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    Monday, October 23, 2006
    Thoughts on Slam Poetry
    written on the N train to Brooklyn

    I. Am not a poet.
    I don't deal in rhythm and rhyme.
    In syncopated beats.
    I write narrative and character.
    I don't wax poetic.

    No, I am not one of you.
    But I wandered into your world
    Listened as you shouted out
    Words that are straight from
    The thesaurus.

    You in your designer jeans
    You NYU graduate student security.
    Talking about poverty, race, and oppression.
    Why do you think that I don't understand?
    Why do I feel like the minority here?
    Why are you sinking to their level.

    Because I don't see you that way.
    Your white chocolate mocha skin
    Does not affect the way I see you.
    And I know that doesn't make me the average American
    But you quoted James Baldwin when you started
    So why the fuck are you writing for the average American anyway.

    A friend once told me I wasn't what I said I was
    Irish and Italian from generations past.
    I'm a fucking American.
    And so are you.
    Be proud of your heritage
    But don't let it become you.
    We are all
    More than that.

    I am not a poet.
    But I have to wonder why the only two white girls I see
    Getting up to the mike
    Are talking about rape.
    And abandonment.
    As if that's all there is to being a woman.

    Where did all the happy poems go?
    Why is it all gender, and race, and violation, and poverty
    Spouting form the lips of people paying
    $35,000 a year to stay out of the real world.

    Yes, I know it all exists
    And yes, I know that it's horrible.
    But do you really know?
    Or are you just looking for credibility.

    Great poetry leaps off the page
    It shakes walls
    Crumbles foundations.

    I am not a poet.
    But are you?

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    posted by FINY @ Monday, October 23, 2006  
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    Name: FINY
    Home: New York, New York, United States
    About Me: Just a New England girl trying to make it in NYC. Email me at: soxfaninnyc [at] gmail [dot] com
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