One of my favorite parts of our Poetry Unit in English class is our activities with experiencing poetry. Although analyzing a poem and its devices is interesting, I enjoy having the chance to enjoy a poem for its emotional and intellectual experience. Listening to poems recited by the poets that created them has especially helped me to see poetry come to life in new ways.
When you watch a poet recite their own work, the nuances of emotion become more apparent. An example of this would be Elizabeth Acevedo’s recitation of her poem “Hair”, which we watched in class this past week. When reading, her passion is accented by her facial expressions and hand gestures. Even poems that were not originally written to be a part of the spoken word genre can have this effect. Maggie Smith’s reading of her poem “First Fall” underscores this idea. When she began reading this poem about her children at the 2020 Palm Beach Poetry Festival, her voice automatically softened and took on a gentle tone. It was as if she became lost in this moment with her children, and the rest of the audience was invited along as well. It is live readings of personal works such as the ones mentioned above that give audiences the exciting opportunity to strongly feel the emotions of the author or the speaker they have chosen to portray.
Below I have included a video of Maggie Smith reading her poems, “Sky” and “Rain, New Year’s Eve”. I hope you enjoy watching these poems come to life.
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