The Times

Issue date: 5/9/08 Section: Features

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.

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