Award-winning poet and musician Jamila Woods conducted a reading and interview titled “Poetry as Ritual” for an audience of students and faculty at Choi Auditorium Feb. 18. Associate Professor of English and Department Chair Ross Lerner organized the event which is part of a series aiming to bring writers to Occidental for readings and workshops.
Woods said she recited a mix of old and new poetry, addressing topics including her experience with Black hair, her family and her creative process. Woods said when looking for inspiration, she turns to everyday life.
“I write about the people and things in my community and in my environment,” Woods said. “There is such a richness in the everyday happenings of my life, and I love the feeling of capturing that in a poem.”
Woods said preserving her family and cultural heritage is a central theme in her work. Woods said one of her inspirations is Zora Neal Hurston who documented Black Southern folklore and African diasporic culture.
“I love the poetry inherent in how my Black elders speak, and I try to archive that in my poetry, particularly in the poems about my grandparents,” Woods said.
Woods said she hopes students and faculty who attended the event came away finding connections to their own lives in her work, whether or not they share her particular experiences. Woods said she wishes for people to develop a new appreciation for what people typically consider ordinary.
“My friend and poet Nate Marshall says, ‘The greatest thing a poem can give is permission,’ so I think that’s what I hope for an audience member — to feel permission to tell their story the way they want to tell it,” Woods said.
Woods said she sang in a church choir and performed in theater growing up, and she began writing poetry in a high school after-school program. Woods said she credits poetry with giving her increased confidence and trust in her creative voice.
“Prior to writing and performing my poetry I considered myself a solid ‘choir member’ but was not the type to get the big solos,” Woods said. “Writing poetry and performing my own words led me to have more confidence in writing songs for myself and exploring what else my voice was capable of.”
In addition to her work as a poet, Woods has released three studio albums and often combines song and poetry. Occidental’s Writer in Residence Chekwube Danladi said she approached Woods for an appearance at Occidental due to her admiration for Woods’ work and her interest in bringing in artists that merge creative fields.
“We try to bring diverse writers, poets, people who do hybrid work as well,” Danladi said. “We were thinking about someone whose work met at the intersection of writing and music, and so during that meeting, I thought of Woods.”
Danladi, who hosted the interview and following Q&A session with Woods, said she aimed to ask Woods about her poetic voice and how it has evolved, a conversation she believed students would be receptive to and could learn from. Danladi said she wanted to hear Woods speak about how she merges poetry and music.
“I wanted to ask her about the collusion of poetry and music for her and how she navigates the difference between the two but also uses the commonality to work in both forms,” Danladi said.
Faculty Services Assistant Jango Jang said they participated in organizing the Poetry as Ritual event. Jang said college guest speakers are chosen from faculty and student recommendations, as well as from artists themselves reaching out.
According to Danladi, the Poetry as Ritual event was part of a series of events aiming to bring writers to Occidental. Danladi said speakers such as Woods have found interdisciplinary appeal among the student population, exposing students from a variety of majors to the possibilities of creative writing.
“Our department is an intimate group of majors and minors, but as events become more well-known on campus and people take more of our classes, I do think we’re reaching folks from other departments as well,” Danladi said. “I tend to have a wide range [of majors] in my writing classes, and it makes me really happy to see that people are taking on creative practice.”
Jang said they recommend students across disciplines to attend events that spark their interest, as it can introduce them to something new or help them grow a previous interest.
“I always recommend that students go participate because [the events are] for everyone,” Jang said.
According to Woods, the best thing somebody pursuing a creative field can do is to trust their intuition.
“Learn what its voice sounds like, or what its colors look like, or what it feels like in your body,” Woods said. “Find rituals that help you stay close to it.”
Contact Diana Trutia at trutia@oxy.edu
