Speak Up!

When I was an undergrad English major, I was introduced to spoken word art -- poetry "slams" and such, where we sat around and drank coffee and I discovered the clove cigarette. If only I'd had a black beret ...

However, two distinct open mike experiences come to mind when I think about spoken word from my past, and neither one are really positive. The first was freshman year, where some angry person stood in the corner of a crowded room, faced away from the crowd and preceeded to curse God at the top of his lungs. My virgin ears bled ...

The second, years later, when I was writing poetry and performing it occasionally myself -- a female poet came to the mike after me and said, "Leave your confessions to God." And so ended my performance career.

But despite the religious references of my past, I've come to a new understanding about this art form. It's doesn't have to be painful.

My great friend Marcus Amaker is a spoken-word poet, and his rhythyms match perfectly with a base line from Kevin Hamilton. He speaks about love and lust and the spaces between those two ...



Another recent discovery, Shanthony Exum, adds a pop-colored vibe and hip lyrics to the genre, and she references her hips and pop culture much more than any (if at all) railing against the spiritual. On top of that, her visual art is the pop-culture reference laden style I always gravitate towards, and a full-time job as an art director seems to keep her work fresh. She has a new show I covered recently for Go Triad, and in speaking with her, I loved her intelligence, confidence, and especially her sense of humor.

So give spoken word another chance like I did (of course minus the clove cigarettes).