Spoken Word Poetry
Spoken Word is poetry intended for
onstage performance, rather than being written on a page. While often
associated with hip-hop culture, it also has strong ties to storytelling,
modern poetry, post-modern performance and music. Spoken word is a
rhythmic poetry. It is performed enthusiastically rather than just read
plainly. Shane Koyczan is very powerful poet because he uses real life
situations in his poetry. In the poem "People are getting better" he
shows the rampant evil in the world we live, although "they say people are
getting better." he cites that "I know what I'm missing /
so I aint gonna try it / because freedom aint freedom / if you gotta buy
it." The mood shown in this poem is anxious and relieved because
Shane is letting all his feelings out about the world. The theme he is trying
to express is that people are still on the streets everyday doing drugs
and getting into bad habits but there is hope that people will
get better.
Another excellent poet that is very
enthusiastic would be Beau Sia because he gets so much into his poems and
really expresses his mood throughout poetry. "Give Me A Chance" is a
good example of how much Beau Sia gets into his poems because in this poem he
gives you an idea about how successful he wants to be in life and how badly he
wants it. When he exclaims, "Please consider me/ and all those things and
more" he shows how badly he wants that one thing. This poem talks about
life in general from growing up and going to college to starting your own
career. Beau Sia is ready to take a big step in life and he "cannot stress
how ready [he is]" because he is really eager. The theme of this poem is
that if you really want something you have to want it really badly and that's
how you will make a change to this world.
One more poet I really enjoy listening to is Taylor
Mali, he is an American slam poet, humorist,
teacher, and voiceover artist. In the poem “what teachers make” Taylor Mali
lets loose on his feelings about being a teacher. He talks about the teachers
and student’s perspectives because some students cannot tolerate school and
some teachers cannot tolerate certain students. A mood that would represent
this poem would be passionate because Taylor really likes doing what he does and
says “Those who can, do; those who can’t, teach.” Taylor
also talks about how important of a job it is just because teachers don’t make
as much as they deserve. The theme of this poem would be that even though teachers
don’t make that much in terms of finance they “make a goddamn difference.”
