I have a flight to catch tomorrow morning that begins my summer trip, but I figured I would leave you with one last post before I head off and the amount of blogging I'm able to accomplish becomes questionable. Here is a by no means complete list of music, poetry, and people that I draw inspiration and motivation from.
Bigger Than My Body - John Mayer
This song inspires me to be more than I'm capable of, and I love that.
You Gotta Be - Des'ree
When I was a baby this is the only song that would get me to stop crying. The minute my parents popped in the CD I shut right up. They were thankful for that. This song still motivates me to keep fighting when I've nearly given up.
Scratch and Dent Dreams - Eric Darby
Very creative poem that inspires me to pick up the things I gave up on (like soccer, which I'm starting again in the fall!).
The Information Man - Buddy Wakefield
More abstract but at the end it all comes together. He is a riot, his delivery is perfect, and the poem is a real celebration of humanity!
The Doctor (You know, like Doctor Who)
So not a real person as much as I have tried to convince myself otherwise, but how could this guy not inspire anyone? He's an alien who travels though space and time, is witty, charming, and compassionate! He's far from perfect and often makes huge mistakes, like, the universe could collapse kind of mistakes, but he fixes them. And he cares. I might be in love. But crushing on a fictional character is probably better than crushing on dead people (cough Jeff Magnum), or murderers, or something.
Vlogbrothers -
This may seem like an obvious choice to most of you, since most of my traffic comes from people who stumbled over here through Nerdfighteria. But how can I not include them. So much of who I am is defined by than channel. They've brought me so many odd facts and funny inside jokes, but the most valuable thing they teach me every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday is how to wear myself with pride, which is the most daring, stunning outfit anyone can put on.
Showing posts with label slam poetry. Show all posts
Showing posts with label slam poetry. Show all posts
Saturday, June 25, 2011
Saturday, April 9, 2011
Spoken Word Poetry
A couple days ago, the YouTube spotlight bar featured the playlist of a spoken word poet named Sarah Kay. And let me just say that I am so thankful I clicked on it. Her playlist introduced me to a whole world of poetry that I didn't even know existed!
Spoken word poetry is a different experience from written poetry. The author's voice provides a more emotional experience for the viewer. The poem is being presented in exactly the way the author intended because they control the speed, inflection of voice, and where to pause for effect. They are able to supplement their words with hand gestures and facial expressions that give the poem a kind of energy. Not that traditional written poetry isn't lovely and even more appropriate in the case of some poems, but some poetry just needs to be performed.
Sarah Kay has a lovely poem entitled "If I should have a daughter", which is beautiful and touching. And the thing is, if I read that poem, I might not have liked it. In fact, there's a very probable chance my eyes would have skimmed past it. But her delivery was engaging and spot on. Her performance made me interesting in what she had to say.
Spoken word poetry is a different experience from written poetry. The author's voice provides a more emotional experience for the viewer. The poem is being presented in exactly the way the author intended because they control the speed, inflection of voice, and where to pause for effect. They are able to supplement their words with hand gestures and facial expressions that give the poem a kind of energy. Not that traditional written poetry isn't lovely and even more appropriate in the case of some poems, but some poetry just needs to be performed.
Sarah Kay has a lovely poem entitled "If I should have a daughter", which is beautiful and touching. And the thing is, if I read that poem, I might not have liked it. In fact, there's a very probable chance my eyes would have skimmed past it. But her delivery was engaging and spot on. Her performance made me interesting in what she had to say.
My favorite poet I have encountered so far is Rives. That's John G. Rives, and he is fantastic. The guy is funny as anything and a brilliant writer. He can weave words together in the most beautiful interesting ways, combining irony and humor and nostalgia and vision into the best three minutes of your life. Some of his performances are not that different from stand up, but some of them are more metaphorical and poetic. Some tell stories and others express a concept and most do both. Some are funny until you think about them more and realize that behind all the humor he had something a bit more profound he was trying to get across. The video below is my favorite poem of his.
I really encourage you to search for his other performances on YouTube, or if he doesn't particularly strike you, to explore the work of other slam poets. Because in the world of spoken word poetry, there is something for everyone.
A Link to Project VOICE, a movement to encourage self expression through spoken word poetry created by Phil Kaye and Sarah Kay.
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