Spoken Word Poetry is a form of art, word based. Poets who perform Spoken Word share their poetry through oral performances using the aesthetic of voice inflection and word play to enhance their words. Spoken Word can be hard to do, just like most creative ideas. Publicly sharing your feeling, or phrasing them correctly, can be a challenge; I’ve found great examples to get your inspiration flowing, and places to go to improve your art.

Here are some examples that inspire me:

Healing by: Nayo Jones

Nayo is creatively voicing a major issue in our community: self acceptance. “Loving you is taking all the love I can never give myself and putting it to good use”. This particular line had the audience reeling. Many have had hardships loving and accepting their own body or skin, and this poem helps.

Depression by: ClickForTaz

Many people are unaware and unsure of what exactly they might be feeling. This poem talks about mental health, more specifically depression, and how individuals can’t bring them selves to accept their happiness. “I’ve a great family, amazing friends, good academic results, on paper everything is okay. Yet all I ever seem to see is sadness and grey.”

Button Poetry Youtube Channel

“Button Poetry is a Minnesota-based organization dedicated to developing a coherent and effective system of production, distribution, promotion and fundraising for performance poetry.” based on their YouTube explanation. With over 800,000 subscribers, Button Poetry is one of the most known Spoken Word channels with many different writers, performers, and topics!

Now that you’ve got a taste of what Spoken Word is, how exactly do we write it, and where can we do such thing?

There are plenty free classes in which you can learn the arts of Spoken Word. Words Beats & Life Inc. , for example, gives you the opportunity to get started on spoken word poetry. There are classes for any type of activities from Monday-Friday, but specifically; Wednesdays from 6-9 pm, there are spoken word poetry classes that could help you in many ways. On Fridays there are Bars that include spoken words performances from 4-6 pm.  Another possible way would be joining Wakefield’s Poetry Club every Thursday after school! Ms. Wathen found the club and is welcoming anyone at any time, try passing by C-116 for any questions or concerns.

Don’t worry! I got you with the details of where you can perform your creative spoken word poetry.  Busboys and Poets is a restaurant that has open mic performance date almost every day of the month. For Youth Open Mics, go to the 2nd Sunday in Shirlington and 3rd  Saturday in Mount Vernon Triangle (5th & K).