Before Project Voice Manila, spoken word was seen and watched from online sources such as YouTube, Facebook and Vimeo.
The first thing that poets Sarah Kay and Phil Kaye did onstage was to explain their craft—describing spoken word as a “marriage between theater and poetry,” making each part important for the other half to be effective.
“Some of you might not know what spoken word is, and ask when will we start singing?” Kay said, drawing an amused response from the crowd at iAcademy Theater recently.
“I bet some of you were probably just tagged along with a friend who knows what we do. So, just sit, relax and enjoy the show,” Kay added, before introducing their tandem as part of Project Voice (Vocal Outreach into Creative Expression).
Most local spoken word poets have watched and learned from their foreign counterparts. Abby Orbeta ofWords Anonymous—the group that brought Kay and Kaye to the Philippines—calls herself a fan.
In the last two years, spoken word has gained ground with groups such as Words Anonymous and White Wall Poetry, which regularly host poetry nights and open mic sessions in different parts of the metro.
No restrictions
A member ofWord Anonymous, Louise Meets, said that spoken word is a kind a poetry that has no restrictions: “There are no rules in spoken word. You write what you feel and you perform it in front of people. It allows you to connect with people in a way that traditional poetry doesn’t.”
On her first performance, she memorized her piece but was so nervous that she read from her notebook. Two minutes into the performance, she dropped the notebook. “It was a surreal experience,” she recalled.
Another member, Trevor Viloria, said he was already familiar with spoken word but could not find a venue until he was invited to watch an open mic session at Sev’s Café.
“My friends ‘tricked’ me into performing. They put my name on without my knowledge. It went by so fast, I did it,” he recounted.
While the local poets say they have been writing verses at an early age, most had to learn how to perform it for the stage. “I edit on the spot on how it sounds,” said Michelle Manese, also of Words Anonymous. She described her style as “rhythmic”; most of her pieces are love poems.
“My poems gravitate toward love. Maybe it’s because I believe that everything is just a variation of love. I write about romantic love, I have women empowerment pieces which is love and rights, so I write about all kinds of love,” she said.
“With every poet, may pinaghuhugutan, but basically everyone writes from experience,” added Trevor Viloria. “All of my pieces (are about) relationships, heartbreaks. It helps me move on from bad things that have happened.
Spoken Word is a good conduit to express all these feelings.”
The best way to learn and know more about spoken word is to watch the poets’ performances. Aside from Kay and Kaye, here are 10 notable spoken word artists:
•Neil Hilborn: “OCD,” “The Future”
•Shane Koyczan: “To This Day,” “Remember HowWe Forgot”
•Andrea Gibson: “Maybe I Need You,” “How It Ends,” “Asking Too Much”
•Sierra DeMulder: “The Unrequited Love Poem,” “Today Means Amen,” “Paper Dolls”
•Lily Myers: “Shrinking Women”
•Franny Choi: “Pop! Goes Korea!” and “Sweat”
•George Virden Watsky: “S for Lisp,” “Letter To My 16-Year-Old Self”
•Levi Macallister (Levi the Poet): “Resentment,” “Oh Captain, My Captain”
•Gina Loring: “Somewhere There Is a Poem,” “You Move Me”
•Dylan Garrity: “Friend Zone,” “Distance