Friday June 27th, 2008

The exercise:

Welcome back to Def Poetry Jam Friday. Up first, a quick update on my attempt to stop uptalking - it lasted until last night when, around 6:30, I said 'The greens in the salad are from the garden, right?" I knew damn well the greens were from the garden - I picked them myself! Ah well, starting over.

This week's performance to discuss is a powerful piece by Daniel Beaty called Knock knock.

Mine:

The first time I saw this video it gave me chills. It still does. The passion in this performance is so intense that I don't know how anyone could not be touched by it in some way.

The transformation from his first words to his last are incredible, and the audience changes with him. He begins with a 'I have a little story to tell you' demeanor and the crowd quiets down to listen, a distance between them and this man on stage.

By the half way point he has taken on a 'You will listen to my story' style and the audience has closed the gap, they are wrapped around his words. The intensity is building and they are going along this journey with him whether they want to or not.

At the end he has grabbed the audience by the throat and they are up there with him. There is no separation between performer and audience. His words are the only things in that room that matter to anyone.

Listening to this piece I get to the point that I'm hanging on every word, almost so much that I lose the forest to the tree. I have to step back to hear the entirety of his message and it's important that I do so. This is a man who knows the true value of a father, who will make an incredible father himself one day if he is not already. The only reason he knows the word 'neglect' is because he suffered from it, not because he will do anything remotely like that to his children.

It is a reminder to us all to be grateful for the attentive parents we have had, or it is a comfort to those who were not so lucky to know that they are not alone. It is a brave, vulnerable spoken word performance and we should all feel fortunate to have been witness to it.

Keeping in the tradition that I started last Friday, here is another piece by Daniel Beaty for your viewing and thinking pleasure. Sorry for the long intro, this was the only decent quality version I could find.