“No matter your wreckage / there will be someone to find you beautiful / despite the cruddy metal / your ruin is not to be hidden behind paint and canvas / let them see the cracks / someone will come to sing into these empty spaces” Sarah Kay
It is my intent to show the expansive nature of spoken word poetry through my original piece, When the Glass Breaks, inspired heavily by poets, Blythe Baird, Sonya Renee Taylor, and Jonathan Salazar. Oftentimes, the discourse created through spoken word extends beyond the original theme laid out in a poem, creating a richer dialogue about the interconnection of our basic human emotions. Modern spoken word poetry pays homage to the oral traditions of the past by engaging audiences in discussions about a myriad of polarizing subjects both in performance and in the comment sections of recorded spoken word pieces. Poets grapple with issues of racial and gender inequality, sexual assault, growth, healing, heartbreak and the complexity of body image and eating disorders on a global level (a discourse that would not have been possible at the dawn of oration). Today, poets use spoken word as a platform to advocate for these various social, political and personal movements, creating a discourse among millions of people due to the hyper connected nature of social media.
When the Glass Breaks grapples with the construction of personal identity online, arguing that social media and social media usage are far more layered than what meets the eye. The personified apps Snapchat (the fuckboy), Twitter (the attention-seeking hipster), Facebook (the kid that studied abroad) and Instagram (the queen bee), are presented as typical college student stereotypes to further the discourse that social media apps (much like people) are dynamic, interacting with and experiencing all of the positive and negative facets of life. We are both puppet and puppeteer as we construct the image of ourselves online, and the advantage of using spoken word to foster these conversations is that it makes serious topics like this much more accessible and entertaining to the average person.
