I spent this past weekend shamelessly stalking the Brave New Voices Instagram page. Started in 1998, Brave New Voices is an initiative created by Youth Speaks and is the largest spoken word event in the world. Its a poetry slam that focuses on the voice of the youth. I wish I could be there, but thats beside the point. I fell in love with spoken word through YouTube. A young 14 year old me tired of watching tutorials made by white women of hairstyles I couldn't accomplish, I one day found something new. One of the first spoken word pieces I ever remember viewing was "10 Things I Want To Say To A Black Woman by Joshua Bennett." I loved the poem so naturally I went looking for more work from the poet. What I found changed my life.

The first poetry group I ever fell in love with was The Strivers Row poetry group, a group that now Dr. Joshua Bennett, is apart of. These are not just poets, but artists. As they paint pictures of beauty, pain, and love into the air. It's not hard to fall in love with their work.

Here's some work that I fell in love with myself.

1. Sistergirlfriend by Zora Howard

This poem is a classic tale of sisterhood. A coming of age spoken word about finding a soulmate in your best friend. Even though not romantically, it's a beautiful thing to find someone who never fails to remind you of who you are when everything gets too much. A best friend can show you more love than every would be lover that you've ever found yourself looking for love in. A best friend will remind you that the love is already in yourself.

2. Birmingham by Jasmine Mans

This was the first poem I'd ever memorized. After years of trying to remember all the words to phenomenal woman by the late Maya Angelou, no work ever stuck to my brain as quickly as this one did. As soon as I found out that you could buy it on iTunes I did and I played it on repeat for a month straight. Although I memorized this four years ago, I could still recite it word for word to this day. In a sense, I find it particularly haunting. As it is a poem Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, Carole Robertson and Cynthia Wesley, four young girls killed in the racist 16th Street Baptist Church Bombing in 1963.

3. Baby Boy by Alysia Harris

This poem was not posted on The Strivers Row YouTube page, however because of The Strivers Row, I found Alysia Harris. She is my favorite poet, and Baby Boy is one of my favorite poems. This poem reminds me to pray for my twin brother. Being a young African American male, he needs as much as it as possible.

4. Sh*t I'm not creative enough to make up or a series of unrelated events or Everytime they try to tell me it's not about race by Alysia Harris and Zora Howard

Art must reflect the times and what I love about The Strivers Row is that they're Black and they use their art to reflect the time. This poem isn't as blatantly heavy as some of the artists other work, but nevertheless it gets a point across. There is activism in art.

5. Dear Stevie (In the Key of Love) by Joshua Bennett

As Joshua Bennett's father played Stevie Wonder to get him through the Vietnam war, I played Knocks Me Off My Feet on repeat to get me through the first semester of my freshman year of college. Although college and war are nowhere near the same, Stevie Wonder's voice and most importantly his words brought hope that beauty and love would always prevail past hardship. In this poem, Joshua explains how Stevie Wonder gave him as well as other people hope. He gave me hope as well.

6. Strive by Miles Hodges and Carvens Lissaint

There will be days where Heaven doesn't seem so close, but Miles and Carvens remind me in this spoken word to always push past adversity.

7. Doing It Wrong by Alysia Harris and Miles Hodges

This poem reminds me of college,my friends, and their situationships. It reminds me of lack of clarity, pride, and how sometimes we forget that it matters that we treat the people we should be trying to love well.

8. Count on It by Miles Hodges

"Everyday above ground is a good day, for me faith be no easy task here." From this piece I was reminded of how hard faith is, and how easy it is to stop believing. However out of all the things you can't count on, you can count on a few. Although the things that you can count on aren't always pleasant, they're apart of life.

9. This Woman by Alysia Harris

"This is an elegy of all the things we become before we're done becoming woman." I view this poem as a closing chapter to her famous poem "That Girl", a poem that she performed for Brave New Voices. There is strength in growth and Alysia is as strong as ever. It's something amazing about watching a poet write about pain one day, and write about overcoming it another. That girl to This Woman is quite a transformation. "...Ain't God good, and ain't I great."

10. Will Not Go Without by Alysia Harris

"Nothing matters but sacrificial love." I sent this poem to my mother once, as it reminds me a lot of her. As grow older I'm reminded often that my mothers guidance and wisdom isn't just a nagging voice in my ear, but something that I always need to carry with me. She has shown sacrificial love for me over and over again. Nothing matters but that. So although I didn't write it, this poem is for her.

I'm so grateful for the internet and how it connects us to so many amazing things. So many amazing people, such amazing art. Although Jasmine Mans isn't apart of the group anymore and they've started to add new artists, I will always carry these poems with me. I encourage you, the reader, to listen and carry them with you as well.