By Humairaa Mayet
Edited by Imaan Moosa
Spoken word poetry is a performance art that entails the reading out of poetry in a specific manner, drawing upon the subject manner of the poem and its aesthetics. It has its origins in the Harlem Renaissance and the blues which were integral parts of African-American culture and has, over the years, been appropriated and has been distanced from black culture, so much so that it is no longer conflated with black culture, even though it was black culture that created it.
Spoken word poetry, also called def poetry, is an inherently political style of performance poetry which has its roots in myriad cultures, but has been traced back to African-American culture. Poetry, and spoken word poetry in particular, was seen as a tool of liberation which was taken up by the disempowered racial groups in America, and is now done by oppressed and marginalised groups around the world.
A slogan from the second wave of the global feminist movement, ‘the personal is politcal’ is a quote that perfectly describes spoken word poetry. This type of performance entails the politicisation of the personal, but also the personalization of the political. Spoken word poetry is a unique style of poetry that allows performers to grapple with complex political and personal issues on stage in front of an audience who, themselves, become a part of the performance.
Spoken word poetry tackles topics that are extremely difficult to confront in other realms of life and topics which may even be seen as taboo. Many spoken word poets write about racism, sexism, and homophobia, among other issues which they see as ones that affect their daily lives but not issues that they are able to talk about as they go about their day-to-day activities. Hence, they turn to poetry in order to do so.
With no outlet for their frustrations, individuals who find themselves in the peripheries of society, on the outside looking in, find that poetry creates a safe space for them, one which they would not find in the mundane. Once they discover this; the possibilities are endless.
Image: Youtube
Spoken word poetry is an art of its own
Poetry is complex and spoken word poetry is even more so. Not only is the writing process complicated and sometimes even tedious, but the performance process is difficult and may even be confusing for beginners. Performing a spoken word poem is not as simple as standing in front of a crowd and reading out what you have written.
It is a specific style of performance that draws upon techniques of drama and song, as well as the more nuanced elements of poetry. These include meter, which focuses on which syllables to emphasise and which can be allowed to fall by the wayside; and rhyme, a tactic that can either make or break a poem. Also included in the elements are scheme, which speaks to the pattern and rhythm of the poem; verse, also known as the intersection between the rhyme and the meter; and stanza, which allows for the separation of patterns as well as ideas.
Not Okay is not okay
A film that took the internet by storm just a few weeks ago, Not Okay, follows the story of an obviously unlikeable woman who has hit not one, but several snags and speed bumps in her writing career. Dani, played by Zoey Deutch, is an aspiring young writer who works for a magazine accurately named Depravity. Steeped in both privilege and apathy, Dani goes about her days sipping matcha lattes and offering insensitive comments to her queer coworkers.
Desperate to move up the food chain at Depravity, Dani lies about going on a writers’ retreat to Paris, France. Shockingly enough, her trip coincides with the bombing of a famous landmark in the city, which she then falsely claims to have witnessed – how could she not? Dani’s Instagram feed is filled with carefully photoshopped and curated pictures of her enjoying croissants and strolling around in her red beret outside the Notre Dame, Arc de Triomphe, and Eiffel Tower.
Image: Cosmopolitan
Dani gets her five seconds of fame when Depravity finally allows her to author her own article and her social media following skyrockets. She finally has what she has always wanted. As she makes her way up the ladder, all the while maintaining the charade that she bore witness to the Paris bombings, she meets Rowan, a young spoken word artist who is the survivor of a school shooting that resulted in the death of her sister.
Completely unethical in her ways, Dani goes along with Rowan, pretending to – like Rowan – be a victim of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), despite having lived as a white, middle-class woman her entire life. Dani gets trapped in her lie and leeches off of Rowan and her following to work her way up. Eventually, however, Dani’s tangled web of lies begins to unravel and one of her coworkers insists – rightfully so – that she must admit that she lied about everything.
Dani finally comes clean, simultaneously bringing to the fore the issue of a white woman profiting off of the trauma of a black woman as she made her way to the top. Her character thankfully received no redemption arc, but neither does that of Rowan receive any consolation.
The film is a commentary on the way in which individuals are eager to lie about anything and everything, trauma notwithstanding, in order to achieve the recognition they crave so desperately.
Appropriation 101
Although Not Okay was not based on a true story, it does not mean that things similar to what Dani did do not occur in real life. On multiple occasions, privileged, white people have appropriated the technique of spoken word poetry. By taking a method of performance poetry unique to a certain community and adjusting it to fit them, white people have appropriated the method of spoken word poetry and have, on occasion, even appropriated its contents. By writing about issues that are entirely foreign to them, white people are directly guilty of appropriation and indirectly guilty of further marginalising communities that are already marginalised.
Spoken word poetry deals with heavy and harsh topics, yet through appropriation, performers make light of its complex history. This can be seen in the movie, 22 Jump Street, where the character played by Jonah Hill finds himself on stage during an open mic night and performs a simplistic poem that he comes up with on the spot. This performance was a massive hit on the internet and for a while, was the first association people would make after hearing the phrase ‘spoken word poetry’.
Image: Sony
My favourite spoken word poems:
Shades of Anger by Rafeef Ziadah
Rifle by Rudy Francisco
To Be Black and Woman and Alive by Crystal Valentine and Aaliyah Jihad