Quintessential Listening Poetry- Luis Fermin

The mission of Quintessential Listening: Poetry is to provide a forum to examine topical events and contemporary issues through the power of poetry. Hosted by Dr. Michael Anthony Ingram, the live format offers poets and spoken word artists opportunities to showcase their own poetry and/or the works of others, and give voice as well as bear witness to the social, cultural, racial, political, health, global, gender, economic and environmental issues that affect all of our lives. Special guest will be acclaimed poet and activist Luis Fermin.     Luis was born in Pensacola, FL, March 25, 1987, to a White-American mother and a Dominican father. They divorced when he was 2 years old. Subsequently, he and his mom moved back to the United States. His creative writing actually started in elementary school, where artistic expression was strongly encouraged. There he remembers writing several short stories (generally about himself and his friends having superpowers and fighting bad guys) and developing a comedic comic book series. In middle school, he came up with a few ideas for sci-fi novels but never got past writing the first couple of paragraphs for any of them. From there on, his creative writing pretty much went dormant. It wasn't until he was around 20 years old that he started writing creatively again, this time with the desire to work towards becoming a professional rapper. Luis’ unique performance style is the culmination of all of his experiences. He is unparalleled in terms of memorization, rhythmic technique, and delivery. In fact, his vocal energy is magnetic. As a spoken word artist, Luis Fermin holds nothing back and instead give everything to his audience. He is an active member of the Guerilla Poetry Insurgency (http://www.onecommonunity.org/causes/dc-guerrilla-poetry-insurgency). Music: Lino Rise, Longzihun and Jessica Yip  Kevin Macleod