LAWNDALE — Arts group and poetry powerhouse Kuumba Lynx is teaming up with a roster of renowned Chicago poets for a new immersive art experience on the West Side in honor of National Poetry Month.
The pop-up exhibit, Poetry Making Playground, will allow students to experience poetry beyond pen and paper. There will be elements of music, theater, movement and crafting, said Jacinda Bullie, co-founder of Kuumba Lynx alongside Jaquanda Saulter and Leida Garcia.
“This experience, what we’re calling it — it is a new take on poetry-making because it’s reimagining poems that are written by predominantly Chicago poets, and it’s making them interactive,” Bullie said. “It’s time to make poetry accessible and fun because we know that we’re most engaged when we’re having fun.”
Poetry Making Playground kicks off Saturday at the Westside Justice Center, 601 S. California Ave. It will be open 5-8 p.m. Thursdays, 5-9 p.m. Fridays, noon-9 p.m. Saturdays and noon-5 p.m. Sundays through the end of May.
There is a $30 suggested donation upon entry, and tickets can be bought online or at the door. Schools or community groups can also make trips to the exhibit together, Bullie said.
To create Poetry Making Playground, Kuumba Lynx collaborated with several celebrated poets and artists: inaugural Poet Laureate of Chicago Avery R. Young, Vania Luna Gutierrez, Liza Garza, Sejah, Lala Bolander, E’mon Lauren Black, Sonjanita Moore and Ayesha Riaz.
The exhibit will feature their work, and each poet “will have a moment on the calendar” to shine, Bullie said. They will host workshops and open mics and offer deeper dives into their work, she said.
Poetry For The People
Founded in 1996, Kuumba Lynx is a hip-hop-centric arts group with a mission of “social liberation.”
Alongside music production, dance and visual arts programs, it’s famous in the world of poetry and a six-time champion of Rooted & Radical, a youth poetry slam in Chicago formerly called Louder Than a Bomb. Those wins have allowed Kuumba Lynx to represent Chicago in the international youth poetry fest Brave New Voices.
Poetry Making Playground means Kuumba Lynx and neighbors can explore the genre in unconventional ways that feel brand new.
When people walk into the exhibit, it will be a “blast of colors,” Bullie said. Visitors will have the chance to write their own poetry, and they can engage with other people’s work and “remix it.”
The goal is to make poetry more accessible and less intimidating. It’s about “challenging ourselves to think outside of the box of what poetry is, and then also to call in folks who might be scared away when you think about writing poetry,” Bullie said.
“It’s going to energize you,” Bullie said. “We hope that it holds you and that you feel affirmed and seen, and that you can see and affirm others.”
The program also touches on more serious topics, like spirituality, mental health awareness, anti-Blackness and the school-to-prison pipeline, with the hope that students reflect on and reimagine a better world, Bullie said.
“When you leave, we hope that you practice that more just, peaceful, equitable and loving world,” she said. “There’ll be lots of opportunities to laugh and smile. There are opportunities that are serious to engage with the world and the time that we’re in currently.”
Poetry Making Playground is inspired by a poetry exhibit Kuumba Lynx hosted about a year ago at Humboldt Park’s The Honeycomb Network, 2659 W. Division St. That pilot program was less interactive, so this new exhibit is a “leveled-up” version, Bullie said.
“We are always challenging ourselves to think about poetry in multiple ways,” she said. “We know that we come from an ancestral background of storytellers, of folks who moved and sang and played and created in that way and practiced healing. So we are just kind of calling on that.”
Bullie said she’s grateful to partner with the Westside Justice Center, which is hosting this year’s exhibition.
“The partnership with the Westside Justice Center is super important to us because we are in such alignment in terms of our values and our commitment to the West Side of Chicago,” Bullie said.
“It’s really a poetry-making project for the people.”
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