The internet has altered the way we share art in many astounding ways. Not just through digital images of artwork, files of music, and eBooks of novels, but also through videos of poetry. Yes, videos of poetry.
Today’s modern Monday inspiration comes from the spoken word poet Sarah Kay. I adore spoken word poetry, and Sarah Kay is particularly amazing. However, I also love the work of Omar Holmon, Jeanann Verlee, Amy Miner, Lauren Zuniga, Kait Rokowski, Haley Mosley, Taylor Mali and Sierra DeMulder. I have spent a lot of time, particularly when battling bouts of insomnia, consuming the work of these wonderful spoken word poets.
They are all unique and impressive poets, and I highly recommend them. If you’re interested in finding some great spoken word poetry, youtube is a great place to go. In fact, I challenge you to pick a random name from my list and type it into youtube, just to see what you get. Just watch one. It won't hurt. :)
Today I am sharing with you a short video taken from Sarah Kay’s TED talk in 2011. If the video doesn't appear for you, you can click here. In this short video, she recites her poem, Hiroshima. It is a beautiful poem. If you’d like to view her entire 18 minute TED Talk, which is fantastic, please click here.
Spoken word poetry is fascinating because it takes the intimate and solitary nature of reading and writing poems and transforms it into a social event where the poets exchange perspectives and viewpoints with others. Let’s face it, poets are not typically social people. There are many reasons for this, ranging from a tendency towards simple introversion, to the common fear of judgment on the contents of their poetry. It takes brave people to stand up on a stage and speak their poetry, their life, their words. It takes courage to display all of the contents of their mind and soul and open it up to commentary. I applaud them for it, particularly when they do it as beautifully as Sarah Kay does.
Also, another hard fact to swallow: There are many people who would never think to pick up a book of poetry. Unfortunately, poems sometimes are left stuck on the page, inside a closed book. They are often left unread, or in the least, merely skimmed. (Why do I feel like I'm writing for a tear-jerker donation commercial right now? Donate now to help these poor poems be read as they were meant to be read! Anyway, the point is...). To hear a poem spoken dramatically out loud, by the poet in his/her own individual voice, is a fantastic experience.
In spoken word, you will always get a unique perspective, on a unique subject matter, by a unique poet, in his or her unique voice. To me, it doesn’t get much better than that.
I'll be back on Thursday!
Thanks for reading,
Caitlin
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