Imagine.
You are fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen years old. You carry a story in your belly, a story that can only be told in your voice. It is on fire. Can you feel the burning, alive in your throat? It wishes to break free!
I pass you along the resonant words of Chicana poet, scholar, feminist theorist, Gloria Anzaldua:
“When I create stories in my head, that is allow the voices and scenes to be projected in the inner screen of my mind, I ‘trance’… because writing invokes images from my unconscious…I am playing with my Self, I am playing with the world’s soul, I am the dialogue between my Self and el espiritu del mundo (the spirit of the world). I change myself, I change the world.”
You’ve been working on expressing yourself authentically, earnestly, honestly and poetry has been a doorway for you to unlock your internal thoughts in a curious, experimental and courageous way. You are encouraged to continue writing by InsideOut teaching artists, educators, and peers who inspire you to value the power in your voice until one day you find yourself at the end of a runway with your name being called to a stage.
Runways are prefaced by momentous occasions in which people are transformed as they cross over into new thresholds onto a stage that underscores that a significance will take place. Think graduations, weddings, and now set your mind to poetry slams–a poetry competition that peels the imagery of a poem off of the page and into the three dimensional world, sonically and physically.
The nerves that take up residence within the body are waiting to be alchemized into bravery in front of a full audience who are waiting for your poem with bated breath, fingers at the ready to affirm you through snaps, claps and cheers.
As a former slam champion on the adult circuit, anxiety used to seize my body until I stepped on stage and under the spotlight. I cared about the weight of each word, an exercise in healing myself. Due to the heightened nature of competition, I siloed inside myself until the slam ended. There was very little socializing as the goal of each competitor was hinged on winning, who could be the (subjective) “best,” to the detriment of the way that poetry is meant to bring one another together.
But InsideOut’s youth slams are vastly different!
As an InsideOut poet, you’ve immersed yourself in the opening circle–which quite literally shakes the anticipatory anxiety out of your nervous system while speaking words of affirmation into you and each of your peers. Friend-making with those you’ll share a stage with, across different schools and cities, is encouraged! Celebrating one another activates joy. You’ve also had the opportunity to participate in the Lo-Fi Slam which introduces you to slam poetry in a low-risk way.
You are ready for this moment!
Arms outstretched, you breathe deeply and dive into the undertow of your poem. What will you find inside of yourself, inside of this bravery? You are certainly transformed, the stage your chrysalis preparing you to take flight, you winged creature. To what heights will you soar? To what degree will your change inspire that of the world?
Jassmine Parks
Program Coordinator