Spoken Word Poetry

Definition according to Wikipedia: 

Spoken word is a performance art that is word-based. It often includes collaboration and experimentation with other art forms such as music, theater, and dance. However, spoken word usually tends to focus on the words themselves, the dynamics of tone, gestures, facial expressions, and not so much on the other art forms.

I first discovered this divinely honest and beautiful artform through the artist Mary Lambert who sings a bridge in Macklemore and Ryan Lewis' – Same Love. The song is controversial and perhaps that’s why I love it so much. It is deeply beautiful and powerfully speaks truth to the hurt and confused. We need to stop hating what we don't understand and start treating each other equally.

I then delved into more of her (Mary Lambert) music and spoken word. Tearfully amazed at 11pm in my room as I listened to the verses she spoke with such command and honesty of her own self experience. I shared more in this previous post.

It seems Macklemore sneakily collaborates with other geniuses and leaves the viewer to discover more of said collaborator.

Then. Today I began learning so much and being reminded of things I've felt so intensely grip my heart. Firstly a young man that has become a comfort to millions of young adults that spend their nights awake. He speaks to a generation about the definition of an education. I love how he challenges people; if it means it’ll bring some sort of justice he expresses it. Another that I had ironically shared in a previous post. 

I love this follow up: I Will Not Let An Exam Result Decide My Fate||Spoken Word

And this one speaks for itself.

Lastly, this is probably, no, definitely one of the best videos I have seen in a while.

It is exactly how I can only hope to one day raise a baby girl.

I think it's quite conclusive that I am infact now obsessed with spoken word poetry.

It has inspired me so much I may even go ahead a write a poem directly after this.

Moments

I am certain I was meant to meet many people. Fleeting moments in my little life that leave me with so much. Perhaps life is less about knowing many people well and more about learning a lot from strangers and delighting in others stories. Maybe they will always haunt you but your life wouldn't ever be the same if it weren't that way. I've had the privilege of meeting many colourful people. And I've also had very dark people come into my life and teach me about reality. 

It's all so beautiful. 

We get to play a part and we are all connected in some way.

Seek the glorious experience of being entwined with someone else's struggle or joy. Not to gain anything except the present moment.

This is what's up

> "You could ink yourself until everyone knows all the things you love. You could wear uniforms that give you all the authority in the world. Lose weight until there is nothing left. Paint your face. Suck in your gut. But in the dark, stripped down to your bones, all that remains is you." 

I read this a long time ago and found it again today. A golden reminder.

> I watched this yesterday and cried at this courageous man and my heart was so much warmer knowing there are some people getting it right out there.*

*The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return.

> I met the most lovely lot from Cape Town last week and some of which are in The Aztec Sapphire. Their sound is so fresh and I truthfully feel like they are going to take over the Cape Town music scene. Here's a new song they released recently. Listen to it. Mmmm.

> MORE LOCAL LOVE: Desmond and The Tutus. New video. 

Nice hey. I was there. If you watch carefully you can see little me for two seconds having a jive (2:45)

Revelation

I'm writing this out while it’s still fresh in my mind and heart.

This week has been emotionally tortuous.

I've heard an abundance of words. Some strong, some that frustrated me and some that hit the core of me

but even more than that, words that gave revelation.

It’s certainly true as they say, often the hardest lessons are the ones that grip us the most and look right into us and shake us up to reality. 

Tonight I experienced this in all its goodness.

Words are important. Actions are crucial

Actions because I know the dire need for it more in my own life.

Let us do more and speak less.

We get too caught up in ‘life’. This common knowledge, we need to do more daily to make a change. 

Cause I'm just like you, walking a fine line between saying it and living it. 

“Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. “Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you."

Sunsets and gratefulness

Today I simply stood in awe of the sun setting behind a Durban hill. Despite those tiny circles that appear in your line of vision, I watched it until it was gone and it was spectacular. I managed to take a photo but my phone died before the most extravagant exit. This was indeed a blessing in disguise as it made for no distractions. (Imagine we took the time out of our day, just once in awhile to watch the sun setting, instead of a brief glance. The progression of it all is actually what makes it what it is.)

I sipped on the last of my tea and breathed in deeply and became exclusively aware of the splendor that surrounded me. 

I know I am because I said am

I know girls who are trying to fit into the social norm
Like squeezing into last year's prom dress,
I know girls who are low rise, mac eyeshadow, and binge drinking.
I know girls that wonder if they're disaster and sexy enough to fit in
I know girls who are fleeing bombs from the mosques of their skin
playing russian roulette with death; it's never easy to accept
that our bodies are fallible and flawed
But when do we draw the line?
When the knife hits the skin?
Isn't it the same thing as purging,
because we're so obsessed with death,
some women just have more guts than others
The funny thing is women like us don't shoot
We swallow pills, still wanting to be beautiful at the morgue,
still proceeding to put on make-up,
still hoping that the mortician finds us f###able and attractive
we might as well be buried with our shoes,
and handbags and scarves, girls
we flirt with death everytime we etch a new tally mark
into our skin
I know how to split my wrists like a battlefield too
but the time has come for us to
reclaim our bodies
our bodies deserve more than to be war-torn and collateral,
offering this f###dom as a pathetic means to say,
"I only know how to exist when I'm wanted"
Girls like us are hardly ever wanted you know
We're used up and sad and drunk and
perpetually waiting by the phone for someone to pick up
and tell us that we did good
You did good.

( I know I am because I said am, my body is home)
So try this
Take your hands over your bumpy lovebody naked
and remember the first time you touched someone
with the sole purpose of learning all of them
Touched them because the light was pretty on them
and the dust in the sunlight danced the way your heart did
Touch yourself with a purpose
Your body is the most beautiful royal
Fathers and uncles are not claiming your knife anymore
Are not your razor, no
Put the sharpness back
Lay your hands flat and feel the surface of scarred skin
I once touched a tree with charred limbs
the stump was still breathing
but the tops were just ashy remains,
I wonder what it's like to come back from that
sometimes I feel a forest fire erupting from my wrists
and the smoke signals sent out are the most beautiful things
I've ever seen
Love your body the way your mother loved your baby feet
and brother, arm wrapping shoulders, and remember,
This is important:
You are worth more than who you f###
You are worth more than a waistline
You are worth more than any naked body could proclaim
in the shadows, more than a man's whim
or your father's mistake
You are no less valuable as a size 16, than a size 4
You are no less valuable as a 32A than a 36C,
Your sexiness is defined by concentric circles within your wood;
wisdom
You are a goddamn tree stump with leaves sprouting out:
reborn
- Mary Lambert

Oh! how gloriously effective you are Google.
Here's where I found the words I spoke about in my last post.
Beautiful.