Fun Fact: The ancient Greeks used to have spoken word poetry a sport in their Olympic games.
As an English major, I never took the chance to really study spoken word poetry...sometimes known as slam poetry, or performance poetry. But even that's not quite right. Spoken word poetry really means that you're breathing life into the words on a page. I always appreciated spoken word--I loved watching poetry slams. But since I never considered myself "good at poetry", I tended to steer away from the classes I had a hunch I wouldn't do well in. That means I missed out on some pretty badass classes. Those poets know how to express themselves. They know how to connect. They know how to make their listeners feel.
This is Sarah Kay, spoken word poet and co-director and founder of Project V.O.I.C.E.
She's also 23. She began her spoken word career at age 14, at the Bowery Poetry Club. Almost ten years later, she's teaching teens how to use poetry to help them understand the world and themselves, encouraging growth and expression.
The poem that she performs (and she does perform it) at the beginning of this TED talk is called "B", and earns her a standing ovation from all the geniuses at TED 2011. I'm not at any point in my life where I'd like to have a daughter (or kids in general, really). Right now it's about me...but tonight, "B" jumped out of my monitor and took hold of my heart and by the end of her performance, I found myself in awe. In fact, I've watched it three times now and every single time I find myself close to tears for absolutely no reason at all. I think I'd like to tell all those things to my daughter...if I should have a daughter. I wish I had grown up hearing this poem...because it's not necessarily about daughters, or mothers. It's about life and how you kinda stumble your way through it, taking on each new challenge with "a backpack full of everywhere else that you've been."
And while you may be daunted by the 18minute ticker you see at the bottom of the window, trust me, this girl knows how to make time fly.
As an English major, I never took the chance to really study spoken word poetry...sometimes known as slam poetry, or performance poetry. But even that's not quite right. Spoken word poetry really means that you're breathing life into the words on a page. I always appreciated spoken word--I loved watching poetry slams. But since I never considered myself "good at poetry", I tended to steer away from the classes I had a hunch I wouldn't do well in. That means I missed out on some pretty badass classes. Those poets know how to express themselves. They know how to connect. They know how to make their listeners feel.
"If I should have a daughter, instead of "Mom", she's gonna call me "Point B." Because that way, she knows that no matter what happens, at least she can always find her way to me. And I'm going to paint the solar system on the back of her hands so that she has to learn the entire universe before she can say "Oh, I know that like the back of my hand."
This is Sarah Kay, spoken word poet and co-director and founder of Project V.O.I.C.E.
She's also 23. She began her spoken word career at age 14, at the Bowery Poetry Club. Almost ten years later, she's teaching teens how to use poetry to help them understand the world and themselves, encouraging growth and expression.
The poem that she performs (and she does perform it) at the beginning of this TED talk is called "B", and earns her a standing ovation from all the geniuses at TED 2011. I'm not at any point in my life where I'd like to have a daughter (or kids in general, really). Right now it's about me...but tonight, "B" jumped out of my monitor and took hold of my heart and by the end of her performance, I found myself in awe. In fact, I've watched it three times now and every single time I find myself close to tears for absolutely no reason at all. I think I'd like to tell all those things to my daughter...if I should have a daughter. I wish I had grown up hearing this poem...because it's not necessarily about daughters, or mothers. It's about life and how you kinda stumble your way through it, taking on each new challenge with "a backpack full of everywhere else that you've been."
And while you may be daunted by the 18minute ticker you see at the bottom of the window, trust me, this girl knows how to make time fly.
"So I write poems to figure things out. Sometimes the only way I know how to work through something is by writing a poem. And sometimes I get to the end of the poem and go, "Oh, that's what this is all about," and sometimes I get to the end of the poem and haven't solved anything, but at least I have a new poem out of it."Sarah's talk is about her life journey...because what story does she know best?
"It's not just the adage 'write what you know,' it's about gathering up all of the knowledge and experience you've collected up to now to help you dive into the things you don't know."
I also write when I'm trying to figure something out...only I'm not as productive as Sarah. I don't get finished products from my "figuring things out". My material often needs a larger plotline to fit into to make it productive. Right now I just have fragments. Scenes of feeling and confusion that need to get tied together somehow. They're just waiting for the right connection to come along.
My favorite part of her talk was when she mentioned how she tricks kids into writing poetry. She tells them to write lists. And I AM a fan of lists. I'm the queen of lists, actually...but my lists have never taught me anything other than the fact that I really need to be less busy. ("busy" applies to both my mind and my lifestyle.)
Fellow writers who read my blog, take this as a writing prompt: Write a list of ten things you know to be true. Share it. Compare with other people. Sarah says that we'll discover four things from these lists. And "great stories come from the things that you're passionate about and what others might be invested in."
Here's my 10 Things I Know to Be True:
- I have a new TED speaker that I'd dearly love to meet (and be friends with!)
- Bellingham Bay (and other bodies of water) is blue because the sky is blue...because the color of the water is merely a fuzzy reflection of what's in the sky. Beautiful blue sky = Beautiful blue water.
- My memory is pretty bad, but I'm excellent at recalling the names of the boys I used to like...all the way back to the first grade.
- When I'm asked to do something for someone, if I'm capable, I rarely say that I can't do it. I may drag my feet, or complain that I'm putting off whatever I was doing before, but I usually end up doing it.
- I love my family, even when I don't like them.
- Sometimes, I'm too stubborn, and too proud to take back words that I didn't mean to say. I just watch helplessly from behind my mask trying to figure out how to save the situation without apologizing.
- I don't give myself enough opportunities to truly experience wonder. (that's "wonder" as a noun, people, not a verb.)
- Alaska, I immediately thought of you at 11:02 of this TEDtalk (the build up to this starts at 10:20).
- The third law of thermodynamics makes it impossible for me to be able to metabolize a full pint of ice cream and burn off all the calories from it while it digests.
- That fact, and others, can be found here, at this blog that Laska sent me...all the way from Argentina.
Happy TEDtalk Tuesday, everyone. I hope you enjoyed Sarah Kay's talk as much as I did. She's got tons of performances on youtube.
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