I could never be a poet, a manipulator of words. But I do enjoy watching poetry spoken, far more than reading it. My friend’s brother, Michael Indemaio, is a poetry writer whose written poetry books and gone to many poetry slams. My friend would read me his poems, or have me read them, and they were beautiful poems, but it wasn’t until I heard them out loud did I understand it’s beauty. The YouTube Clip attached is of Michael Indemaio reading his poetry, and is one of my favorites. I haven’t heard him say this live, but I think it’s a wonderful, heart-felt poem, especially since I know a lot of his personal history. I’ve never asked him his process in preparing for his shows, which I would be interested in, but I have seen him write poetry (for Twitter, he has a huge fan base) and I find his process of brainstorming and editing down to be quite similar to what I do, yet his end results are far more artistic.
I personally enjoy spoken word poetry because it allows me to understand poetry greater than if I were to read it on my own. Each word when spoken has a transformation of meaning and elicits far more emotion than if I were to read it in my head. Usually, when I start reading a poem, I start off in my own voice, and it is not until the end that the author’s tone seeps in and I begin to understand the message. However, when hearing it out load, the tone is set from the beginning, allowing me to understand what the author meant by certain phrases. Specifically in this spoken word poem, Michael Indemaio changes his speed of voice, allowing some parts to show his troubled, fast paced mind, while slowing down on other parts, allowing words and phrases to soak in. The tone and nonverbal communication also adds to its significance, as the grief and madness in his face gives the poem an extremely emotional quality, one I would not imagine if reading it to myself and in my head.
I find that I do something similar whenever I read poetry. I try to read it in my voice first to get the emotions and messages of the poem in my head, then I go back and reread it in what I would think the author’s voice would be like if he or she read it aloud. I find that in this way, I can put myself in the situation and the story first so that I can better understand what the author felt when they were writing the words. This spoken word poem by Michael Indemaio that you included was very powerful and reminded me of my junior high days, although they were never quite as intense as Indemaio’s. I found that the way he said his words–his tone, his speed, and his volume–really served to bring out the message more clearly and powerfully. Like our speaker, Melanie Maria Goodreaux said on Tuesday, spoken word poetry has an element of acting in it, and I think that the way Indemaio painted visual pictures and acted out the emotions of his poem helped the audience get into his mindset and his overall message.
This is absolutely beautiful. I was always indifferent about spoken word. However, after our class with Melanie Goodreaux and after watching this video, I now have a new appreciation for spoken word. Without a doubt, one can realize that your friend’s brother put a lot of feelings and emotions into his poem. Listening to it, I felt like I was back in middle school, witnessing all of the bullying and harassment that happened each and every day. And when he ended the poem with saying that parents have to be the leaders, well, that was genius.
Thanks for sharing! I’ll definitely be checking out more of his videos.