LORAIN — More than a decade ago, Kyle Sutton learned the power of words when he snagged a prom date with a high school beauty with a poem.

But on prom night, his life changed forever when he spotted his sweetie kissing a football player.

“I really thought I needed to fight this kid,” Sutton recalled, while speaking to students Wednesday at the St. Joe’s Learning Center of Lorain County Community College.

Instead, someone gave Sutton a notebook, and tears started flowing as he turned his pain into words.

And the fight? It took place anyway between Sutton’s friends and the football player and his friends. The football player was seriously injured, and two of Sutton’s friends went to prison. One remains there to this day.

Sutton, meanwhile, went to rehab and then on to a community college, before transferring to Rutgers University.

There he met theater enthusiast Scott “Raven” Tarazevits and science major Mason Granger. The threesome bonded over slam poetry and formed Mayhem Poets in 2000. After college, the New Jersey natives waited tables while pursuing their real interest: poetry, rap and performance art.

The group members, artists in residence this week at LCCC, got their big break in 2006 when they were awarded $100,000 in the Microsoft Ultimate Challenge in 2007.

Since then, they’ve toured the world and collaborated with hip-hop legends such as KRS ONE, and world-class musicians including Greg Patillo, who plays beat box flute, and violinist Jane Hunt.

Their New York City educational training operation, Slam Chops, provides inspiration and opportunities for aspiring poets.

LCCC students quizzed the threesome about their art, which draws on diverse inspirations ranging from the West African poets called griots (pronounced gri-ou with a silent “t”) to Shakespeare to Maya Angelou to rap artists.

But the students really wanted to know how the threesome formed.

Tarazevits, who goes by “Scott Raven T,” said he hit it off quickly with Sutton, who took the moniker “Black Skeptik” at Rutgers.

“I opened him up to the theater world and he opened me up to hip hop,” Tarazevits said.

Sutton and Tarazevits started an open mic night on campus called Verbal Mayhem with the goal of opening the minds of young people to poetry.

They have used their obvious racial differences for humor, with Tarazevits joking, “I’m so white, brides don’t put on wedding dresses, they put me on instead” or “I’m so white, I make the Pillsbury doughboy look like Samuel L. Jackson.”

Tarazevits, who excelled at sports in high school before being injured, said he likes using that physicality now on stage.

For example, when he suffered an injury after forming Mayhem Poets, he continued to perform — turning into a crazed chicken with crutches for wings.

While still at Rutgers, Sutton and Tarazevits became friends with self-described “science nerd” Granger, who earned a perfect score on the math section of the New Jersey High School Proficiency Test.

Granger said he uses his stage presence to slam talk about things he cares about, such as saving the environment.

“Through writing and sharing poetry, I feel like I really do have an impact,” Granger said.

During their stay at LCCC, the Mayhem Poets’ members are hosting various workshops for students. Their visit will culminate in a free Meeting Great Minds performance at 3 p.m. Sunday at LCCC’s Stocker Arts Center.

A meet-and-greet will begin at 2:30 p.m. Though the event is free, registration is required by registering at www.lorainccc.edu/upevents or calling (440) 366-4949.

For more information and videos of the group, go to www.mayhempoets.com.

Contact Cindy Leise at 329-7245 or cleise@chroniclet.com.

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