Book debut at 'Seh Sup'm'

Mel Cooke, Gleaner Writer

Author and event turned a new page on Sunday night, as Marie Scully presented her first poetry collection, Moods and Attitudes, at October's Seh Sup'm, which was hosting its first book launch.

It was a night when there was also some unaccustomed fare to go with the regular serving of poetry and live music at the Village Blues Bar, Orchid Village on Barbican Road in St Andrew.

For a while, Rootz Underground and Shaq the MC delivered music at the roots reggae and R&B/rap poles of the aural spectrum and Fabian Thomas addressed Haiti in the open mic poetry segment, there was also an onstage interview about the film RiseUp.

And Ras Haile Malekot, one of the persons featured in RiseUp, did poetry about the 'Rastaman Vibration' and 'Carnal Abuse'.

Scully told The Gleaner that having written "for years and years", Moods and Attitudes contains the poems written 10 years ago, as well as within the last few months.

However, the published poems are "the ones that the public can see. I think I took the best of the pieces and those that are not so deeply personal".

Reading 'Good Lovin'', 'Checklist', 'Rice and Peas', 'Just a Few Hours', 'The Morning After' and 'I'm Not Supposed To' at the launch, Scully interspersed the poetry with music. She told The Gleaner that she included songs from Anita Baker (Sweet Love), Teddy P (Turn Off the Lights), Tina Marie (Out on a Limb, Secret Garden) and Billy Paul (Out on a Limb) to "set the mood and get me into the vibe". Initially hesitant to read her work, Scully says, "Reading has taken me out of my shell. The whole poetry experience has opened me up and given me positive growth."

Initially, Scully wrote with the intention of leaving something of herself behind for her family. "I am into making a mark while I am here on Earth, as a lot of us come and leave like we were never here. In the beginning, all I thought about writing poetry was, when I die I will leave them to my children so they can have a piece of me," Scully said.

Scully's paintings were also on display on Sunday at the Village Blues Bar. She said, "Art and literature do the same thing for me. I paint for release, I write for release. I paint when I am overwhelmed, I write when I am overwhelmed. I am at peace when I do them and I feel a great satisfaction when I am done".

However, Scully said, "I talk a lot when I am happy but I tend to go into my shell when I am feeling low. And that is when I write." So, a laughing Scully said, "I had to choose the pieces carefully. I did not want people to read the book and say 'Lawd God, what is the point of life?'."

In fact, Scully says, "I had to teach myself to write when I was upbeat. I made an effort to harness the energy and put it on paper, so in a way it has helped me to grow".