Assignment #2: Spoken Word Poetry

October 24, 2011

Dear Andrea Gibson,

I am a college freshman at Wayne State University and I would like to share with you my writing and performance process for my first spoken word poem for my Introduction to College Writing course. Please keep in my mind that I am not a great poetry writer; in fact, writing is the weak point in my academic abilities. I am truly more of a mathematics and science person to be honest.

The first thing that came to mind when composing my poem was how it would sound during the presentation, an obvious concern in the subject of spoken word poetry. I tried to keep a decent rhyming scheme so it didn’t sound like endless babbling, but I also varied the amount of syllables from line to line so my poem did not sound completed structured and locked into a particular amount of words per line. Without having to worry if each line had the exact same number of syllables and a perfect rhyme scheme, I was able do improve my diction and use more meaningful words to express my thoughts.

If I had to compare this type of writing to academic writing, I would say that I enjoy writing spoken word poetry much more than a formal essay. When I was writing my poem, I felt that I wasn’t bounded by particular rules and structure, and that I was free to express myself in any way I saw fit. Another thing I dislike about academic writing is that I seem to run out of things to say, especially when I need to fulfill a certain word or page number requirement. While I was writing my poem, I felt that I had even more to say than just the thirty to fifty line minimum, although much of it was not included because I was not very confident about what I was writing about. The hardest part for me for this assignment was deciding on a topic to write about, and I will now admit that I was not particularly “into” my topic, but it seemed like I had a lot of things to say on it.

One thing that really seemed to work for me was to go first and be confident that my poetry would be respected by my peers. In fact, the most helpful thing during my presentation was the knowledge that my classmates were mature and understanding of my topic, and gave their full attention and interest to my presentation.

One thing that I would like to improve on the most would be my actual spoken word performance. One part of it was that I don’t really enjoy public speaking, although I felt that my class was extremely supportive of one another, and that helped me a lot. Another aspect that would have helped me in this area is having a topic that I felt very strongly about. This would have helped me put more emphasis and passion into my presentation, an area that I was critically lacking in. An alternative topic to abortion, which was my topic, would most likely be something along the lines of defense of gay rights and protesting anti-gay bullying, as these are things I feel very strongly about. In fact, this is why I chose you as my admired spoken word artist, because you have the courage to stand up for people that others won’t stand up for. Others are self-conscious that they will be labeled as gay if they are pro-gay, but that idea is completely ridiculous. I am glad to be alive in a time where I can witness homosexuality going from oppressed (as it still is in many parts of America) to hopefully one day completely accepted without any question or second thought.

I’m not sure what my audience took away from my presentation, only because I’m not sure exactly what I wanted them to take from it. I had trouble figuring out myself what I was trying to convey. I guess the main idea is that abortion is never okay, but hearing it stated that way makes me reconsider if I took the right stance. Perhaps I should have given a little leeway, as my opinions on such matters can often change day to day, depending on my mood.

This particular poem is not very similar to any of your poems in that I did not have a strong belief in what I was writing about, whereas in your writing and presentation, the audience can feel that you are serious just by the way you speak and move. You mean everything you say, and are honest, and I admire that deeply. A similarity of our poems would be that they both involve the mistreatment of a certain group of people, although your writing and performances are much more compelling.

Thanks very much for taking time to read my thoughts on my poetry, I definitely hope to write more in the future!

Your fan,

Zachary Freeman