40 Amazing Spoken-Word Performances You Need To Listen To | The Odyssey Online
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40 Amazing Spoken-Word Performances You Need To Listen To

The words you did not know you needed.

Indira Midha
Jan 12, 2018
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
731
40 Amazing Spoken-Word Performances You Need To Listen To
YouTube

I've loved spoken-word poetry since the sleepover during my freshman year of high school when my friend showed me "Pretty" by Katie Makkai while we painted our nails light purple. Five years later, I watch Button Poetry religiously, and I even write and perform some of my own pieces. I specifically love watching pieces on topics of empowerment, resilience, and social activism. Here are a few of my absolute favorites.

1. "Pretty" by Katie Makkai


2. "Heels" by Imani Cezanne


3. "Black Boyfriend" by Dave Harris

4. "Not A Leader" by Muna Abdulahi


5. "Here" by Aman Batra


6. "9 Things I Would Like To Tell Every Teenage Girl" by Melissa Newman-Evans


7. "When The Fat Girl Gets Skinny" by Blythe Baird


8. "Abuela Disciplines Dominican Drake" by Noel Quiñones


9. "Ten Responses To The Phrase 'Man Up'" by Guante


10. "OCD" by Neil Hilborn

11. "Shrinking Women" by Lily Myers


14. "Dear Straight People" by Denice Frohman


15. "You Can't Have My Culture" by Kito Fortune & Aman Batra


16. "Relapse" by Blythe Baird


17. "Why We Dance" by Dave Harris

18. "21" by Patrick Roche


19. "10 Honest Thoughts On Being Loved By A Skinny Boy" by Rachel Wiley



20. "Like Totally Whatever" by Melissa Lozada-Oliva


21. "Friend Zone" by Dylan Garity


22. "Weighing My Worth" by Beck Cooper & Jim Dulin



23. "Art Major v. Derrick" by Cy Ferguson


24. "Fat Girl" by Megan Falley


25. "Explaining My Depression To My Mother" by Sabrina Benaim


26. "To The Boys Who May One Day Date My Daughter" by Jesse Parent



27. "Skirt Steak Girls" by Blythe Baird


28. "Mom" by Alyesha Wise & Aman Batra


29. "Word Choice" by Imani Cezanne


30. "Mother Loves Me" by Arvind Nandakumar


31. "I Don't Have An Anxiety Problem" by Aman Batra



32. "For Colored Girls (The Missy Elliot Poem)" by Ashlee Haze

33. "My Name" by Yesika Salgado & Aman Batra


34. "For Teenage Girls" by Clementine Von Radics


35. "Pocket-Sized Feminism" by Blythe Baird


36. "Shiv" by Rachel McKibbens


37. "Yet Another Rape Poem" by Blythe Baird


38. "Too Big" by Beck Cooper


39. "The Help" by Ashlee Haze


40. "Girl Code 101" by Blythe Baird

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