Post by clarele112 on May 31, 2013 18:43:27 GMT -5
As she was raised by a Japanese American mother and a Jewish American father, she was exposed to both cultures and always struggled to find her cultural identity. As a hapa, a person of mixed Asian heritage, she “never fit(s) inside a check-mark box” and “always fall between the cracks.” Thus, she wrote poems to discover her cultural identity and learn about the history of cultures that she is part of. Exploring her Japanese origin, she wrote about the bombing of Hiroshima during the World War I that made “its population to turn into powder.” As a Jewish descent, she describes the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, comparing the animosity between two cultures that has been continuing for generations to a “hand-me-down” shirt that is passed on from parents to offspring. She also examines customs of Indian culture in which people are “set to marry whomever his[their] parents choose.”
She fell in love with spoken word poetry in her freshmen year of high school. She was fascinated by this form of poetry because it was a combination of her two secret loves: poetry and theater. The moment that she determined to be a spoken word poet was when she performed her poem in front of her high school. After her performance, a “giant girl with a hoodie sweatshirt” came over to her and said, “Hey, I really felt that.” Kay was amazed by the idea that someone could connect to her experience and feel the same way at the exact same time through spoken word of poetry. It was the moment that she thought “I can do this.” As she lived in the New York City where there was a community of poets called the Bowery Poetry Club, she could experience the captivating performances of adult poets ever since she was fourteen. Visiting each week, she could “taste the poetry in the air.”
Through her poetry, she shares her childhood memories, funny experiences, and personal stories. She tells interesting stories about her trip to India, where she helped a boy write a love letter to his forbidden love. She makes poems about a summer day at the beach, where she was “the conqueror of the jellyfish,” a family vacation in Montauk, where she learned “some things that you can never learn in New York City,” and memories of her first love that molded “each other into perfect yings and yangs.”
She believes that life is both bitter and sweet; “It can crumble so easily,” but people should not “be afraid to stick your tongue out and taste it.” She walks through life with open hands, which means that she will catch all the miseries and hurt in life. However, it also means that she will be prepared to catch all the beautiful and amazing things in life.
A significant part of her life as a poet involves actively sharing her poems and spreading the influence of spoken word poetry. She travels around the world teaching this new form of poetry and encourages people to share their unique experiences and explore their culture, their society, and themselves through poetry. Inspiring people to speak out and reach out to others through spoken words, Sarah Kay is truly changing the society for the better. As Taylor Mali described, Sarah Kay is “nothing less than a star…something from out of this world that gives off light, that you can use to navigate by, that you can make a wish upon.” Hence, I am very honored to introduce the Westfield High School 2013 Vising Poet Sarah Kay.
Word Count: 600
She fell in love with spoken word poetry in her freshmen year of high school. She was fascinated by this form of poetry because it was a combination of her two secret loves: poetry and theater. The moment that she determined to be a spoken word poet was when she performed her poem in front of her high school. After her performance, a “giant girl with a hoodie sweatshirt” came over to her and said, “Hey, I really felt that.” Kay was amazed by the idea that someone could connect to her experience and feel the same way at the exact same time through spoken word of poetry. It was the moment that she thought “I can do this.” As she lived in the New York City where there was a community of poets called the Bowery Poetry Club, she could experience the captivating performances of adult poets ever since she was fourteen. Visiting each week, she could “taste the poetry in the air.”
Through her poetry, she shares her childhood memories, funny experiences, and personal stories. She tells interesting stories about her trip to India, where she helped a boy write a love letter to his forbidden love. She makes poems about a summer day at the beach, where she was “the conqueror of the jellyfish,” a family vacation in Montauk, where she learned “some things that you can never learn in New York City,” and memories of her first love that molded “each other into perfect yings and yangs.”
She believes that life is both bitter and sweet; “It can crumble so easily,” but people should not “be afraid to stick your tongue out and taste it.” She walks through life with open hands, which means that she will catch all the miseries and hurt in life. However, it also means that she will be prepared to catch all the beautiful and amazing things in life.
A significant part of her life as a poet involves actively sharing her poems and spreading the influence of spoken word poetry. She travels around the world teaching this new form of poetry and encourages people to share their unique experiences and explore their culture, their society, and themselves through poetry. Inspiring people to speak out and reach out to others through spoken words, Sarah Kay is truly changing the society for the better. As Taylor Mali described, Sarah Kay is “nothing less than a star…something from out of this world that gives off light, that you can use to navigate by, that you can make a wish upon.” Hence, I am very honored to introduce the Westfield High School 2013 Vising Poet Sarah Kay.
Word Count: 600