Arianna Gaudette
Mat Wenzel
ENC 2135
22 July 2019
The Power Of Poetry
Introduction
Everyone has emotions. Sometimes you may feel happy, sad, angry, or jealous. The ways that people express these emotions can be very different. Growing up as a girl means I come with hormones, drama, and most importantly, emotion. I found some points of relief when I punched and kicked my older brother, or cried to my parents. Sometimes I would just sit in bed and eat ice cream. However, nothing truly made me feel better until I sat down, opened my diary, and wrote. I would write for hours until my hearts content, and then I would truly feel consoled. A place that I have felt heard at is honestly not anywhere that comes to mind. I feel like a lot of the time the things I say don’t really mean anything to anyone else even though they carry a lot of feeling and meaning to me. Growing up I have always enjoyed writing and thought of writing down my thoughts and feelings has been extremely soothing. I always have written stories, thoughts, and even music. I have always had a diary to write my thoughts because sometimes, you really do not know how to express your thoughts. I have always had trouble talking out problems. I would write them down. I would often become very invested and then had no one to read it to. When I speak to my parents, I hardly ever get full attention. Partly because my Dad has hearing loss and partly because they really don’t care. I feel like my friends aren't really that deep, they never really want to have deep conversation. My boyfriend listens to me, but sometimes I really want a lot of people to actually hear me. Whenever I have an opportunity to be heard, I never really know what to say. The best way to be heard in my personal opinion is to write all your thoughts down. Even just by doing this I feel like I am being listened to by the entire universe. When I write things down, it feels like my prayers are being thought upon, even though I'm not religious. When I write, I feel like my words matter, my words are meaningful, and my words have a purpose. I feel like what I say isn't just for shits and giggles or to add to a conversation, it’s more of something genuinely being there for me. My mom was always there but I often felt like she did not fully understand my feelings and would judge me. I want to be apart of a community of people who have experienced the same issue as me. I was to be with people who have deep thoughts and talents that they do not know how to show it off in any other way except by writing. I think a lot of people feel the same way. I want to be apart of a community who feels that expression through writing is the ultimate healing mechanism. The closest thing to this that would suit my community needs is slam poetry
Community Profile
I think slam poem is an art. And this is a common ideal for all poets. Poetry is often viewed as something we all have to learn in English class as a requirement. The views of poetry are never positive in the eyes of the average students. I remember sitting in my english class falling asleep while learning the rules of haikus, and being forced to write my own on an assigned topic. This is something a lot of poets want to stray away from. Poetry gets forced down our throats when learning about Shakespeare and soon after get a pop quiz. At one point, poetry lovers got fed up and wanted to bring the beauty back into the art. According to PowerPoetry.org, a man from Chicago named Marc Kelly Smith wanted to change the world view of poetry. He wanted to make is expressive and make it musical, and animated, and he sure did just that(Powerpoetry.org). Imagine a low lit, spunky room with a microphone set up in the front. Light jazz may be playing, and in this room, people of all colors, races, and genders gather to snap and express their words. This is a typical setting of a session. Slam poetry in my words is a way to get out cooped up feelings, opinions, and ideas, and express it to the world. People at my school viewed poets as strange, weird, and boring. When the slam poetry team won states at my school, people’s eyes began to open. They started realizing that it was not stupid, it was inspiring. This began happening across the country too. In an academic journal that I found, this was a common occurrence. “The students soon discovered that the poets had lives beyond the classroom. They were Spoken Word performers, slam competitors, who tried out new material on audiences at night and redrafted it in the light of feedback (Dymoke).” It was not just a boring piece of writing, it had meaning, emotion, and power. I think that once people look past the poetry aspect, people see that slam poetry is amazing. People perform anything from political issues, to songs, to love stories. The possibilities are endless. They have rhythm, soul, and meaning. After the performer is finished, it will be supported by numerous amount of snaps and vocal support. Snapping is a sign of gratitude and applause without actually clapping. The audience has such a big role on these events. These verses are written to provoke and move the audience (powerpoetry.org). The whole passion and thought that goes into performing feelings is something I have always been looking for. In high school, I was somewhat popular and played three sports. I always felt that people thought slam poetry kids were not cool, and that I would be judged. I secretly have had a passion for writing and I never wanted to be judged for it. Since high school is over I really feel like I can finally do whatever I want, because I'm here for myself and not anyone else. Slam poetry is when people write either poems or skits and perform in front of a very supportive audience. Taboo issues and hard topics are often discussed. There is never any judgment, or any guidelines. You can literally say whatever you want or whatever you feel and people will support and snap at you. In slam poetry, to show people applause and gratification, you snap. Snapping is slam poetry nature and culture. You snap while someone is performing when they say a moving line or word. Along with snapping, people also tend to say “ooooh” or “ah” or any other little sounds to give the poet confidence and support. I really like this because it encourages the performer and gives them confidence to keep going with peoples full support. A slam poetry setting is a place where there are a bunch of people who have things, thoughts, opinions, and stories to tell. There is often a stage, and a microphone. People also are sitting down and lounging around mostly drinking coffee. The performer speaks their writing on the stage and everyone snaps. There may be soft music possibly jazz playing in the background. It is a calm, and cool setting for people to really vibe and support. I can't wait to do slam poetry for the first time. I will finally be with deep people who have thoughts and opinions and are willing to share it to the universe. I want to make friends, learn, and support a group of people who love writing as much as I do.
Healing Power
A main topic that pulled me into this community is its research sources on the healing powers of writing. I know personally that the expression through writing has helped me with my troubles incredibly. I began researching on medicinal writing and I got thousands of results. I wanted to know more about the science of writing and how it affects the brain. One article that I found was by Allison S. Walker, a graduate student with her MFA in creative writing. “You don’t have to be a doctor to practice narrative medicine; you simply have to be willing to listen. One application of narrative medicine related to community writing is creative arts therapy, an alternative route to holistic healing through creative expression (Walker 2017).” This quote spoke to me because even just seeing the words “narrative medicine” was very intriguing to see. I was always told that writing is a good outlet for your feelings, however out of my friends I seemed like the only one who really benefited from this. Now that I began researching, I quickly realized that it is true. Walker expresses that narrative medicine is a result of the world. The world can be a very dark place. There are issues around the world economically, politically, and environmentally. People don't really have a response to this, but to reply in even more hate. The ways of the world leave people feeling “dehumanized” and then they results to writing. This connects to slam poetry. These topics of the worlds problems created slam poetry. Not only did the history comes from a man trying to change the name of poetry, it also came from people having no outlet from the chaos in this world, so the expression of writing came about. People wanted to burst out and share their hardships with one another; this is a humane way of healing- healing through human feeling. People gather and mourn over ideas, or celebrate progress. All of these ideals connect with each other. I think this is what intrigues me the most about the writing and slam poetry community. I view it as a therapy almost, a place where people can gather and unite (Walker 2017).
Meeting with an Artist
In order to know exactly the setting of a slam poetry session since I have personally been to one, I had to have an interview with someone who has. Because the slam poetry sessions used to be in the old student union that is now torn down, and also because it is the summer semester, I was not able to meet up and join a slam poetry meeting. In order to get more of an idea of the setting, I took an uber to a local jazz bar. As soon as I entered the bar, I quickly realized that this was not a place for me. Drunk old men and a sober young girl like me did not match. I then walked home wondering what I should I do for this research project. I got the idea to interview my friend who is apart of the slam poetry team who is a sophomore. Her name is Ana Duarte, and she is a talented poet herself, and I know her from my old school. She was apart of our state winning slam poetry team from my high school. Not only does she have talent, she is a poet with strong messages and voice. I decided to direct message her on instagram to ask her some questions on slam poetry. She was kind enough to agree, and I was able to get information on the genres that occur inside the slam poetry community. I first asked her to describe how slam poetry means to her. “ I feel like in the slam poetry community there's a large sense of camaraderie. Everyone is talented in their own flare of writing. I feel inspired every time im in that type of setting, surrounded by talented minds, brilliant writers, and powerful voices. People usually know what they're coming into when they watch poetry so the audience usually shares that mutual respect and is very vocal and encouraging. Whether it is about politics, social issues, love, heartbreak, pain, happiness-whatever you're feeling, you're entitled to share it with the world.so when you're up on that stage, it's your time to share your and use that microphone as your weapon.(Duarte).” These words are things that I grew up with. These emotions inside me always and slam poetry is described as a place to air out my problems. What I also thought this was that slam poetry sessions talk a lot about democratic viewpoints and issues.This was very interesting to me because I have read some articles saying that slam poetry is not very political absed, however according to Duarte and another source, it tends to lean towards the democratic type of person. According to Diana Cullell in her article about slam poetry in contemporary Spain, she notes that a lot of the topics have a democratic shift on things. “What seems to set traditional and contemporary alternative recitals apart is the lack of strict regulations and adherence to a hierarchical process in the latter, which allows for a freer and more democratic activity where literature invades new spaces and finds new avenues of consumption(Cullell).” People of the same issues and topics like to come together and express their ideas. Even Duarte agrees with this quote because she even talks about happening topics like prochoice, access to birth control, and women;s rights. She told me “she never finds anyone talks about republican ideals (Duarte).” Even though I am not personally completely democratic or republican party, the democratic topics really do intrigue me , especially when it comes to social topics like what Duarte mentioned. These topics are woking texts in the community because everyone seems to be impacted by these topics. It is described as a judgment free zone to really talk about whatever your story is (Duarte).
Connection with the Audience
One of the main texts within the slam poetry community is the connection with the audience. The audience is the support group when it comes to the speaker. When talking to Ana, she made sure to tell me the audience purpose. “ I like that the audience makes slight comments or snaps and makes sound effects when they hear good lines. It's definitely encouraging when you're up on stage slamming your piece. overall , people come on that stage to spit their story (Duarte).” A slam poetry session has many working texts inside of it. One of the most important working texts in this community is the relationship between the performer, and the audience. I think it is so important because the speaker is literally preaching to the audience about their emotions. Without the audience, the speaker would be performing for no one. The whole point of slam poetry is to really put out emotion and expression into the world so people can really listen. According to Susan A. Somers-Willett, “at the heart of each of these aspects of slam poetry is the complex exchange between slam poets and their audiences. Rather than engaging in the relatively passive dynamics of reading print or listening to a poetry reading, slam poetry, facilitated by performance, commands that the poet, poem, and audience have an immediate and active critical relationship with one another (Somers-Willett).” This quotation explains exactly how slam poetry originated. Yes people were moved by written poetry back in the day, yes people enjoy reading novels and listening to podcasts, but slam poetry adds the real life story telling aspect. I feel like humans are meant to communicate mouth to ear, and slam poetry adds the animation to the story. The speaker’s connection with the audience is so important because the story must be told to someone, and the audience is all ears, and all snaps.
Conclusion
After my research and interview about slam poetry, I learned that it is a community that I will be apart of. With the inspiring content, and expressive lyrics, it makes me yearn to be apart of it. People go there to have a sense of community, and belongingness. You are free to talk about whatever you want, with no judgment, only support. I learned a lot about how supportive the community is. The most interesting thing I have found while researching and finding the benefits of written and spoken expression is. I like how people use poetry as a way of escaping the harsh reality of the world. There is so much bad in this world, and there's only so much good we can do. A way to cope with all the bad, is by getting together with a community who feels the same way and we can all express our emotions in the same way, with only support and inspiration.
Work Cited
BATUR, ZEKERYA. “THE ANALYSIS OF THE LEVEL OF STUDENTS' PERCEPTION OF THE MESSAGES IN FICTIVE TEXTS IN FICTIONAL CONTEXT.” Reading Improvement, vol. 55, no. 2, pp. 69–78.
Cullell, Diana. “(Re-)Locating Prestige: Poetry Readings, Poetry Slams, and Poetry Jam Sessions in Contemporary Spain.” Hispanic Research Journal, vol. 16, no. 6, 2015, pp. 545–559., doi:10.1080/14682737.2015.1129837.
Dymoke, Sue. “‘Poetry Is Not a Special Club’: How Has an Introduction to the Secondary Discourse of Spoken Word Made Poetry a Memorable Learning Experience for Young People?” Oxford Review of Education, vol. 43, no. 2, 2017, pp. 225–241., doi:10.1080/03054985.2016.1270200.
Hux, Karen, and Carly Dinnes. “Writing Changes and Perceptions After Traumatic Brain Injury: ‘Oh, by the Way, I Can’t Write.’” Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, vol. 99, no. 12, 2018, doi:10.1016/j.apmr.2018.09.092.
Kwachou, Monique. Writing Therapy. Langaa Research & Publishing CIG, 2010.
Somers-Willett, Susan B. A. Cultural Politics of Slam Poetry: Race, Identity, and the Performance of Popular Verse in America. University of Michigan Press, 2010.
Walker, Allison S. “Narrative Medicine: Community Poetry Heals Young and Old.” Community Literacy Journal, vol. 11, no. 1, 2016, pp. 138–145., doi:10.1353/clj.2016.0024.
Arianna Gaudette
Narrative Medicine: Community Poetry Heals Young and Old
Allison S. Walker
“You don’t have to be a doctor to practice narrative medicine; you simply have to be willing to listen. One application of narrative medicine related to community writing is creative arts therapy, an alternative route to holistic healing through creative expression (Walker 2017).”
This quote and document that is peer reviewed and written by a graduate student with their M.F.A and is a credible source. This source is very relevant to my research because I use writing and creativity as therapy and a creative outlet for all of my feelings. I think this is the perfect article to use Walker’s study to benefit my research topic on slam poetry and its effects on me. In this article, Walker has evidence on medicinal poetry. She has participants talk about their memories and how they have impacted their lives. She then discusses with them how it benefits their mental health.
2. ‘Poetry is not a special club’: how has an introduction to the secondary Discourse of Spoken Word made poetry a memorable learning experience for young people?
Sue Dymoke
This paper talks about the importance of poetry and how it has on a young student;s mind. The study is taking place in the UK. This is a credible source because it is peer reviewed, and written by a university professor. This study is relevant to my research paper because it involves students just like me. The person I will interview is also relevant to this source because we are all students of the writing community. “The students soon discovered that the poets had lives beyond the classroom. They were Spoken Word performers, slam competitors, who tried out new material on audiences at night and redrafted it in the light of feedback (Dymoke).” I will pull a lot of relevant information from this text and will be able to apply it in connection with my other source. I can tie this into poetic therapy and show how poetry improves a students mental health.
3. The Cultural Politics of Slam Poetry : Race, Identity, and the Performance of Popular Verse in America
Author: Somers-Willett, Susan B. A.
“At the heart of each of these aspects of slam poetry is the complex exchange between slam poets and their audiences. Rather than engag-ing in the relatively passive dynamics of reading print or listening to a poetry reading, slam poetry, facilitated by performance, commands that the poet, poem, and audience have an immediate and active critical relationship with one another. Furthermore” I think that this source is useful to bring in the topic of politics into my research paper. A lot of people view slam poetry as a libreral activity, but I can use this source to show that there is more to slam poetry than just politics. Politics play a role in slam, but I think that I can use it to show that people express themselves through politics, and then they can further express themselves in slam poetry. Politics is a very prevalent issue and hot topic especially in America, and I think this source is extremely relevant in my paper about slam poetry.
4.Writing Changes and Perceptions After Traumatic Brain Injury: “Oh, by the way, I can’t write”
Author: Carly Dinnes,a Karen Hux,a,b Morgan Holmen,a Alaina Martens,a and Megan Smitha
“Written expression differs from spoken discourse in some of the underlying cognitive and linguistic components needed for successful transmittal of ideas. Spoken communication typically demands immediate message comprehension and response generation.”
This source encapsulates everything that I am arguing I guess. I am trying to argue that poetry and written expression is extremely beneficial to mental health and is something that should be considered. This source talks about specific people who have had brain trauma and how reading and verbal communication did nothing, however written expression is what helped patients grow from the traumatic experience. I can connect this article to the first article and relate them to medicinal poetry, and how written expression can wound the soul, and the brain. These sources go hand in hand and I am really glad that I found them.
5. (Re-)Locating Prestige: Poetry Readings, Poetry Slams, and Poetry Jam Sessions in Contemporary Spain
Author: Diana Cullell
“What seems to set traditional and contemporary alternative recitals apart is the lack of strict regulations and adherence to a hierarchical process in the latter, which allows for a freer and more democratic activity where literature invades new spaces and finds new avenues of consumption. “ This quite and source is very interesting because it puts the political label on slam poetry and jam sessions. This source kind of refutes the other source so I think it will be an interesting source to play around with. This source focuses on the physical location of slam poetry, and focuses even more on the audience's role during performances. Audience and venue play such a big part in slam poetry and is something I will be speaking upon in my research paper. In my research interview, I will ask a lot of questions about the audience and what kind of role they play to the performer, and any other aspects. A lot of my interview consists of questions on the environment of the venues.
6. Title:
Writing Therapy
Author: Kwachou
“Speak now so you may speak again! If I feel too deep... It’s because I know the pain inflicted by the stoic And I would prefer even pain to emotional void.” This source is a book of poetry. I wanted to include this piece because I think it is important to include an actual piece of poetry because it's a work of art. My entire research paper is about poetic therapy and I want to include that. I can use this text as an example to tie into my other sources. This quote encapsulates the pain and mental blocks that people get and how freedom of expression on paper can fix that. The quote to me also explains that someone prefers pain to not being able to express on paper. I think piece of writing would be a good example of what someone may perform on stage at a slam poem session.
7. Poetry and Story Therapy : The Healing Power of Creative Expression Chavis, Geri Giebel
“Like Lamott, I have witnessed, over the years, how words and images speak directly to the soul and heart. They etch paths to self-awareness and help bring about relief from sorrow and confusion. They provide links between our past, present and future and between the people in our lives.” This is a more poetic source, even though it has claims and research in it, I believe that this paper is exactly what I need to incorporate in mine. I have a lot of quotes that I can use in my paper. This paper uses ethos as a credibility appeal because the author talks a lot of different great writers that founded poetry. I think this is a good quality to put inside my paper so I have even more credible sources, especially from people like Lamot, who have been in our great writing history. This source also can be compared and contrasted to my other sources so I can pick and choose parts to add through out my paper.
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