{"id":22386,"date":"2018-12-04T12:06:02","date_gmt":"2018-12-04T17:06:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/?p=22386"},"modified":"2019-02-18T12:01:10","modified_gmt":"2019-02-18T17:01:10","slug":"bakers-beat-words-in-motion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/tartan-news\/2018\/12\/04\/bakers-beat-words-in-motion\/","title":{"rendered":"Baker’s Beat: Words in Pure Motion"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0Kyle Flemings might not be a name that you recognize. He is not a famous actor, rapper or social media personality. No, Kyle has a profession in a career that is a little more demanding on the mind and the soul. Kyle Flemings is a poet! <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0Poetry is a medium of spoken word that is so powerful it can sooth the minds of beasts and awaken raw emotion from the most frigid of creatures. There are few masters in today\u2019s society of this skill but Kyle is one of those individuals who is a master. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0You may know Kyle by his poet name: Atlas. For those who are a little rusty on their Greek mythology, Atlas is the god chosen by Zeus to hold up the world so it doesn’t plunge into darkness. That is what Atlas the poet is doing with his words. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0Born in Staten Island, Atlas\u2019s life has been less than idyllic. Having to face homelessness at a young age, he had to bounce around from family member to family member all over the country. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0He has lived in several places all over the U.S. including Virginia, Washington D.C. and Cleveland until the age of 14. Then he stayed with his father permanently, before eventually finding his way to the Gem City.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0He has been practicing his craft of poetry for 11 years and he is a founder of The Underdog Academy, a collective of poets. This group examines, points out and discusses racial, social and political issues through their writing and rhetoric. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0They are also an outlet and a platform for other artists who need their voices to be heard. The Underdog Academy is a group of some of the youngest and passionate writers from all around Ohio. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0They have also formed another collective called the W.O.R.D. also known as Warriors Of Rhetorical Discourse. This group\u2019s focus is striving to create a genre called neo-speak. Neo-speak is a mixture of jazz, blues, neo-soul and spoken word poetry highlighting local artists. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0So far there are 13 members in the collective. They also have up and coming vocalists that hone their talent frequently with the group. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"\u00a0 \u00a0What is truly amazing about the poet known as Atlas, is that he is not just a poet but an academic scholar. He is currently in grad school and also teaches at Miami University. While teaching creative writing, English, rhetoric and composition he is working on obtaining his master\u2019s degree which he will earn after one more semester. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0He is also a published author, with another book underway called \u201cThe Token Project.\u201d This book explores the blackness of the African American black culture and the masculinity that an African American man is supposed to exhibit. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0It does this while also examining the perception of what the idea of tokenism is as it pertains to the African American. This book will truly break down what it means to be a token African American in today’s society, as well as battling the ideals that have been passed down through the generations. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0For Atlas, poetry is something that he needs. It is curing and serves as a guide for his life. It unpacks emotion and trauma that he has endured and contributes to the healing process. But it is also a selfish process because he needs it to survive the world that sometimes doesn’t allow him an outlet to truly express himself. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0His most famous poem to date is \u201cI Know Black Boys are not Supposed to Want to Be Loved.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0When he was younger his poetry was focused on social and political issues. Yet, as he’s grown older his themes have centered around masculinity, love and unpacking trauma. He is a humble nomad that is armed with his wit and his pen. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0Atlas does much more than just poetry. In his time he pursues acting, hosts workshops, stays involved in community organizing and is a brand ambassador. He is a U.S. Army veteran and worked at Wright Patterson AFB.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0If you are interested in Atlas and his groups, they have an event at the Brightside Dec. 15 called a dedication to the decade. The tickets are $10 for reservation and $15 at the door. I hope you attend the event not just for great entertainment, but for an experience that will help you feel true emotion while feeding your soul.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"Justin A. Baker<\/strong>
\n<\/span>Staff Writer<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0Kyle Flemings might not be a name that you recognize. He is not a famous actor, rapper or social media personality. No, Kyle has a profession in a career that is a little more demanding on the mind and the soul. Kyle Flemings is a poet! \u00a0 \u00a0Poetry is a medium of spoken word […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10416,"featured_media":22401,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2110,2109,3],"tags":[2528,2299,2866],"class_list":["post-22386","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local","category-opinion","category-tartan-news","tag-bakers-beat","tag-justin-a-baker","tag-words-in-pure-motion"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"cc_featured_image_caption":{"caption_text":false,"source_text":false,"source_url":false},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Screenshot_20181130-140549_Instagram.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5s3vR-5P4","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22386","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10416"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22386"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22386\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22404,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22386\/revisions\/22404"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22401"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22386"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22386"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22386"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}