Thanks to friend Kyrsten from my creative poetry class, I've discovered Taylor Mali, a former-teacher-turned-slam-poet. I spent an hour watching youTube videos of him last night, spent another hour making my husband watch them, and after was so inspired I sat down and wrote something in under 30 minutes.
I love it when that happens.
So before you think, "Blah. I'm not going to watch some guy recite poetry," I urge you to take a minute. Or three. Watch the clip below.
Listen.
If you like what you see (and I think you will), try these:
But to tell the truth, I find his deeper stuff (listed below) to be breathtaking --- literally. I found myself holding my breath. His willingness to bare his soul... I struggle with that in my writing. I'm always aware of who I might hurt. If I write about an ex-boyfriend, will I hurt my husband? The ex's family? If I write about my family, will it offend my grandmother? And so on and so on. My friend Mica tells me that I'm more honest than she ever could be, and perhaps that's true. (Read her guest blog, A "Clark Griswold" Holiday)
But I know it's not enough when I find myself censoring my pen.
Because when I read writing that's raw --- or hear it like Taylor does below --- that's what really packs the punch; they're the words that stick with me. Inspiration comes in raw packages.
To sum up, it seems I recommend watching everything he's ever done on youTube. I hope you find him as inspirational as I have. And by all means, please share him (& this post) with your friends on Facebook & Twitter, too!
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