The Spoken Word of Soul River

“Spoken Word” is a new conceptual approach to Poetry recently adopted by Soul River to communicate the fashion forward artistic brand drawing inspiration from the outdoors to the urban streets.The term “spoken word” was first originated from the Harlem Renaissance to explain the new artistic expression coming out of the postmodern art movement. This type of performance art is word based and often mixed experimentally with other art forms such as music, theater, and dance. For many years, culture has been communicated by great writers and storytellers, sharing legends, myths, and fables around campfires. While history is no longer communicated this way, the art of storytelling is still very much alive from educational institutions to underground cafes and hidden lounges. Storytelling has also evolved from simple stories to expressive art influenced by their environment speaking to politics, crime, race, religion, culture, and in many circles, fly fishing. Throughout history, many of the world’s greatest literary artists wrote and spoke about fly fishing. Mark Twain, Jim Harrison, Pam Houston, Thomas McGuane, Ron Cordes, Gary LaFontaine, John Gierach, and many others tell their stories in the context of fly fishing.

Like the sport, fly fishing story telling has evolved past twill jackets and creels, modern urban dwelling anglers, inspired by our new culture music, individualism, and expressionism, have embraced spoken word poetry to tell their tales. Talented minds now converge to share their stories and pay respect to the sport and fellow anglers. Today, in the mist of the outdoors and urban streets you can hear and feel the rhythms of words slammed in to paragraphs with style and passion. Using well-articulated words, these artists turn words in to vivid visual images with no barriers or rules to convey their passion for the sport of flyfishing. By resurrecting an older art form in a new setting and juxtaposing with urban culture, spoken word poetry is breathing new life into fly fishing story telling.

The NAIAD mermaid is an Icon representing Soul River brand image. In Greek mythology, the Naiads are nymphs that preside over rivers, streams, and other bodies of water. They are most commonly associated with fresh water. It is said that their essence is bound to their particular body of water and if the water dried the naiad would die. The naiad is the perfect embodiment of Soul River. Like the Soul River brand, the naiad is the protector of the river and its life, like the communities on the river, is dependent on the river. If the river is unheathly and distressed so is the naiad. She is the living embodiment of the river and represents the river’s life and vitality. Like the naiad, Soul River is heavily vested on the rivers, the surrounding communities, and all who embrace the river for its healing properties.

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