Slammin' Poetry

I have a tendency to get a little obsessive about things I'm interested in at the moment; you know, the issue d'jour, if you will.  Last year, I went to a poetry slam and became reconverted to the power of the spoken word.  This performance poetry reaffirms my belief in the the ability of words to connect all humanity through "universal truths."  I took some of my students to a poetry slam, many of them fell in love with the genre, and we wrote and performed powerful poetry in class.  We even had a small open mic session at the Family Support Center.  A year later, kids are still writing, still interested, and still anxious to have their voices heard in the Seattle Slam circuit.  So, last Friday I took some kids to the Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center in midtown Seattle and they competed for spots on the Youth Speaks Poetry Team.  It was......everything you would want in an evening of powerful wordsmithery...  One of my students made it into the finals and the other didn't make it out of the first round.  Both were beyond beautiful in their bravery and their heartfelt emotions.  Maybe the whole thing sounds too beatnickish to you, but it is so cool that you will just get swept up in the language ride.  So, this is what you should do.  Find a poetry slam in your area and go to one.  Maybe you'll feel like writing a little afterwards.  Maybe, like me, you'll find your head aswhirl with unwritten poems, awakened by the knock knocking of forgotten feelings.  It's about the poetry, my friends.  

P.S.  Ya, I know that Baby Fallon has nothing to do with poetry, but isn't she cute?  And besides, remember my theory?