SPOKEN WORD POETRY: The Voice of the Millennials

It doesn’t matter if you are a writer or not but let’s admit it everyone appreciates the beauty of literature, most especially poetry.

Filipinos love poetry. We have several amazing poets in our country such as Francisco Balagtas, Jose De la Cruz and Jose Rizal. They were known for producing beautiful works of art. But those were the old days.

Just like the world, poetry also evolved. And the new version of poetry is known as Spoken Word Poetry.

Spoken word poetry, according to the Oxford Dictionaries, is “a form or genre of a poetry intended to be performed to an audience…” Some says it is also a “contemporary balagtasan.” This kind of genre requires more compared to the typical way of performing poetry. Spoken word requires rhythm, rich phrases and wordplays. Some of the most common themes of spoken word poetry is love; but it is still up to the artist what particular topic or issue he wanted to address.

Spoken word poetry is not just performing literary piece in front of the crowd. It gives poetry a different meaning. Poetry is no longer something that just sit there on a piece of paper and waiting for somebody to read them. Poetry are not always meant to be read. Most of them are meant to be heard. With this kind of genre, you give life to every single word on that poem. The message became more aggressive, vulgar, bolder, and the purpose became more effective.

Juan Miguel Severo is just one of many Filipino poets known in this kind of genre. His poems such as Ang Huling Tulang Isusulat ‘Ko Para Sa’yo and Mga Basang Unan received a lot of praise. His poems usually talk about heartbreaks that most young people, who’s overly exposed with Hugots, can relate to. Aside from that, his choice of words and his way of performing is different; it is rich and full of emotion.

Youngsters today do not usually talk about their heartaches, their hardships and their problems. With the sudden rise of the spoken word poetry and events like open-mic session, they were given the avenue to release their emotions. They were given the chance to scream, to voice out what they believe in – they became empowered. Before, these young individuals do not have the opportunity to explain their side about certain things like societal, psychological, and political issues simply because they haven’t found their voices yet. But now, they are free to say their opinions, their suggestions, and their desired action about these issues. And most especially, they are no longer afraid to stand for what they believe is right.

Millennials always find ways to express their feelings indirectly like using hugots for example. And they use spoken word poetry for the same reason. They just want express their thoughts by writing a poem, and release the emotions by performing it. Aside from giving voice to the millennials, performing spoken word poetry also give them the opportunity to gain confidence and higher self-esteem. Who would have thought that those simple hugots and banats of this generation can actually be a form of art and eventually became the voice of the millennials.

No matter what generation it is, literature will forever be beautiful. Poetry may have changed its form but its purpose will always be the same; and it is to allow artists to open themselves and share it to rest of the world using the power of words.