it's been a while since the last poem of the day, but i was lucky enough to find this clip during a youtube scavenger hunt that started with a single from a new pop cross-over album by Esperanza Spalding (a young jazz musician from Portland who was named Best New Artist at last year's Grammy's, much to the rage of Justin Beiber fans); Lin-Manuel Miranda rapping about Alexander Hamilton (i love his work, but i don't know if i can get into this Hamilton-as-hip-hop thing); and finally, Mayda del Valle, an incredibly powerful spoken word artist who wrote + performed for Russell Simmon's Def Poetry Jam on Broadway. when i listen to her, i wonder why "spoken word" as an art form is so absent from our daily lives. there are plenty of spoken words that come out of my mouth every day, but they are mostly boring + flat (especially since, as a child therapist, i try to have the kids do most of the talking). i can read poetry to myself, but that also lacks dimensions of tone + color that a human voice brings. the words i speak are usually thrown around carelessly, chosen without much thought, with lots of extra unnecessary words added in. there is none of the crafting, editing, imagery + rhythm that spoken word artists put into their work. i need to start thinking more like a spoken word artist, choosing my words more carefully.
No comments:
Post a Comment