The lists consists of fifteen poems that aim to show you the
beauty and power of slam poetry along with its diversity. It’s probably around
two hours of poetry. The beginning is aimed at providing context and pointing
out technical elements. The latter parts are chosen more for their content, and
are aimed at the hopes that some of them will resonate with. Because I I included only
poems that I love, so I hope you enjoy. Cheers!
Slam poetry began life as a battle to be indignant with the best wordplay. It
branched out off of rap pretty recently, so especially at the beginning there
was a black style and a white style, and a lot of poems were about race and
other forms of oppression. I didn’t include too many, but it’s important to
know, even though these distinctions have largely dissolved. Shouting,
rap-esque wordplay and speed would have been a more black style, especially
when tackling issues of race.
This poem also tackles race, but it’s in a much more
controlled style. At the time, this style was pretty “written” and pretty white—notice
how there are a lot of couplets in it. It’s also not in any way indignant of
self-righteous the way a lot of spam poetry was at the time this came out. Plus
I love this poem. I think it’s a really effective piece of argument, appealing
to humor and tackling a broad set of arguments.
I love this poet. He’s kinda black because you can still
hear the rap in it, but he has so much control, and he never lets himself be overcome
by emotion. I also dig his use of humor. For more: Peculiar Evolution by Dahlak
This guy is passionate black style done right. When he gets
rolling, he turns over control, and he drops frequently into passages of
wordplay too quick to understand. His timing and diction are impeccable,
though, which keeps his shouting from being oppressive. I recommend this guy
strongly—for more, check out Barbie and Ken 101 I was reading this as I put the links in and I realized this guy reminds me of Eminem if Eminem weren't a confessionalist and didn't have music behind him.
This poem is here for being a passionate anthem about
something other than race. This is what Taylor Mali is best at. He enunciates
like a white guy, but he’s adopted all the indignity and underdog spirit of
slam poetry’s origins. It’s hard to listen to him for a long time because of
how shoutey he tends to get, but his poems themselves are all really strong. He’s
especially famous for one about speaking with conviction that’s called “TotallyLike Whatever, You Know?” I’ve run into that poem in a lot of non-poetry
places, which is why I mention it. Another one by him that’s great is called “I’llFight You For the Library”.
I also love this poem. (I love all of these poems.) The
style is distinctly black, but controlled. It’s also cool because of its humor
and playfulness.
This exists.
As far as I can tell, Rives invented white style. None of
this is from having read anything, but there wasn’t that much slam poetry on
the internet in 2009, and I will tell you that he was unique at that time. He
was like, “passionate emotion? Nah, man—I can communicate myself with wit and charisma,
remaining aware of my audience at all times.” His presentation is excellent,
and his internal rhymes are abundant but never draw attention. Notice that if
you encountered his poems on a page, they would seem conversational, but you
would be willing to accept them as page-poems. It may be relevant that Rives
was how I got into slam poetry and has pretty much always been my favorite
poet. That’s mostly why this poem is here—because I like it.
This is here because I think it’s one of the few true love
poems. I admire her joy, and I love that I believe her that this poem really is
about her own life, and she still means every word she says. In terms of
poetry, we’ve now transitioned into what most slam poetry looks like at the moment
with its enthusiasm without overflowing passion, wordplay that isn’t
distracting, and speed that’s easy to follow. What I’m referring to loosely as
the current style is more white than black, and the overtones of rap have
largely been lost. If you found them on a page, you’d probably be willing to
accept them. Quite a few of them you could also accept as monologues—they don’t
tend to launch into passages too quick to follow. Recommended also: Complimentand Kite, both by Rives. These three poems go together in my brain. Compliment
is another love poem that I’m inclined to believe, and Kite is similar to How It
Ends in tone and theme. I would recommend watching them all.
One of the first things to happen after racial poems and
relational poems were heart-wrenching story poems. I included this because of
the way it engages with storytelling. Compliment tells a series of small
stories that all relate to a central theme, which is pretty common. This one
tells a story that would have taken a long time to live, and then drops out
into abstract words and philosophy before returning. It’s most similar to
Routine Check, which flits between story and moral pretty quickly.
This one is also here for its relationship to storytelling.
This poem is basically just an anecdote. I actually found out tonight that it might be an anecdote instead of a poem, but this guy is a kickass poet, and I looked half an hour to find this story. It’s also cool because the narration moves at about the
same pace as it would take the events to happen.
This is here because Jeanann Verlee has an incredible voice. I would like to nominate this woman to be the voice of God. This is a list poem, which is especially common in slam poetry. After starting
to write examples, I realized that I love that form and a lot of those poems,
so I added a couple.
Hells to the yes for tightly packed internal rhymes, right?
Notice also the basic three part structure—narrative poems, philosophical
poems, and abstract words poems. Quite separately, I think the third section of
this poem is just great.
This poem reminds me a lot of “Yo,” which is another poem
that I love.
This poem is here for the simple reason that it got lodged
in my soul this afternoon. Melancholy as the static between voices is striking
and beautiful. Remember how one of the questions in Crying of Lot 49 was the
degree to which you’re eternally and irrevocably isolated from others inside
your own mind? This was the Remedios Varo painting, Oedipa as locked in a
tower, bubble shades, and the world refracted through tears. This poem deals
with the same kind of isolation, and I think it makes quite a few profound
moves without forcing itself onto you. Consider, “So I have known you.” Look
how the first voice’s thoughts become shorter and clearer, and his responses
more appropriate as the poem goes on. The beginning is cool, though, because it’s
inviting and realistic.
No comments:
Post a Comment