SPOKE WOKE POETRY

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When the Glass Breaks

When the glass breaks / we are all just people behind the screens.
— Emma Yahr.

When the Glass Breaks 
 after Blythe Baird, Sonya Renee Taylor and Jonathan Salazar 
  
 Snapchat only hits you up after 10pm
 is keg stands and gray joggers
 a photo from the forehead up
 or crotch down 
 Snapchat just isn’t the relationship type.
  
 Twitter posts #SaveTheTurtles 
 while pushing a plastic straw 
 into their iced oat milk latte
 is Whole Foods and thrifted clothing 
 political advocacy whenever its 
 convenient to their analytics 
 Twitter thought it was cool first. 
  
 Facebook has a different photo album 
 dedicated to every country they’ve been to
 is all take me back and selfies with the Eiffel Tower 
 is authentic cuisine and enchanté
 Facebook has a 20 minute backstory 
 for every article of clothing they own. 
 
 Instagram woke up like this
 is perfect angles and carefully curated content
 a snapshot of avocado toast in the morning
 and a charcoal facemask at night
 Instagram is champagne laughter
 is rose-tinted glasses
 is dopamine high.   
  
 But Snapchat also cries
 wants a connection to last 
 longer than 10 seconds
 instead of it disappearing 
 into cyberspace.
  
 Twitter is insecure
 uses self-deprecation to self-destruct 
 longing for someone to reach out
 and ask if they’re okay
 longing for a space to be themselves 
 and not have to apologize for it.
  
 Facebook has Generalized Anxiety Disorder 
 has to psych themselves up before leaving the house 
 let alone traveling abroad
 they just want to be known
 to feel like they matter
 in a world so big.
  
 Instagram puts lipstick on for breakfast 
 is a straight A student in math because of
 all the calorie counting
 panics every time they post because
 what if the caption isn’t good enough?
 what if they’re not good enough? 
  
 When the glass breaks
 we are all just people behind the screens  
 both puppet and puppeteer 
 a tangled mess of strings and limbs
 of choreographed identity.

 We are all struggling to untether the binds.

The Inspiration Behind “When the Glass Breaks”

Blythe Baird “When the Fat Girl Gets Skinny” via Button Poetry https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16Tb_bZZDv0

Sonya Renee Taylor “The Body Is Not an Apology” via Button Poetry https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXLSKHzOLkA&t=15s

Johnathan Salazar “Social Media” via Button Poetry https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Rvs_nh7zRI&t=30s

“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.