My first experience with Button Poetry must have been during my freshman year of high school. As I was randomly scrolling through the suggestions on YouTube one fall afternoon, I came across a video with a person standing on a stage, seeming like he was going to perform some sort of song. Before clicking on the thumbnail, I noticed the name of the account: Button Poetry.

I thought to myself “huh, what a strange name” and promptly clicked. The video buffered and after what felt like a year (thanks, Kuwait internet), I was reeled into a flurry of passionate spoken word poetry, every sentence and phrase bearing deeper and deeper meaning by the second. Before I knew it, I was hooked on an account I never knew I needed.

Button Poetry; what a suitable name for a string of poems sewed together for the purpose of sharing stories and expressing one’s desires and concerns.

With every video came several moments of reflection, jumbled with specks of conflicting emotions over the topics many of the speakers were addressing. Before Button Poetry, I always envisioned poetry as a medium for written expressions that were meant to be read in books or in letters, never spoken out loud in front of an audience. Button Poetry became my first exposure to Spoken Word Poetry, a subsect of poetry I never knew existed.

The term “Spoken Word Poetry” implies that the poem is either read out loud or is simply recited; however, I’d like to argue that it is much more than that. In the simplest of terms, these poems are animated, not only in the expression of the speaker but also in the structure of the poem itself.

I urge all of you to immediately watch Button Poetry after you finish reading this article in order to truly comprehend what I mean when I say that the poem comes alive as every word rolls off the silver tongues of these speakers- like they’ve been waiting in the depths of the person, anticipating their release.

Throughout my high school career, I became more and more exposed to the prospect of Spoken Word Poetry, whether it was through peer performances in school, in talent shows or in random cafes from all around the world; this idea that poetry could be so much more than words on a sheet of paper dominated my perception of the art form.

Now, as I make my way through college, I’ve already been to a few Spoken Word Poetry events, each and every one of them broadening my perception on topics of sexuality, race, gender, religion etc… All of these experiences can be attributed to the wonders that is Button Poetry and all of the poets who have shared and poured their hearts and souls onto the screen for all of us to listen to and to engage in.

Whether I’m feeling down or over the moon, I know that I can rely on Button Poetry to dispel my current thoughts as I become fully immersed in the pool of words and emotion. Button Poetry will always be sewn onto the sleeve of my heart, as it shines a light on important issues while simultaneously presenting and crafting these ideas in the form of spoken art.