SLAM it!

Now, for something a little different, we're going to look at spoken word poetry (some of which is also known as slam poetry).


Amanda Gorman, "The Hill We Climb"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZ055ilIiN4


Create a list of homonyms (for example, "right," which has many different meanings pronounced and spelled the same) and homophones (for example, "right" and "write," which sound the same but are spelled different and mean different things). Then consider how you can move from one of these words to another in a poem. Play with the words and the sounds; you can try for internal rhyme, consonance, assonance, alliteration, etc. You can also take a longer word and break it down into shorter homophone words (like the way Amanda Gorman writes "what just is / may not be justice").

One possibility: start with your name (first, last, middle, nickname, or a combination), and break the name down into rhymes and/or homophones. Then keep going!


Maia Mayor, "Perfect"

Write a poem or prose piece in the point of view of someone who is talking to you. Only write in their voice and viewpoint, not your own, but in doing so you'll reveal not just their character but yours and the relationship between you. Try to capture the way this person might speak. Consider Maia Mayor's "Perfect" for inspiration.


Jae Nichelle, "Friends with Benefits"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vKL5K_n6Z0

Write a poem or prose piece in which a part of your personality becomes like a separate person. Write about your relationship with this part of yourself. (You can think of the movie Inside Out, for example, as well as Jae Nichelle's "Friends with Benefits.")


Elif Duygu, "About Time"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPqC-oWeYYw&ab_channel=TEDxTalks

Imagine what's happening right now in three or four different locations in the world. Tell the stories of this present moment in a poem or prose piece. Consider how the different stories play off each other. (You can include your own story as well.) Consider Elif Duygu's "About Time."





Comments

  1. Letitia MoffittApril 29, 2022 at 8:58 AM

    Letitia, let it be a
    Life of wonder you live
    Lots of wandering, give
    Yourself all the time you need,
    Basil and thyme, indeed
    Grow in your garden, and more.
    Know you should pardon yourself for
    The past, it has passed, there’s no
    Need to bring it back, knead
    The dough, sing it slow, now go
    Forward, for words will be your words
    As you write worlds, the world will be
    All right in the end, writing to mend,
    I do recommend, do re mi, do sing to me,
    Dance like no one’s watching, know
    What’s in you, now begin, you
    Live to run, run to live,
    Run for your life and run to forgive
    What you were, where you been
    Be in the moment, there’s more meant
    To say, toss a ball in sky, able to fly,
    Try it all while you can, do,
    Can you, Letitia, truly be you?

    ReplyDelete
  2. RylandApril 29, 2022 at 9:06 AM

    Jonathan yu
    He knows
    more than you
    The stuff he knows
    Is practical to do
    He has a stuffy nose
    But But this guy
    Still gets the bucket
    In the sky
    this goes with this picture: https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/717880363078123622/963265275652898857/unknown.png

    ReplyDelete
  3. AlyssaApril 29, 2022 at 9:09 AM

    Alyssa, I miss ya
    Those days when I’d kiss ya
    Hit or miss ya
    I didn’t mean to dismiss ya
    And now I reminisce ya
    This is the pits, ya
    I’m throwing fits, ya
    I’m not okay with this, ya

    ReplyDelete
  4. AlyssaApril 29, 2022 at 9:19 AM

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G95PSPyori4

    ReplyDelete
  5. Noel ChiApril 29, 2022 at 9:28 AM

    Ryland Graham
    Thry call him
    GRAHAM
    Because he is grand
    Like a tall stalk of rye
    In the soft gray sand
    Wonder-bread brand

    ReplyDelete
  6. Florence LinMay 4, 2022 at 8:38 AM

    Florence, the sky is the limit.
    well, you’re stuck on the floor.
    Maybe even lower, you’re stuck in a well.
    You can’t wait for someone to lower a rope
    You need to have hope
    You’re not stuck in it.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Letitia MoffittMay 4, 2022 at 8:46 AM

    “Shy” and “angry” look like they should rhyme,
    But they don’t. Shy rhymes with I,
    Angry with she. She
    Is angry, but you don’t know it, because
    You think I am shy. That’s all,
    Shy and small, small like an “I.”
    Would it surprise
    you to know, seeing me
    That she
    Is really angry?
    Angry because she
    Wants to be alone and free
    Wants to scream
    Wants to be more than I am
    More than shy, can
    You understand?
    She is angry, and angry also
    Rhymes with we.

    ReplyDelete

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