Spoken Word

A while back, I was introduced to spoken word poetry. I'd heard of it before, but I'd never actually heard the poetry.

The basic idea (from my perspective as a written word poet, if you will), is poetry that is meant to be presented verbally; it's meant to be heard, not in addition to being read, but instead of being read. So if you'd like to buy a spoken word poet's work, you'll get a CD (or audio files) instead of a book.

Now, I have yet to really plumb the depths of this genre, but I've done some listening, and I have to say, I think I like it. One of the characteristics I've noticed about spoken word poetry (or at least, the kind I'm drawn to) is that it has a lot of forward motion; there's tons of energy in it, and with that, a fair amount of tension in the structure. This allows it to be very emotional without feeling melodramatic.

I actually had to put my exploration of spoken word poetry on hold for a while; every time I sat down to write a poem, it was coming out in that style, lol. It's very catchy.

I'm creating a second edition of my poetry book, To Do This Right, and I'm including several new poems. One of them were inspired by the spoken word genre (but isn't actually a spoken word poem). I wrote another one that I was considering using, and that I originally included in this post. I wrote it while I was frustrated, so it was rather ... aggressive, which is theoretically fine, but it was also rather more negative in tone than I like; upon reflection, I decided to withdraw it. :)

So what's my takeaway?

I may not be cut out to write spoken word-style poetry, lol. And that's ok.