Spoken Word Blog

While reading through various blogs today, I found a nice post by Todd44 in which he says contemporary poetry “ain’t at school.”. At one point in the post, he says the following:

Among enthusiasts, there is the belief that performance poetry is a return to poetry’s roots - an oral tradition by and for the common people, to make sense of and lift themselves out of their everyday lives; poetry as a populist art form. The basic functions of art - holding a mirror to society, inspiring reflection, introspection, and joy in the sublime - are carried out by television and movies for many people. Can poetry reclaim a place in average American lives? Many of the essays that I am reading boldly declare that it can and is in the process of so doing.

He goes on to say how modern poetry comes from common people, and that the masses have a completely separate poetry than the academics. I agree with that interesting observation.

What do you think?

Today I want to post some of the lyrics from the chorus of a song by City High entitled What Would You Do:

What would you do if your son was at home
Crying all alone on the bedroom floor ’cause he’s hungry
And the only way to feed him is to sleep wit a man for a little bit of money
And his daddy’s gone
Somewhere smoking rock now
In and out of lock down
I ain’t got a job now
So for you this is just a good time
But for me this is what I call life

The song seemed to be mostly a one-hit wonder. It got a lot of radio play when it came out, but City High has not got much press since then. The whole song is great. The artists do a great job at performing it, and it addresses poverty, prostitution and responsibility from multiple perspectives. You can buy the What Would You Do CD from Amazon.

What do you think?

Mozart Guerrier sent me the following video in which he talks about his poetry for a bit and then performs a poem:

That’s a well produced video. I think Mozart has a great delivery style. While he delivers it with style and power, the listener can still easily hear what he is saying.

What do you think?

This Thursday I want to post some of the lyrics from a song by Ludacris called Slap:

My grandmama’s nerves are bad (bad)
And everybody in the hood is mad (mad)
Cause President Bush could give a DAMN about our ass
So I don’t wanna hear nothing that he has to say (don’t say nothin)
Nothing that he has to say
I don’t wanna hear nothing that he has to say

Troops gone and we still at war (war)
Nobody even really knows what for (what for)
Even more I’m scared to find what the world really has in store
Cause you know that tomorrow’s not promised today (it’s not promised man)
Tomorrow’s not promised today

The entire song isn’t so political, but it is a good song. I recommend listening to the whole song if you can. He does a good job at expressing the frustration that most of us experience occasionally. This is epitomized with the poetic line, “I feel like slappin a somebody today,” which presumably is not meant to be taken literally.

You can find the song on the album Release Therapy.

What do you think?

I had someone ask about getting sponsors to help fund spoken word poetry events. I figure I’ll post about my thoughts, because it is probably a common issue.

Whether you currently organize spoken word events or may consider organizing some, funding will be an issue, since there will be many expenses involved. Finding sponsors can help you fund the event. Basically, sponsors are people or organizations that help you pay for your event, in return you usually publicly announce them as a sponsor.

In my opinion, the best place to find sponsors is locally. Small businesses often want relatively cheap ways to get publicity. Many of the small businesses in the neighborhood of your spoken word venue would like to sponsor the event, if in return you plug their business during the event.

Any business may jump at the chance to get publicity through sponsorship. Of course, if you can find any related businesses, they would be especially interested. For example, local CD shops may feel that spoken word fans are likely to be the type of people who enjoy music. Also, general interest businesses would be interested in sponsoring any sort of event, because they appeal to the general public and not just a specific demographic. These include restaurants, department stores, and such.

What do you think?

I haven’t heard of the artists or organizations featured in the following video, but I just found the spoken word poem on YouTube and want to post it:

I like to see positive and intellectual messages made through poetry, and the current state of mainstream hip-hop is a topic definitely worth addressing. I hope to see more poems and videos by Bro. Earl.

What do you think?

Many universities and other schools have spoken word or poetry clubs. If you are a student, you may want to check if yours has one. If it does not, then consider creating one.

These clubs can often host their own spoken word and performance poetry shows, whether big or small. Additionally, they allow the members to share their work and gain feedback from the other members.

If you have a club or know about one, feel free to use the comment function to tell me about it. If you are having a show that is open to the public, please tell us so that we can add information about it to this website.

A recent post by bibliobibuli talks about about a book in which Roger McGough talks about the history of performance poetry in the UK. If you like to read you might want to check it out.

I believe that the spoken word scene in the United States has different roots, but people like to argue about how modern movements started and who gets credit.

What do you think?

I’ve been watching some recently uploaded YouTube videos to see if I can find any good ones to post. If you have any of your own videos uploaded to YouTube, tell me so that I can post them on this blog. You can use the comment function to post the URL or you can use our contact form. Also, feel free to send me links to good spoken word videos even if they are not yours.

If you do not have any videos of yourself performing, consider making some. If you do not have a video camera, then at the least you can record yourself in audio format. Then, if you want, you can send me the audio file, and I can post it on this blog.

In the following video, Ami Mattison performs her poem entitled Anti-Love Poem live at Echo Verse Poetry in Detroit:

To the best of my knowledge, this is the first poem I heard by this artist. I like her style. She has a lot of charisma. I plan on seeing more of her work.

What do you think?