Written by Sgt. 1st Class Peter Mayes
101st Sustainment Brigade, 101st Airborne Division (AA) Public Affairs
Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan – The military has long been a breeding ground for many service members who have gone on to achieve fame and fortune in the world of sports and entertainment.
For the more creative types, the organizers of “Poetry Night” at the Koehle Morale, Welfare and Recreation Center at Bagram Airfield present a twice-monthly event that offers aspiring poets, writers and other “expressionists” a chance to share their love for writing and the spoken word with their fellow service members.
It’s something that has definitely caught on at BAF. Approximately 100 service members and civilians recently packed the small MWR movie theater to hear the latest literary offerings from their peers.
Spc. Vaughn Jenkins, who is assigned to Task Force Odin, 306th Military Intelligence Battalion, is one such aspiring artist who climbed onto the stage. A regular attendee at the events, he’s prepared to express himself yet again in front of an eager crowd ready to hang on his every word.
Jenkins, whose stage name in “Von G,” crawled out of his comfort zone and committed his poetry to memory instead of reading from a script. Unfortunately, halfway through his piece, he started forgetting the words. And this is where his story truly began.
Instead of being booed off the stage, the crowd encouraged and cheered him on as he stumbled on his words. Finally, someone in the audience told him to “freestyle,” that is, make it something off the top of his head. And that is what Jenkins eventually did.
He found the words to express what he wanted to say, finished his piece and walked off the stage to applause from the audience for his ability to recover. “I tried to do my piece by memory at first,” Jenkins said. “The rhyming part was hard, but it ended up coming out right.”
Dunn said he originally came up with the idea of hosting a Poetry Night while he was assigned to Kandahar Airfield.
“It did very well there, so I thought it would do the same here at BAF,” he said.
He and a small team began putting out fliers announcing the event, and started hosting events in mid-February. It finally caught on, he said, and has grown steadily since.
“We’ve been able to fill seats, and have people standing in the room,” he said.
The topics vary from poet to poet, which, according to Staff Sgt. James Menard, gives each event an energy that makes it special.
“It’s a free range of everything here … inspiration, something funny, something comical, something serious… the whole nine yards,” he said. “Someone might even bring an instrument here. You never know what to expect.”
There are three general rules regarding participation in the Poetry Night:
- No bashing the chain of command
- No bashing other’s religious views
- Be adults, but watch your language
“If every other word coming out of your mouth rhymes with ‘spit,’ or ‘luck’ or ‘witch,’ you’re not getting onstage,” said Christopher Capps, event host and poet who goes by the name, “Spoken Swirl.”
“We’re all here as a group to inspire each other, and we don’t want to necessarily touch any feelings or political views, but we do preach freedom of speech, in terms of people talking about their past, their present, or their friends who died on a mission.”
“You may want to think of another forum to express yourself, because it’s not here,” Dunn said.
Capps said there are times when Poetry Night offers service members a therapeutic session about their lives in a combat environment. One poet delivered a moving piece about his thoughts of fallen heroes during a ramp ceremony titled, “Four Humvees.”
“It can get deep in there sometimes to the point it’s opening people’s eyes and inspiring the soldiers. That’s why we do this. It serves as an outlet for them,” he said.
Menard, a non-commissioned officer in charge of the 101st Sustainment Brigade Support Operations Food Advisors, got onstage and offered his take on the stressors soldiers face not only on the battlefield, but also being away from family and loved ones.
“We’re about passionate poetry. It’s nothing too grotesque, or politically correct or incorrect. It’s all about how you feel. If you want to share, then share,” he said.
Capps said he was amazed at how poetry can inspire the service member’s creativity, and that it serves the purpose of helping them relieve their energy and stress in a positive manner.
“One poem can have three poets come out the next week and write about something that’s been in their hearts and on their minds for a long time,” he said. “Some people don’t know how to express themselves, but when they get the pen and paper in their hands, that’s their outlet. Sometimes all they need is for someone to show them that.”
