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Sarah Kay's Ted Talk

Decent Essays

Sarah Kay is a contemporary American poet. My first contact with her poetry was via YouTube. Writers occasionally read their works, I knew that, also I was a collector of song lyrics, however I was new to the existence of spoken word poetry. In brief, spoken word poetry artists perform their poems. This art form is lyrical, and, of course, more direct. The poem I saw her perform in a Ted Talk, was “B”.

In her Ted Talk, Sarah asks the audience to do an exercise: to consider three things they know to be true. Spontaneous choices. These are three things I know to be true:

1. I love life, I know that as I am afraid to die.
2. I don’t know completely who I am, I find this to be true as I’m still defining myself.
3. I know I love the blue in the sky, water, flowers, in people’s eyes, yet I yearn to remove the blue in our souls. …show more content…

“B” is a poem written to a future daughter. It hit me in my stomach. For a period I couldn’t figure out what impressed me. Succinctly: the poem, the delivery, her youth, her authenticity.
At that moment in time I had an impasse on the worth of connection, and on the effort it presumes. As Sarah herself says in the Ted Talk, spoken word poetry has the power to connect. Not only that I connected with her poem, I also gained hope. That is why I love Sarah Kay’s poetry: the listener feels it, rather than hears it, it captured me.
Not being able to express harmoniously who you are, your essence, due to self-imposed or exterior reasons, equals not living. Still, arriving at authenticity implies effort, mistakes and failure. When I first heard “B” I was wondering on all of these. My epiphany was: it’s scary not knowing, it’s scary not winning. Nevertheless, if I were to dispense advice to my potential daughter, I would definitely desire to be the mother that encourages her to fail, rather than have her not fully live. I know I love life as I still I am afraid of

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