Sarah Kay

I'd be lying if I said I was a huge fan of spoken word poetry... I mean its cool and all but I don't find myself seeking it out. However last night after looking at videos on YouTube of old Def Poetry sessions, I came across this young woman named Sarah Kay. She was different from all the other poets, she wasn't the typical black woman scorned— she spoke with such passion and light in her eyes. I don't know how to explain it but I was entranced!

This is her poem "Hands." And like most people, when I discover people I like but have never heard of before, I immediately wikipedia'ed her... (Everyone does that, right? That's not weird?) Turns out she's only 22 years old and from New York. She tells more of her story here:

I know its long, but AT LEAST listen to the first poem she shares, its beautiful!! She goes on to talk about how writing poems is essential for her to figure out why things turned out the way they did, etc. She also teaches some of the essentials in spoken word poetry. Its great.