Slam Poetry.

So tonight I found myself consumed with watching slam poets. 

If none of you have ever heard of the Louder than a Bomb documentary, go check it out now.

I watched the documentary about a year ago, and I fell in love with slam poetry, but I never really did anything about my love for it. Then, a while back, I saw a comic and the words blew me away, but I never knew Taylor Mali wasn't only a teacher, but also a slam poet.

So tonight I found videos of his performances and watched a few before watching some of Beau Sia, who blows me away. 

As some of you know, I live and work in Japan, and this is my fourth time living in this country, and I'm fluent in the language, and after meeting thousands of people from almost every continent, I really despise racism. And I mostly despise racism towards Asian-Americans.

After watching more of my man Beau, I went over to check out his facebook page, and on it, he recommended this video.

I have been involved as a performer since a young age, and in high school I did theatre, choir, and I was a member of the National Forensics League. Forensics, not the one about science, but the one about speaking, was how I spent most Saturdays in high school. Preparing for and giving speeches or reciting prose or doing storytelling or duo interpretations. I even won a district competition for the latter. It was my passion, but I never really DID anything with it.

But tonight has evoked my passion for the spoken word, and now I'm trying to find every book on slam poetry I can get my hands on.

If any of you share my newfound love, please let me know other good performers I should watch. I would love to be exposed to more great poetry, not only spoken, but written as well. I generally can't get into symbolism, so poetry has never been my thing, but slam poetry is so raw that it is addicting.

When I make more time to read, I will start trying to do book reviews. I have been on Goodreads all day trying to update my shelves so I can get better recommendations. Then I realize that I already have enough to read and I should just get to it!