P is for Poetry and Phil Kaye

Monday, May 09, 2016 0 Comments A+ a-



In the words of the great Edgar Allan Poe, "I would define, in brief, the poetry of words as the rhythmical creation of beauty."

I may have mentioned it a few times before, but poems never appealed to me as a way to express myself. I've never expounded on that, fearing that a mob of poets might come after me at night and write poems with my blood (okay, too much). But today, I want to expound on that and also share my surprisingly growing love.

Poems never appealed to me mainly because I found a verse or two is just too short to be able to tell what I really felt. Well, surprise Andrea, long poems exist! I know but I honestly struggled with writing a short one, I couldn't even imagine how I'll be able to write a long one.

I have great respect for the people I knew who wrote poetry and an even greater respect for poems itself, but I have come to accept that it's just not for me. I have come at peace with my inability to write any kind of poetry.

Which was until my sister sent me a video of a poetry performance by Phil Kaye. I had never been so amazed and touched by a 3-minute performance of free form poetry. I knew nothing about poetry except for the fact that I can't do it, but as I finished the video she sent me, I asked her for another one and after that I had begun scouring the internet for more.

During the past few days I've been spending a lot of time watching poetry performances and I thought I'd share it with you guys!

Without further ado, I would like to share 5 of my favorite poetry videos (2 of which will be of Phil Kaye, one of my absolute favorite people).


"Repetition" (Phil Kaye)

This was the first video I've ever watched of Phil Kaye and I have never forgotten it ever since. The amount of times I've watched this over and over again is unbelievable.


"When Love Arrives" (Sarah Kay & Phil Kaye)

This one is about the fantasies and realities of love and I love it so much. 



"Sidewalk Chalk" (Michael Mlekoday)

This gave me goosebumps. That is all I have to say.



"Almosts" (Bianca Phipps)

This one is a close second when asked which of these five are my favorite (the answer being "Repetition"). I'm not crying, you are!



"When the Fat Girl Gets Skinny" (Blythe Baird)

This was the second video my sister sent to me and I do not, for one second, regret watching this.

That's five of the poetry I would recommend people to watch the most, but I've been spending some time curating a playlist of the videos I loved the most and you can view them here.

I am not exaggerating when I say I have been working on this post for so long, editing and adding and removing a lot of stuff (even though it doesn't look like it). I just feel like I won't be able to give justice to the actual explanation of how beautiful poems are and the feeling they gave me during the past few days spent watching poetry slams. I hope I've at least given it a bit of justice.

Andrea

A Veterinarian in the making. She loves dogs, turtles, pastries, books, and videogames.

May the comments be ever in my favor (or not)