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Climbing PoeTree Artists Alixia Garcia and Naima Penniman Perform Three Poems About Social Revolution, the Human Condition, and Diamonds

During Wednesday’s All School Meeting, the Phillips Academy student body and faculty listened intently to the performances of Climbing PoeTree, a duo of two spoken word artists, Alixa Garcia and Naima Penniman. Catherine Crooke ’07 introduced the artist duo, and said that Alixa and Naima “make it their job to bridge the gap between art and activism.” Climbing PoeTree delivered three poems, each following their motto: “Art is our weapon, our medicine, our voice, our vision.” Alixa and Naima first performed the poem “Even If She Can’t Fly,” which discussed and encouraged social revolution. “The revolution stands within, but without justice in this world, my poetry seems paper thin. How are we going to enlighten when we watch our children die, and how are we going to fight when we are fighting to survive? How are we going to fight the truth, when all we knew was lies?” questioned Garcia and Penniman. Alixa and Naima continued, “Right now, another ten million poems about revolution might not bring it back to life. But there’s nothing left to do but try. A caged bird can sing, even if she can’t fly. So I write, I write, I write revolutions with my pen.” The second poem, “Being Human,” spoke of the human condition as personified through common inanimate objects, such as clouds, volcanoes, snowflakes, and stars. “I wonder if the snow wants to be black, if the soil thinks she’s too dark, if butterflies want to cover up their marks, if rocks are self-conscious of their weight, if mountains are insecure of their strength. I wonder if waves get discouraged crawling up the sand, only to be pulled back again to where they began,” they said. The third and final poem, entitled “Diamonds,” was written after Hurricane Katrina. Garcia and Penniman said that they were motivated by the catastrophe to promote the whole truth through the personal testimonies of a myriad of people, resulting in the creation of “Diamonds.” “Take back what is yours. Self-love is not found in another,” they declared. “You are not that diamond that children’s hands excavate from African lands to sell to American hands before our weddings, because it is the only love we can interpret. You are that diamond that sits in the sky so bright only God could have shaped it.” After first meeting in Worcester, Massachusetts, Garcia and Penniman debuted in July of 2003, launching a four-month tour across the nation. Their collaborative performance revolved around the “War on Drugs,” after Garcia and Penniman witnessed its effects on places such as Colombia and America’s inner city life. Since their premier year, Climbing PoeTree has toured across the globe with a mission to “use creativity as an antidote for destruction,” said Penniman. They have performed on stages from South Africa to Cuba to Jamaica, with artists such as Amiri Baraka, Sonia Sanchez, Nikki Giovanni, Danny Glover, Jessica Care Moore, The Last Poets and Dead Prez. With roots in Colombia and Haiti, Garcia and Penniman reside in Brooklyn, New York, which serves as the home base for most of their current work. In an open discussion at the Office of Community and Multicultural Development after the All-School Meeting, Penniman said of Climbing PoeTree’s work, “Art really speaks to and connects with our human core, no matter where you are coming from. We can use it as a tool to cross race, genders, age, and cultures… If art affects change inside of us individually, then it’s easy to see how it would affect everyone on a larger scale.” Teaching Fellow of Community Service Ms. Adrienne Marshall asked Climbing PoeTree to speak at this week’s All-School Meeting. She first saw Garcia and Penniman perform in Providence at Brown University and was so impressed that she requested them to perform at this All-School Meeting. Ms. Marshall said, “I feel that Alixa and Niama’s mission to educate people, particularly youth, on both national and global issues coincides with our own mission [of] broadening the perspectives our youth. The most unique part of their work is that no medium is off limits for bringing their message across to their audiences, whether it is large scale murals in Jamaica, or poetry workshops for youth of inner cities, or silk-screened clothing bearing politically rousing messages.” “Andover is a place that prides itself in its academic rigors and diverse teaching styles. I think it is important that students be exposed to the myriad of ways in which information, particularly political awareness, can be expressed and presented to others to affect social change,” said Ms. Marshall. Britney Achin ’08 commented on their performance and said, “The Climbing PoeTree duo have a great message: if more people can get behind the idea of art as a vehicle for social change, the changes our society desperately needs may become more tangible and less idyllic.”