Poetry has always been different to me, you know what I mean? Sometimes I am in love with poetry and other times it just sounds like a clump of complicated words thrown together that could only possibly make sense to the author. I have always wanted to be able to write down words in such an order that people could not help but be touched by them and continue to re-read them. Even though I may enjoy writing poetry here and there, it is definitely not in my field of expertise. While I may find joy in the long, winding words of authors of the past and present, I sometimes find myself unable to do the same. However, I found a new form of "underground" poetry a year ago that changed the poetry game for me: spoken word.
Spoken word is a form of oral poetry in which artist's use word play and voice inflection to portray their words in a new and enthralling way. The beautiful thing about spoken word is that there is no correct way to perform it. It can be academic and it cannot. It can be comedic and it cannot. It can resemble hip-hop or rap and it cannot. There are absolutely no boundaries to how spoken word can be written or performed. Even the subject matter of spoken words can be anything. Nothing is off limits.
Spoken word events have popped up all across the country, ranging from actual competitions to small gatherings at local coffee shops.
Spoken word allows anyone to express their thoughts through poetry in any manner they like without worrying about traditional borders set within the world of academia. While actually performing spoken words is definitely easier said than done, being able to experiment with my writing and try different styles has been one of my favorite writing experiences. Poetry is no longer daunting and intimidating to me, but fun. It is a game that I can now play with my pen and my tongue.
There are countless spoken words out there, but if you have never experienced spoken word before, here are three different spoken word pieces that show how powerful and game-changing spoken word pieces truly are. The power of a voice behind these thoughts transcends the paper they were once written on.
1. Unforgettable By: Elizabeth Acevedo, Pages Matam and G. Yamazawa
2. Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus By: Jefferson Bethke
3. Questions I've Been Asked as a Midwife By: Kayla Q
Poetry can be anything and everything you want it to be. You just have to speak.
