed The Weusi Alphabeti, Melba's Song, What Teachers Are, Love In A Time of Revolution is Hard Work (Poetz) and Song for Trent Lott, earning thunderous applause.
His track record makes it obvious that this is nothing unusual. His words have graced several anthologies and he co-authored Burning Down The House. His tongue has blazed a path across the memories of audiences across the world from Jamaica to Germany.
"Poetry is the only thing in my life that I've ever worked hard at," he explained. "Poetry is the thing keeps me alive." Agard was introduced to poetry early on in his life by his mother. During his teenage years he started writing, but paused after he came to New York in 1987. According to Agard, although he had left his home island of Trinidad to go to college he spent five years "getting engaged and getting into fights," he says. Apparently he came to his 'senses' about both.
His wish to write poetry returned when a friend took him to poetry reading. Since then, he has not turned back. In the late 1990s he was told about the Nuyorican Poet Café and their poetry competitions. Even then, however, he had not yet learnt about the popular Slam poetry competitions and only gradually found out about them after he won his first local Slam. As such, he explains that he "came to Slam through poetry" and not the other way around.
In 1998, Bonair Agard was dubbed the 'Nuyorican Fresh Poet of the Year' and went on to win the team championship with Nuyorican in the National Slam Championships of that year. The following year, he won the Individual Slam Championships. Nonetheless, Bonair has no delusions about the nature of the contests. "The Slam is not meant to determine who is the best poet," he says.
This belief propelled himself, Lynne Procope and Guy LeCharles Gonzales to form 'The Louder Arts' project. The Louder Arts Project is aimed at creating an environment where the craftmanship in poetry is encouraged above performance. The project offers workshops to youth and the homeless and also have open microphone performances, making Slam competitions only a part of what they do.
Bonair Agard explains that all its founders share the belief that poetry has a social function. "All of us who are a part of that collective believe that writing and social activism go hand in hand," Agard says. According to the Louder Arts website, www.louderarts.com, the project is involved in several non-profit organisations, including the Community Word Project, YouthSpeaks, Poets & Writers, Common Ground and Refuse and Resist.
Bonair Agard explains that as a professional poet, he no longer has the luxury of sitting and awaiting the approach of the muse. "When you decide to write for a living you can't siddown and wait for inspiration any more," he explained. "As a result you have to learn to see the significance of things and write their poems," he said. Even so, he insists that he does not write anything he does not believe.
Hoping to go for his Masters in Creative Writing in a few years, he is not worried about running out of steam. "As long as I keep working at it, the poetry fuels itself," he explained.
Although performing his poetry makes up a lot of what he does, Agard also teaches. He says that poetry is the 'hub' of what he does, while he is trying to do as many related things as he can. Additionally, he sees teaching as an extension of his job as a poet.
As such, one of his hopes for the future is to see a positive impact from his poetry. "Ten to 15 years from now, I hope that I'm a significantly better writer and that I have something to show for it," he said.
By this time, the open microphone segment has ended. The poets are slowly leaving and the sounds of recorded performances have taken over. A new day has already begun, and he has a flight to catch.
