| By Alex WayneHe began selling his rich and innovative poems in the streets several years ago.Since then, he has transformed into a very worthwhile citizen who is contributing greatly to his community and other outlying areas.From 1985 to 1987 he sold his poems not so much for the cash, but as a means of establishing his work.This soon propelled him to the status of being rated amongst Guyana’s most talented poets.In 1987, through assistance from the then Prime Minister, he obtained funding and published two thousand five hundred copies of ‘Revelation Pan Creation’,Wholesale NFL Jerseys, his first book of poems.This book consists of some twenty -one stirring poetic compositions.After then there was no turning back for Aaron Blackman of Paradise Village, East Coast Demerara.Aaron began his poetic exploits in 1984, when he seriously began penning creative pieces since he felt he had a message to share with the world.He felt that poetry was the best means of getting that message to those who needed it, since it mirrored his thoughts and ‘actions of the people.’Multitalented poet, Aaron Blackman The first poem he sold was dubbed ‘Guyana’, which spoke of the serene, natural beauty of the country, its potential for ultimate development and issues affecting its economic and social elevation.With the positive response to this piece, he began selling many others but sales were poor, since, in his view, the average person with hardly any creative instinct could not relate to his rich, stimulating pieces.In 1990, he formed and led the Triple Troupe Group which performed music and poetry, with its students drawn from several secondary schools in the city. During this time he was a teacher at the Paradise Government School.Just around this period he enrolled in the University of Guyana, where he pursued a Bachelor’s degree in Social Work, even as he was working as an HIV/AIDS Counselor with the National AIDS Programme Secretariat.At that time he held the position of National Sports Organiser, working under Mr. Dereck Whitehead, the then head of the National Sports Development Council. Even though he was very busy, he still made his poetry priority and in 2004 relocated to Barbados where he intended to promote his work.He sold his pieces to the ‘Bajan’ community and to the many tourists who visited the island, thus ensuring his compositions filtered to various sections of the universe.Later on, he released a CD which contained 25 of his more selected dramatic and inspirational pieces.The CD received rave reviews.His popularity began growing in the island and in 2005, when it was discovered that he is also a talented calypsonian, he was slated to perform at the annual Crop Over event.The versatile artiste also performed his poems at several schools and other academic institutions.At that time, also, he was a football coach at the Harrison College and Lester Vaughn Secondary School.Working also with the Ministry of Education’s Youth Development Programme in Barbados, Blackman promoted skills development among youths in depressed communities.Aaron is also a graduate of the Commonwealth Youth Programme and possesses a Diploma in Youth Development.In 2005, still penning his poems, he returned to Guyana and worked with the Guyana Football Federation as President of the East Demerara Football Association. Later, he was appointed President of the East Coast Community Development Council, a position he still holds today. He is responsible for taking care of sorts-related issues for the East Coast villages of Paradise, Bachelor’s Adventure, Bare Root and Melanie Damishana.In 2000, this talented Guyanese was also attached to the African Caribbean Youth Center summer camp in Michigan,Cheap NFL Jerseys China, Fort Myers, Florida, USA as an instructor in sports and culture.In 2008, at the five-star Wyndham Hotel in Tampa,Jerseys From China, Florida he performed his poem ‘Africa’.He also held the post of Public Relations Officer of the St. Joseph Parish Independence Committee.Aaron was also employed as a Programme Officer of the Israel Lovell Foundation, promoting the arts of dance,Wholesale Jerseys, drama,Wholesale Jerseys, poetry, stilt walking and other related activities.To date,jerseys nfl wholesale, Aaron has been featured in the Barbados Nation and Advocate newspapers as one of the Caribbean’s promising poets, and of course he speaks highly of his hit pieces which include ‘I dream of a World’, ‘Guyana’, ‘Sugar Cane’ and ‘The Presidency’, which all inculcate social issues even as they highlight Guyana’s riches and investment potentials.During an exclusive interview with Weekend Entertainer, the poet related that he has a large volume of unpublished work and feels ‘this is the time to get the information to the people’. He is presently soliciting sponsorship to make this dream a reality.He still puts his creative thoughts to pen and paper and noted that ‘a poetic talent is a gift more precious than diamonds since it can bring about phenomenal changes if utilized expertly’. |
