I recently discovered that there’s a spoken word poem for each season in my life. If I ever needed to feel empowered, needed a reminder of self-love or just needed to hear someone say what I was feeling, all I had to do was go to YouTube and type in “spoken word poetry”. I stumbled upon the concept of spoken word poetry when I was in 12th grade. Since I grew up in India, it was not a popular concept back home. I was amazed at how people were able to communicate so much feeling in so few words. The first poem I watched was actually called When Love Arrives by Sarah Kay and Phil Kaye and to this day have the lines memorized and I remember thinking – “They know exactly how I feel!” Here is a list of 5 poems that I hope you can connect to as well:
1. “The Type” by Sarah Kay
Do not mistake yourself for a guardian or a muse or a promise or a victim or a snack.
You are a woman — skin and bones, veins and nerves, hair and sweat.
You are not made out of metaphors, not apologies, not excuses.
2. “Boomerang Valentine” by Andrea Gibson
On days I have a hard time keeping warm in my own weather- I imagine what the first flower said to the first human, trying to name half its flower petals “love me not’s”
No
that is not how anything grows
Of all the violence I have known in my life, I have not known violence like the way I have spoken to myself
3. “Explaining My Depression to My Mother” – Sabrina Benaim
Mom says, “Happy is a decision”
But my happy is as hollow as a pinpricked egg
My happy is a high fever that will break
Mom says, I am so good at making something out of nothing and then flat out asks me if I am afraid of dying
Via The Power of Silence
4. “Note to Self” – Terisa Siagatonu
Your insecurity is not a diet plan.
Contemplate how you’re gonna explain to him your queerness without using the words ‘bisexual’ or ‘confused’.
Via Youtube
Related: My Favorite Poems
5. “Whatever Your Relationship Status Is” – Jay Shetty
But we’re the generation that does not want a relationship
We swipe left in hopes of finding the right one
We try to order our soulmates like we do on postmates
We invest more time into our Tinder profiles than we do with our personalities
Via TubeFilter
If you ever find yourself feeling lonely and like no one else can verbalize what you’re feeling, I encourage you to look up spoken word poetry and maybe even try your hand at it. You never know who else might be feeling the same way.