Climbing Poetree-Spoken Word Stimulating Many Souls!

During the twilight rain on April, 24, 2008, the light flashed in the Wisconsin Room. Voices faded to a mere whisper. The stitched pieces of decorated fabric forming a curtain of written words across the doors slowly waved. Calmly, an announcement-then suddenly on center stage appeared the dynamic poetic duo, Alixa and Naima.
Their creative poetic blend of alliteration, situational irony, rhymes, analogy, imagery, verbal symbols, personification, functional simile, and uplifting metaphors had the audience sitting on the edge of their seats. The resulting impact-a showering of applauses and a standing ovation for Alixa and Naima from the audience at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

These two female artistic poets move the body and soul of the audience to a new height in poetry with a theme of universal consciousness. These two women are not just dabbling in the spoken word; they are professional poets articulating a cure to devastation and aggression.

Their voices expose the harsh realities of life and empower others to challenge oppression and inequality. Their hope is to force a diverse bonding of people to uplift their communities in a creative way for universal consciousness and liberation.

Alixa and Naima have performed on college and university campuses across the nation and have inspired many. "I met them in Cleveland at a performance," said Quincee B., Madison Area Technical College student, distributing literature for the Latino Student Organization. "They were amazing then and will be even better tonight."
Community members who read about the event on the Internet, in local papers, and at libraries came prepared for a new awakening. "I am here to learn something new from them," said Noel Waheed, community member. "The word is that they share wonderful poetic thoughts that touch the soul. They must be great poets to be that good."

While their roots are diverse, Alexia and Naima met while working on an art project in Massachusetts in 2002. Like water and wind, they merged their creative talents and have taken America like a storm since their 2003 tour. Unlike a legend, history has it recorded and they are now on an upward spiral.
Alixa and Naima make up the high-spirited, cutting-edge, and diamond-created spoken word artist duo, Climbing PoeTree. With roots in Haiti and Columbia, they have spread their creativity across the world like the roots of vibrant oak trees connecting and intermeshing with cultures and bringing hope to many, including Cuba.

"We enjoyed Cuba during our visit," Naima said. "The countryside is very beautiful and we loved the creativity of the people we collaborated with on our art and poetry projects. We did not have much information on the Internet on where we were going; however, a cab driver knew where to take us and we had a wonderful time."

The duo has developed their creativity in many ways and from a variety of activities. "We participate in art therapy and muraling, creative dancing, silk screen painting, designing, and other activities to expand our horizon," Naima said during a follow-up telephone interview. "We also write our poetry separately on different issues, and then bend our thoughts together to get a perfect piece."

They have stimulated audiences from Oakland to Atlanta, and South Africa to Cuba with artistic icons such as Amiri Baraka, Sonia Sanchez, Nikki Giovanni, Danny Glover, The Last Poets, and many other artists. Their "2008 Hurricane Season" tour should bring together other great artists to create and inspire positive reflection.

"I love their poetry," said Alice, event planner at UWM. "I am waiting for them to return to Milwaukee on September 30. Their poetry is very inspiring and I just love it!"

The creative artistry of Alixa and Naima is reflected in the design on male and female tops and shirts. Their multi-talented aura could easily endow upon them the title of clothing designers based on their proficiency with silk screening.

"I am happy to see them here in our community," said Anieya Walker, accounting student at UWM. "They are so inspirational and I volunteered to help with the marketing of their creatively designed t-shirts and poetry CDs."
Soothing to the soul was Alixa's playing of the samponia flute. She had the audience on fire with her rendition of a beautiful piece in her own style. "This is talent at its best," said Oleg, community member. "Like scientists, they are good with music and poetry."

While answering questions from the audience after their performance, Alixa and Naima shared their experiences on a variety of subjects. Collaboration between artists is one of their organizational strategies. Their desire is for each individual to be strengthened like the roots of the oak tree linking together and cross pollinating cultures. Naturally, they share the motto from the island of Jamaica, "Out of many we are one!"

Alixa and Naima are scheduled to return to Milwaukee with their "2008 Hurricane Season" national tour on September 30, 2008, and will also perform in Madison on October 2, 2008. "We will be traveling throughout the country in a vehicle converted to run on vegetable oil," Alixa said. "The oil is recycled from America's fast-food addiction to help cure pollution."

In the meantime, one may gain more information about this exciting poetic duo as they create a new dimension in creative poetry at www.climbingpoetree.com or climbingpoetree@myspace.com.