Interview with Brilliant Wordsmith and Humanitarian, Cameron Keon Sykes
Rian: So Cameron, you’re originally from Queens, NY. Do you feel your upbringing had any effect on your work and how you interact with it?
Cam: Growing up in Queens has exposed me to so many different cultures in just the short period of time I’ve been alive. Seeing all types of food, music, artwork, family life, and day to day struggles just by going to this block or that block has definitely helped me to put stories together that go beyond just my personal life. Stories with so much variety and depth to them. It’s also exposed me to so many different perspectives of thinking and approaching life that have all bled into my work, which I think have made it more interesting and enjoyable to create.
Rian: That's amazing! I'm sure you know we're also based in New York, so we gain a lot of inspiration from the culture and diversity around us. Keeping all the inspiration you gathered in mind, what would you say you try to focus on the most in your work?
Cam: I focus on emotion. Whether it be a poem, a story, a photograph, or even drawing (which I’ve been trying to get the hang of lately), I try to imagine an emotion or an emotional reaction that I want to have each time I experience a piece and I use it to guide the rest of the piece. What should this part of the story make me feel? What kind of tone do I set here to create a bigger impact in the next stanza or story arc? What interpretations am I aiming for people to walk away with?
Rian: Of course. I'm sure this strong focus on emotional value has driven some powerful stories of yours, similar to your featured work on our site, Relapsing & Repenting. Alongside creating your own art, you are the founder of Prophet Corner Writing Workshop; has running this workshop changed your approach to writing at all?
Cam: It’s definitely made me think of art in a more technical sense. Pretty much everything I do has been self taught, save for a handful of workshops which focused on a particular skill I felt I was lacking in, so I didn’t have a lot of ways to put what I do into words. Running the workshop for about a year made me think of how to break down some of my writing strategies into lessons that could be digestible by people other than myself. That, in turn, gave my writing process a clearer structure and allowed me to be more direct in how I approached writing new work. Wow, I can only imagine the process it must’ve been to review your own work to be able to teach it to others.
Rian: You really do a lot with your skills; you do Spoken Word poetry at open mic nights, how different is the writing process from poetry that’s intended to be read?
Cam: Oh, there’s a vast difference, at least when it comes to my goals when it comes to writing poetry. Like I said before, my main focus is emotional reaction, as well as painting a story that feels tangible. With written work, that’s accomplished by visual words that show the story taking place, as well as tempo and word choice. Each line becomes curated in order to invoke those emotions and images in your mind. Plus, you’re able to read that work over and over and over again, pulling new reactions and interpretations from it with each pass. With spoken word, however, the work is fleeting. You can spend however long you like with a poem that’s printed in front of you, but a spoken word poem takes place in a few minutes and then you’re on to the next one. There’s a huge emphasis on performance because of that. How do I invoke intense enough reaction out of a crowd with this poem in the few minutes that they’ll be exposed to it? Enough that the feeling/message/story/images will stick with them after I’ve gotten off the stage? It takes a certain level of understanding, not only what the core emotions or tone of a poem are, but how they are conveyed orally and visually. There’s a bit of acting that may go into it as well. Last difference is that your voice, the poet’s voice, is no longer a mystery in this piece. If you read my work in a book and have never been to a show where I’ve performed this particular poem, you’ll put your own spin on how it’s to be read using the punctuation, line breaks, capitalization, etc. Now, though, you hear me. You hear exactly where the lines are, exactly how much volume I use, exactly how raw or how subtle certain sections are. There’s so much depth in that.
Rian: They sound so different to work on. It’s really impressive just how involved in the writing and poetry community you are. So, what can we look forward to seeing from you in 2023?
Cam: Without revealing too too much, because certain things are still in the works, I do have a number of goals and events to look forward to for next year. Firstly, I’ll be featuring for my second home, Inspired Word NYC, at the Parkside Lounge on January 5th for their NYC Voices show. I’m also currently working to finish my first collection of poetry, titled Prayers in a Pillowcase. It’s a book of poems which tells the story of black men like me and the undiscussed realities of dealing with mental and emotional issues, as well as the process of healing ourselves. It’s been a long work in progress given the nature of its content, but I hope to have it out early next year, by February the latest (God-willing). Other than that, I’ll be exploring new ways to connect with the community, such as launching a monthly newsletter which I’ll actually be opening subscriptions for this month, before Christmas. I also have plans to bring back a couple older projects that I’ve had to put on the backburner for a bit, such as my monthly Artist Showcases on my website, creative writing workshops, and more. Plus there’s a top secret huge collab project that I’ll drop more details on once it’s been developed enough, so I hope people tune in for that!
IG: @falseprophetpoetry
https://www.falseprophetpoetry.com