I don’t know about any of you, but I adore spoken word poetry. There is great power in having the ability to share your thoughts and experiences with conviction, on stage and with vulnerablility, with all present able to see you and hear your words. When you speak, those words that were once yours are no longer just yours; the thoughts that you once kept close and huddled inside of you are now let go and sent off into the world, come what may. One of the benefits of the Internet is that spoken word poets are now more able to share the experience of their poetry with others through online video and have the power to impact more people with those words.
An added benefit of spoken word poetry is the way in which is an excellent means through which to procrastinate. It is a beautiful, revolutionary procrastination, allowing you to take in all the wonders of the human creative spirit while also actively not writing your essays.
As such, I have compiled a nowhere near exhaustive list of some of my favorite spoken word poems with which to procrastinate. Enjoy!
1. “If I Should Have a Daughter” Sarah Kay
2. “Candy” Matt Coonan
3. “For Teenage Girls” Clementine von Radics
4. “The The Impotence of Proofreading” Taylor Mali
5. “High Heels” Imani Cezani
6. “The Type” Sarah Kay
7. “A Lot Like You” Rudy Francisco
8. “Parenthesis” Ginger Marshall and Bxk
9. “What Guys Look For In Girls” Savannah Brown
10. “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before” Mayda Del Valle
11. “Enter Humanity” Kate Thomas