Wow! This was definitely a very good experience. It is amazing to see how talented people are on campus. I wish I was able to write poetry! This event got me thinking about all of the different strengths and interests my students will have and further reminded me to think in this light. I have actually never been to a poetry reading before, and this was extremely powerful. The diversity in the types of works was really interesting to me. I loved the rap. I felt like I knew that young man after his reading. I also really liked the Who is You poem. This would actually be great to use in the classroom, because I think a lot of immigrants or sons/daughters of immigrants could relate to her words.
One thing I noticed and was a little shocked by was the host of the show and his sense of humor. I will admit, I definitely laughed and found his jokes funny, but it got me thinking about the way we handle stereotypes and dealing with diversity. For example, after "Who is You," he said something along the lines of her bad grammar, and if a black person would have written that, they would have never gotten away with it, but she was Asian. Is this the best way to change the horribly prejudicial world we live in...by laughing about it and at it? I feel that sometimes we do this to try to diffuse the situation, but when I caught myself laughing, I felt really terrible inside. I wonder how she felt after spilling her guts to a room full of strangers about her identity crisis...
As for the last performance, I was actually pretty disturbed. It is amazing how different people can be affected by different works of art/literature/etc. It was really interesting to see the room emptying out, and as much as it pained me to do so, I didn't think I could stand much more. I actually had nightmares that night!
All in all, it was an experience that really got me thinking about pretty much everything. So I'd say it was successful!
It seems like you really got a lot out of the poetry slam. I wish I could have been there to hear all of the poems. I am glad you finally got to go to one. I went to a poetry reading a year or two ago that SABE and some other organizations put together. It was a really great experience. There were 3 well known and established poets from different backgrounds. They all had their own styles and things to talk about. And like you said they really made you think. That is one thing I really like about poetry is that it makes you think a lot about all kinds of topics and in an interesting way. Sometimes it makes harsh topics soft and other times it makes them scary. I could see how you had different reactions to different poems.
ReplyDelete