Spoken Word Poetry: Pick & Mix

Gaius Lucilius (180 - 103 BC) - Father of Satire

It can't be denied that words have a very particular, a very singular quality to them - a remarkable power which, in the hands and minds of the adept, become something extraordinary to behold; and even more, to consider after the fact.


When given to a impelling motion, or embodied in a poet's voice, words can seem even more vigorous and potent; the power to conjure and evoke so keenly in the mind of the reader or audience, as a new vista is opened, sometimes willingly or not. This potency is given sharp relief when, as is so often the case, art is used to chastise or reproach the social body or elements of its culture. Though a debatable figure in some circles, Germaine Greer - speaking in Sydney in 2008 - relates this power with compelling cadence; particularly recalling John Dryden's translations of the Roman satirist, Juvenal, and the urge to articulate all he found objectionable in others and their places.


Germaine Greer: Keynote address, Sydney 2008-"Rage in Achieving Social Change" (Part 2)

Poetry has been a part of my life for some considerable time, though the happy confluence of YouTube and the popularity of spoken word art invigorated my interests; this compounded by a difficult period of my life between 2010 and 2012 which was brought into compelling relief by the eclectic array of works I found.


Since the period, I have entertained a interest in spoken word poetry; embodied to great effect in the Slam poetry sub-culture which has experienced so much of a renaissance in the United States through online mediums and better dissemination overall. Considering this with interest, I mused on a brief compilation of some works which I found particularly interesting, or which had a singular quality in the tenor of their subject - a sometimes thoroughly eclectic mix of social issues, race, sexuality, gender, class, language, culture, ethnicity, personhood and social identity.


It's my pleasure to have finally acted on that idea, and to bring a selection of ten such poems - realized through the candor of their respective authors, and with some brief analysis to situate their impact when I consider them.


1) Karen Finneyfrock - "Newer Colossus"

An incisive, poignant reflection on the legacy of promise - or perhaps a promise broken? The poet draws her inspiration for that most singular of monuments in the Statue of Liberty; the titular "newer colossus" by whose lamp is illuminated an America deeply changed from its more idealistic origins - and with particular regards to what becomes when human value is so often subordinated to untempered, material profit.


2) Kait Rokowski - "New Insults"

Forthright and convinced, Kait proposes a series of new, inventive insults as the aggrieved party in a former relationship, perhaps. Potent and with a vivid texture, her words bring anger to the fore creatively. Though, it remains that this work has its rightful detractors and critics on the sometimes nebulous purpose of the poem. Angry and remonstrant in hurt, it remains that relationships can rarely be taken on the account of one party - and more so when break ups are involved. To this end, it remains for us to ponder all that is and will not be said, for better or worse, while the other party is not present and the poet steers an ardent course towards her own conclusions.


3) Michael Lee - "The Addict, A Magician"

Vivid and visceral, this poem explores - neigh, impels a cold consideration of an addict's mentality: reflections on the the emotional drive and the relationships which evolve around lives subsumed by substance abuse. The essence of the work will speak with a visceral condor to those that have witnessed or experienced drug abuse of this sort; the dedicated, pathological mentality with which the ill will persevere in their behavior, even to the point of death. On a final note, the poignancy is compounded in that the death of a friend to addiction can be a startling revelation to those that survive them, impelling their hopeful recovery.


4) Lilly Myers - "Shrinking Women"

Families are complex things, and most certainly when it comes to the nature of gender relations; or simply the nature of primacy, beyond any considerations of gender. The poet speaks to the often ingrained and deeply absorbed qualities which perpetuate through families, promoting problems through the generations in which - as per the occasion of this poem - women haunt themselves with doubt while men are taught to be bold and assured of their own position, unwitting of their own conceit. A poem that speaks to ethnic history, gender relations, tradition, social identity and the foundation of familial issues that so often work to drive families apart, than compounded their solidarity.


5) Andrea Gibson - "Wal-Mart" 

(lyrics) http://inventloveani.livejournal.com/29784.html  Download Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Walmart-live/dp/B00129DPCS


A potent, powerful rhetorical drama, Andrea Gibson's work arrives here with a distinction. Though popular online, the poet has seen fit to have online recordings removed, thus I would proffer the lyrics above, with a version available on Amazon.com. "Wal-Mart" is singularly potent in its indictment of reactionary, institutionalized bigotry and the traction of so many conservative, traditionalist attitudes towards social identity - often unchallenged and only finely tempered in the perennial debates on social values in America.


6) Hieu Ngyuen - "Buffet Etiquette"

Speaking to the often felt unease over ethnic history, identity and cultural equilibrium felt by some in America, Hieu's grounded words compel poignant appreciation of what it means to be more incorporated into a culture, more removed from your parent's own. His words inspired and rugged in their candor, this work is something that can be open to numerous kinds of interpretation; discernment necessary to unfold the very personal heart of the issue.


7) Kelly Tsai - "Mao"

First performed circa. 2003, this powerful work performs an ostensible indictment of some so called counter cultural or popular movements: needling the sometimes unwitting, problematic conceits of groups who, being less an incisive critique of their counters, are sometimes simply equal, opposite reactions to them. Considering issues of social identity, transmission of ideas and culture as well as indoctrination, Kelly's critique is somewhat portentous of what would follow in the successive decade as she keenly eyes movements which become distracted from their cause, in favor of promoting their own orthodoxy and discipline while denying even helpful others.


8) Carly Brown - "Straight" 

Unfortunately, as there are uploading difficulties with this particular reading, please find a link to YouTube directly here http://youtu.be/sX1EcCgfXCw .


Speaking to the homogenization of history, and its role in the wider human experience, Carly seeks to embody the often incongruous tendencies seen in conflicting narratives, which fuel either or. In the first we find the yearning to understand and tabulate; this tendency promoted as being congruent with such qualities as patriotism, nationalism, ideology or any other well defined set of social prescriptions. Conversely, we have the notion - so embodied in post-modernist thinking - that modernist definitions and ideas have fragmented; hence forth, promoting a myriad of incongruous and contradictory experiences which can seem disruptive to any systemic understanding of history - our own, or another's. The conclusion is found in contradiction as, contrary to her words, we can't just stop in our narrative, as it may be.


9) Suheir Hammad - "Not your erotic, Not your exotic"

A work by Suheir Hammad, circa. 2003, we find a cool deconstruction of ethnic identities which can sometimes be seen to be confined in sexual spaces, in the eyes of some men, along with other implications too. Founded in well meaning, strength and a vigorous conviction, so much of its potential power is lost to a linear end. As an indictment of racism, social attitudes and confined perceptions - particularly prevalent, given the circumstances of the early 2000's - it works well, but its direction works to be more divisive, than conciliatory; a singular effort which doesn't appreciate the wider human or social narrative in the subject discussed, and thus comes across as insular and potentially myopic.


10) Maya Wegerif - "Why you Talk so White?" 

Rounding off my selection, Maya speaks to the fundamental power of language to both constitute and reflect reality; the discursive content of everyday life sometimes working to define, exclude, stratify, control and divide. The notion that language can define identity is a potent one, and very much so explored in Maya's anecdotal account, though it remains that the dynamic is often seen among under or lower classes in the mistaken pursuit of solidarity or integrity - a self-perpetuating cycle which is less frequently helpful, than it is confining. A eloquent, concise and intellectually singular work which recommends about the constitution of social identity through language.


Here ends my selection of spoken word poems, and I hope it has left you with a richer, keener insight into the power of not simply language, but of both the rhetorical art and what it can achieve, in aid of social critique.


Thank you,


Clark Caledon.


10/03/2015