I enjoyed watching this clip as well as 3 others b4 this one and I find it difficult now to leave this page ...LOL...I have never been a fan of poetry , but watching this guy perform it his way alters my opinion of disinterest .... lovin and enjoying every clip on here... thank you 4 sharing ...
Ah, the sing-song thing, which makes me cringe but is so fun to impersonate. (imagine if that many jazz musicians mimicked the same patterns of their favorite musicians, in the same key)
I've never liked poetry. Then I heard this guy and I was like WOW, he's actually saying something. As I listened I wondered why I hated poetry for my entire life. This poem has PERFECTLY described the reason why. THANK YOU, Taylor!
This is simply amazing. I never really thought about it before but everything he said is true. And his deliverance just made this all the better. And the ending! -3 So much love for this guy right now.
Billy Collins is angry there mate. Look at him fume, you've worked out his little methods. He came to my college in the UK and he called our poet laureate's work "Whimsical poems with spikes".
This poem is very good, im going take a hard look at my own writings and see how I can develop. I can be stubborn in my own tastes as im sure we all can be. In the same breath writing should be fun and it isnt when your continously changing it to suit other people ( in my own humble opinion) which may be bollocks but hey its out there.
@FalcorsPhallus Watch SlamNation. It's this documentary of the Slam Poets competition of '96, I believe. People were falling over laughing in that...It's also the performance. He puts all of his passion when it's a competition and people catch it completely...He's toned it down a lot...
@XIPM3 first, there is no reason to use that kind of language, This is a public website. Second, you cannot just judge someone based on a generalization of a group of people. He isnt a self inflated, egotistical, know it all, asshole. he is simply a person who enjoys the finer arts, something you apparently CANT enjoy. So if you think he is so bad, get off his videos and go comment on something you DO like. that is all.
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don't you think highly of yourself cunt lips. taylor mali does not know flap dick about the real world outside of the academic world- and that is no world at all- self inflated, egotistical, know it all, asshole.
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you are absolutely correct CMan- i am angry about something, i have a chip on my shoulder when it comes to teachers and anyone else who works in the world of academia.
XIPM3, learn how to compose a coherant thought next time before you make yourself look like a fool. Until then, keep your mouth shut and go back to this "real world." And by the way, this "real world" concept is just as bogus as everything else in the apparent "non-real" academic world. Every single day, for every person out there, is the real world. There is no such thing as a "real world" for some, and not for others. Next time you should try harder to reveal your arrogance, you punk.
poetry in itself is not mainstream... the only real mainstream poets are dead... emily dickinson, edgar allen poe, whitman, frost etc... you wont hear many ppl (unless they are real followers of poetry) mention today's big poets; sharon olds, william olsen marie howe
see, thou art one of these modern poets... you probably think fitty cent and jay-z are poets... don't get me wrong, this stuff is good, but it's slam poetry, something totally different from traditional, written work... it's performance art
Frost and Poe are amazing, but anyone who actually knows anything about poetry knows how hardcore Dickinson's writing sucks. Just because you write 5 poems a day doesn't mean they'll be any good. And Whitman is alright. But I cringe when people congratulate Dickinson just because they think they should.
okay im not sure if you have actually studied... because i closely researched Emily's poetry... and she's brilliant. Obviously not everyone will agree on, and enjoy the same poetry, so I understand if you do not like her poetry, but to say she "sucks" is childish, and betrays your ineptness. Her attention to rhyme, rhythm, imagery- is seemless. she counts syllables! The only flaw is- sometimes... she overdoes the hyphen.
So you're aware that all her poems have been edited and revised by other people? In their raw form most of her poems were bad and she knew it. That's why she published so few, because she didn't want them published. They were merely exercises for her to improve her writing. She has a small number of decent works, as all aged prolific writers do, but by and large the praise she receives is unwarranted. She is a historical oddity in her peculiarity and was flaunted by those who embrace mediocrity.
"Traditional" poetry has always been spoken and performed orally. In a lot of traditions, it's performed with music as well - so it's always been performance art after a fashion.
Although I have to admit, 'traditional' poetry of the traditions that I'm familiar with, including most English-language work, has a strict metre, and breaking from that does tend to devalue it as a poetic work in my eyes.
Alliteration and rhyming is not a prerequisite for poetry. As brianjeppesen points out, that was how they tried to define it for a while around the 18th-19th centuries, but going all the way back to Aristotle's Poetics, poetry is all about the aesthetics of language, and there are a lot of ways where the aesthetics of language can be expressed to enhance the overall meaning of what is being told in an artistic way.
Hey Taylor, It's Richard Peek. Hope you're doing well.. I'd love it if there was a video of you doing the poem at the finals of the Asheville 1994 Poetry slam, the one where you spoke the never speakable word..... "nigger" that set the crowd to riot. I thought we'd have to fight our way our of there, but you were, as always amazing.. Anyway, hope you're doing well.. R. p.s. We could have won that damn thing if the rest of us had been as talented as you.... You da man..
@alexiscentric That's pretty much the reaction the crowd had that night, and I did think we were going to have to fight our way out of there but Taylor was amazing. I'd never seen anything like it, before or since.. The man was and is always amazing, that night, was just unbelievable...
@rpeek I have NEVER seen a White poet say that. Admittedly, I would have an "Oh NO HE DIDN'T" moment, but I still would love to see it and have it have MEANING (and not just for shock value)
So here I am listening to yet another poem spoken and written by and you and I find my self in marvel. If I had attended such a recitation I know exactly what I would have said to you. I would have said. "Teach me." I have aspirations to be a poet but I find the poetical norm hard to mold around but if I form my own structures of out of the clay they get upset at me and claim that its not right. So I would like to say that you have inspired me to become better at what I love doing. Thank you.
i say to hell with the poetical norm. Poetry is art. Art is a way to say things that cannot be said in normally. Why would we want to hear another poet just doing the same things every other poet had done? If people don't like your style then they can find another poem to read. Express yourself however you want to. Be different. Be "wrong." What does it matter, as long as you are saying something that matters?
I like his point. I've read poetry before and I sorta felt like I should be reading like like I have heard other authors read it. But then I was like fuck it.. Im doin it my way
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I watched some of the guy's poems before and he seems like a guy who writes poetry for all the wrong reasons. He does slam poetry solely because he looks at it as competition...
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you're right... I do enjoy this, but i wouldn't call it poetry... it is definitely art, but i would describe this more as "rapping" (don't think dr. dre or snoop dog) i'm mean talking to get a point across in an artistic way... but there is no alliteration here, or rhyme, or rhythm or stanza structure (these are all examples of poetic craft) that would make this a poem...
It surprises me that you say this. This is poetry. Contemporary poetry is mostly free-form, meaning it usually drops the rigid stanzaic and metrical forms used a century ago. Freeform poetry has been around for quite some time now. Check out Blast!, which was a serious of pieces that were experimented with the placement of words on the page more like a mosaic than in the lines or paragraphs we are so fond of. This is poetry. It's just not 19th century.
I'd like to point a few things out. Last time I checked, poetry has no rules, no black and white boundaries. Stop arguing whether or not art is for the self or the whole, it's both. Like anything else, you have extremes both ways, but the middle path is the wisest. Andy Warhol once said "Art is what you can get away with." In all honesty, it doesn't matter what one person, or a group of people think. Art is open to everyone.
freaking hate poets. I recited one I wrote about getting my wisdom teeth taken out at this high-school poetry something or other, and the audience loved it, but the artsy students like Mali's talking about dismissed it as if I wasn't SERIOUSLY thinking of entering that poem. they said that to my face, too. bastards.
the first lesson of poetry you need to learn is that you do it for yourself. You're right that there are a lot of judgemental pricks in the poetry scene--don't let anyone stop you from creating your art, man. There's too fucking little of it in the world at it is.
art is for the self. If other people get any pleasure or meaning from it, all the better, but it is not a requirement. Anyone who creates art for others will inevitably be disappointed.
"One writes only for a reader. Whoever says he writes only for himself is not necessarily lying. It is just that he is frighteningly atheistic. Even from a rigorously secular point of view." -Umberto Eco
you seriously don't know what you're talking about. it isn't about attention whoring, but communicating, and you'll never be very good at it if you're only doing it for yourself
one more: "Why should you examine your writing style with the idea of improving it? Do so as a mark of respect for your readers, whatever youre writing. If you scribble your thoughts any which way, your readers will surely feel that you care nothing about them. They will mark you down as an egomaniac or a chowderhead--or worse, they will stop reading you."
i'm not the self-centered one here. at all. a troll maybe, but also a troll who's right
A poem is simply a group of words that arouse emotion from it's meaning. There is no requirement about whether the ideas are for someone or not. Poetry should be written to express oneself. If I write a poem that helps me get through the day, and no one else will ever hear it, should I have not bothered, and just remained miserable? No. Poetry can be therapeutic for just yourself.
I think art should be treated individually. Stop placing useless rules upon it. If you don't like the poem, shut up
i like the poem, you people are just glad-handing tools that give poetry a bad name
if writing helps you get through the day, hey great, jacking off serves the same purpose, but don't delude yourself into thinking you're creating art/poetry any more than a masturbator is creating babies.
art is what happens at the intersection between the artist and audience, and without the audience, it's all vanity.
write to be heard, and write to be judged. your writing will better because of it
@drone81 I agree you're right in a way. It is really helpful to takecriticism and to see the reaction of people when you deliver your poem. I myself have used the expression 'mental masturbation' about my own stuff when it feels like im rambling with no direction or whatever, but I wouldnt say poetry is not art without an audience. That sounds like vanity to me but I may be wrong. As if without other peoples validation we can not be what we want to be?
@drone81 I write for myself with hopes that it will reach others but if it doesnt then i have still accomplished something in my eyes, call it what you want. I am sorry if ive misunderstood your point, if so i would be happy to hear more thoughts on this. For instance do you thin that a painting isnt a painting until it is put ina gallery and bought?
@13thfloor18 a painting is a painting so long as it consists of paint. sure, it might accomplish *something,* but that doesn't necessarily make it a work of art. there's no art without communication, and in order to communicate, one must have an audience.
that doesn't mean people have to pay extravagant sums for it--give it away to a homeless guy if you want--but if you just keep it tucked away in an attic and nobody ever knows it exists, then it only exists to stroke your own ego.
@drone81 I see what you mean. It's an interesting point and i've been thinking about your opinion and how it applies to me, so thanks. I have fears of showing my writings but I do anyway so it must be that important. This fear I suppose is more about people not reacting than a good or bad reaction so it strenghtens your point I think. Art has to reflect back at you and react with people to be expressed?
WOW. that was amazing. this guy i know really needs to read what you just wrote. he doesn't get the message. he contradicts himself, saying "i write for myself" yet on facebook his status updates give updates about his poems and beggin for attention.
@drone81 I like what you are saying except 'art is what happens at the intersection between the artist and audience, and without the audience, it's all vanity" I mean as far as poets go some of the best never did shows and Emily Dickinson never even really went out of her house.
Art is something that catches you and sticks with you, no matter how it is made. Art just is. When it hits you you know it.
@clinker243 i don't think you know as much about dickinson as you think you do.
dickinson shared her poetry often and freely, mostly through personal letters, and a relative handful were published during her lifetime. the people with whom she corresponded served as critics and, in the case of susan gilbert, 'muse.' she continuously sought creative and publication advice from thomas higginson, beginning during her most reclusive (and productive) literary period and continuing until her death.
@clinker243 [cont'd] so the idea that dickinson was just a recluse living in amherst writing only for herself is a pretty ridiculous caricature of someone who had a pretty rich--if unconventional--social life. she actively sought feedback and criticism and incorporated it into her work, and more importantly, she understood that art must have an audience to be meaningful.
@drone81 thx for that reply. yea I was exaggerating when I said that about Dickenson (also I don't claim to know much about poetry). I knew some of her stuff was published during her life but not much, most of her poems I thought were found later stashed away like they didn't really matter. High school English doesn't go too deep into the subject. I do know though that you can be artistic without an audience, and some sell out for more fans or money. Art is art no matter who sees/hears it.
@clinker243 well whether individual works see the light during the artist's lifetime is kind of beside the point, which is that dickinson did seek out an audience. besides one of the earliest and best works in the english language (the canterbury tales) is unfinished. but both sought out listeners, and any artist with any interest in growing should put their work out there for others to experience because that's the only way growth happens...
@clinker243 [contd] and more than that, unless someone eventually sees what you're doing, you just can't call it art. just because some people let go of their own statements in favor of giving over to a more profitable crowd doesn't change that fact. to use your terms, unless a book, song, movie, or whatever has a chance of 'catching' and 'sticking with' and 'hitting' somebody besides the person who created it, it just can't be called art.
@drone81 I've never read a Dickinson biography that didn't sketch her as a reclusive shut-in. Where have you seen this? I'm genuinely curious, not trying to prove a point. Habegger definitely puts emphasis on her unwillingness to leave the house unless it was absolutely necessary in his bio for her.
@Flubly i'm not trying to say she wasn't reclusive. she was. but it wasn't because she was anti-social, and it wasn't because she was shy or anything. all i'm saying is that it's not like she lost contact with the outside world or wrote in a vaccuum or anything.
Who is a poet anyway John? What makes 'them' poets and you not a poet? Inferno's right. Your words are yours. Whoever tries to tell you that you suck, just stick it to them and keep going. Hec, use it for your next poem.
Keep rockin it man...and same goes everybody else.
this is true, i spoke with someone in our media center and they gave me some advice on how to use these vids in the classroom. it would just be easier and a higher quality if i could buy a dvd. thanks though. :)
aww man he left out some good lines. Is that Billy Collins next to him? Its hilarious the way he looks at Taylor at the end of the poem, like he was criticizing him the whole time!
awesome!
amateurgod 1 week ago
Is that Billy Collins on stage with him?
Cantaketheskyfrome 2 weeks ago
This sums up what I always thought of New Age spoken word.
funkbrother216 3 weeks ago
Brilliant!
HugeGene 1 month ago
is he making fun of slam poetry? I love him, but I was just wondering...
Poet2916 2 months ago in playlist More videos from taylormali
@Poet2916 Sounds like he's mocking the perversion of it. He can't possibly be thinking of Sonia Sanchez or The Last Poets.
funkbrother216 3 weeks ago
I enjoyed watching this clip as well as 3 others b4 this one and I find it difficult now to leave this page ...LOL...I have never been a fan of poetry , but watching this guy perform it his way alters my opinion of disinterest .... lovin and enjoying every clip on here... thank you 4 sharing ...
taniran3 3 months ago 2
Reminds me of Severus Snape
StfuMinjaKid 3 months ago 5
@StfuMinjaKid I thought this before I read your comment. o.O
larynxist 1 month ago
Where and when was this?
MrCiscojae 3 months ago
Taylor Liam = Orally Am It
mediamannaman 4 months ago
Dine on my verval dust...nicely done Taylor.
poppavanlear 5 months ago
@poppavanlear *verbal
Kzzori 4 months ago in playlist Taylor Mali
this is funny because ive been to a lot of poetry readings where its been done.haha
79blt 5 months ago
hahaha awesome
thewinebottle 5 months ago
LOL. He's been to the same readings I've been to. Odd we've never met.
ataaah 6 months ago
12 people can't be poets.
ZzLacyisadinozZ 6 months ago
I am a writer, eat my verbal dust!
IBvictim2012 6 months ago 2
Ah, the sing-song thing, which makes me cringe but is so fun to impersonate. (imagine if that many jazz musicians mimicked the same patterns of their favorite musicians, in the same key)
Well done! Thumb up! :)
apocalypsynch 6 months ago
I've never liked poetry. Then I heard this guy and I was like WOW, he's actually saying something. As I listened I wondered why I hated poetry for my entire life. This poem has PERFECTLY described the reason why. THANK YOU, Taylor!
UniversalPotentate 7 months ago 2
I LOVE THIS
AndyRiot 8 months ago
I watch this whenever I'm having trouble with my poetry. It's just too good.
PerfectEight 8 months ago
Eat my verbal dust!
esdorin 8 months ago
Awesome
jhilgartner17 9 months ago
I've said it before, I'll say it again. If I had teachers like you in school, I never would have dropped out.
Laviedusurrealisme 9 months ago 64
This is simply amazing. I never really thought about it before but everything he said is true. And his deliverance just made this all the better. And the ending! -3 So much love for this guy right now.
selaliwallace 9 months ago
Oh god I love everything about this poem. Thank you.
plaidpantsglory 10 months ago
this guy is so freaking badass haha
zangetsu602 10 months ago
wthell why can't i have a cool ass teacher like you!
031004 10 months ago 3
Spot on, stellar, and describes 90% of the "Slam" poets currently performing.
ThePoemCritic 10 months ago
Billy Collins is angry there mate. Look at him fume, you've worked out his little methods. He came to my college in the UK and he called our poet laureate's work "Whimsical poems with spikes".
smirkingkills 10 months ago
AWESOME!
CHECK OUT FREESTYLE AND FLOW DOT COM TO COMMENT OR RATE MY RHYMES! THANKS
freestyleandflow1 11 months ago
man im glad u said it because i didnt want to say anything
weirdgirl2345 1 year ago
annoying slam poetry candance, hilarious.
katayani108 1 year ago
I am a writer, eat my verbal dust...
BlackKat71 1 year ago
This poem is very good, im going take a hard look at my own writings and see how I can develop. I can be stubborn in my own tastes as im sure we all can be. In the same breath writing should be fun and it isnt when your continously changing it to suit other people ( in my own humble opinion) which may be bollocks but hey its out there.
13thfloor18 1 year ago
taylor mali is fuckin hilarious
0thatdudewill0 1 year ago
Taylor Mali, you are, my idol.
I hope to be like you when I grow up.
TheWuzzyLine 1 year ago
this guy is great
PennSwift 1 year ago
As they read, and read, and... read?
KatLoveMusic 1 year ago
follow me on twiter RAZ101
RAZTHEPOET 1 year ago
"Eat my verbal dust." Lovely!
AngelOfPoeticJustice 1 year ago
I love this poem. And I can't stand all the stuff he's making fun of! Nailed it! "I....am....signing off. Now..."
GeneBurnett 1 year ago
you are a true performer, and a guy who could change a lot of things. you just have that determination that you've built.
love you! keep up the good work!
peace and love from Belgrade, Serbia.
OMERTA011 1 year ago
hahahah!!! excellent!
shelell 1 year ago
I've just spent the last two hours becoming a huge fan of you.
KaritaMcB 1 year ago 51
@KaritaMcB You're not the only one.
Quazar68688 1 year ago
@KaritaMcB Same here :-)
snikkel111 1 year ago
It's performances like this that convinced me poetry wasn't necessarily boring, pretentious and annoying. Thank you.
MrTiramus 1 year ago 3
What a performance!
getreallanguage 1 year ago
WHY ISN'T ANYONE LAUGHING!!! You, sir, are hilarious!
FalcorsPhallus 1 year ago
@FalcorsPhallus Watch SlamNation. It's this documentary of the Slam Poets competition of '96, I believe. People were falling over laughing in that...It's also the performance. He puts all of his passion when it's a competition and people catch it completely...He's toned it down a lot...
jash89723 1 year ago
BRUTAL HAHA
illfaptothis 1 year ago
my god, i know someone who does allll her poetry exactly like this and i could never figure out why it annoyed me so. thank you taylor. thank you.
mark1800 1 year ago
Haha
"...eat my verbal dust." I just might have to pull that out during a very intense game of Scrabble with my brother.
Brilliant. Positively brilliant.
thedarkhands 1 year ago 2
so true & hilarious
imaginarydrummer 1 year ago
I like, like it, you know?
juicysundaycat 1 year ago 2
That was one of his best, methinks.
orla506 1 year ago
I think his best is "What Teachers Make"
Fragacide 1 year ago 5
@XIPM3 first, there is no reason to use that kind of language, This is a public website. Second, you cannot just judge someone based on a generalization of a group of people. He isnt a self inflated, egotistical, know it all, asshole. he is simply a person who enjoys the finer arts, something you apparently CANT enjoy. So if you think he is so bad, get off his videos and go comment on something you DO like. that is all.
GenericNinja17 1 year ago
This is soooo amazing... :)
luckyb1rd 1 year ago
WHY aren't the people laughing their asses off??!!
willypearl 1 year ago 20
lmao cuz they're 'poets' :-p
thecharredremain 1 year ago 3
@willypearl ;) Because they feel guilty.
aC1dxN1gHtM4rEs 3 months ago
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this is what happens when people lose touch with reality- they come up with this drivel. fuck taylor mali.
XIPM3 1 year ago
No no, my naive friend. This is what happens when people comprehend reality.
Fingolfin3423 1 year ago
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don't you think highly of yourself cunt lips. taylor mali does not know flap dick about the real world outside of the academic world- and that is no world at all- self inflated, egotistical, know it all, asshole.
XIPM3 1 year ago
Wow, penis envy much? You seem angry about something. Is it Mr. Mali or is it you're pissed off we're not watching a video about you?
TheCMan 1 year ago 2
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you are absolutely correct CMan- i am angry about something, i have a chip on my shoulder when it comes to teachers and anyone else who works in the world of academia.
XIPM3 1 year ago
so does everybody in academia.
niktp 1 year ago
XIPM3, learn how to compose a coherant thought next time before you make yourself look like a fool. Until then, keep your mouth shut and go back to this "real world." And by the way, this "real world" concept is just as bogus as everything else in the apparent "non-real" academic world. Every single day, for every person out there, is the real world. There is no such thing as a "real world" for some, and not for others. Next time you should try harder to reveal your arrogance, you punk.
Fingolfin3423 1 year ago
Epic.
RumOom 1 year ago
i am a writer, eat my verbal dust! X] actualLOL
error19 2 years ago 7
this guy is awesome
neowired 2 years ago
Yes!
AudibleFixation 2 years ago
Yes!
AudibleFixation 2 years ago
The ironic thing is... this poem.
02nothing 2 years ago 3
dang hahaha. Mali is so amazing.
noestabien 2 years ago 2
Billy Collins almost looked spiteful at the end there.
Refoops 2 years ago 33
how could you follow that?
jonathanswift 2 years ago 4
awesome. faved.
Clairifus 2 years ago 3
I'm just saying, this wouldn't get published by any major poetry magazines...
WVUrockerBoy 2 years ago
of course not... its spoken word poetry, its not meant to be written down. Its not purely about the words, its also a performance art.
bryankelly 2 years ago 6
yes
WVUrockerBoy 2 years ago
(Insert anything non-mainstream) wouldn't either.
TheSubtleNinja 2 years ago 2
poetry in itself is not mainstream... the only real mainstream poets are dead... emily dickinson, edgar allen poe, whitman, frost etc... you wont hear many ppl (unless they are real followers of poetry) mention today's big poets; sharon olds, william olsen marie howe
WVUrockerBoy 2 years ago
Dickinson is downright awful, and Whitman takes a lot of booze to choke down.
D0g63rt 1 year ago
see, thou art one of these modern poets... you probably think fitty cent and jay-z are poets... don't get me wrong, this stuff is good, but it's slam poetry, something totally different from traditional, written work... it's performance art
WVUrockerBoy 1 year ago
Frost and Poe are amazing, but anyone who actually knows anything about poetry knows how hardcore Dickinson's writing sucks. Just because you write 5 poems a day doesn't mean they'll be any good. And Whitman is alright. But I cringe when people congratulate Dickinson just because they think they should.
D0g63rt 1 year ago
okay im not sure if you have actually studied... because i closely researched Emily's poetry... and she's brilliant. Obviously not everyone will agree on, and enjoy the same poetry, so I understand if you do not like her poetry, but to say she "sucks" is childish, and betrays your ineptness. Her attention to rhyme, rhythm, imagery- is seemless. she counts syllables! The only flaw is- sometimes... she overdoes the hyphen.
WVUrockerBoy 1 year ago
So you're aware that all her poems have been edited and revised by other people? In their raw form most of her poems were bad and she knew it. That's why she published so few, because she didn't want them published. They were merely exercises for her to improve her writing. She has a small number of decent works, as all aged prolific writers do, but by and large the praise she receives is unwarranted. She is a historical oddity in her peculiarity and was flaunted by those who embrace mediocrity.
D0g63rt 1 year ago
@WVUrockerBoy
"Traditional" poetry has always been spoken and performed orally. In a lot of traditions, it's performed with music as well - so it's always been performance art after a fashion.
Although I have to admit, 'traditional' poetry of the traditions that I'm familiar with, including most English-language work, has a strict metre, and breaking from that does tend to devalue it as a poetic work in my eyes.
cuckingfunts 1 year ago
Well, it's slam poetry.
It's meant to be performed, not read.
ocdtwilight27 2 years ago 7
agreed
WVUrockerBoy 2 years ago
Alliteration and rhyming is not a prerequisite for poetry. As brianjeppesen points out, that was how they tried to define it for a while around the 18th-19th centuries, but going all the way back to Aristotle's Poetics, poetry is all about the aesthetics of language, and there are a lot of ways where the aesthetics of language can be expressed to enhance the overall meaning of what is being told in an artistic way.
krippy2k 2 years ago
seamless description of all the artsy band-wagon dorks in my creative writing senior capstone class
WVUrockerBoy 2 years ago
Hey Taylor, It's Richard Peek. Hope you're doing well.. I'd love it if there was a video of you doing the poem at the finals of the Asheville 1994 Poetry slam, the one where you spoke the never speakable word..... "nigger" that set the crowd to riot. I thought we'd have to fight our way our of there, but you were, as always amazing.. Anyway, hope you're doing well.. R. p.s. We could have won that damn thing if the rest of us had been as talented as you.... You da man..
rpeek 2 years ago 33
Hello, Outlaw Trucker! How goes it? A video of that performance does exist somewhere. I've seen it. It's better in your memory. Trust me.
taylormali 2 years ago 25
Probably true.. It's pretty good in my memory. Hope you're doing well.. take care..
rpeek 2 years ago
@taylormali
Thank you for your words and light. I lost my husband in 2008, "For the Life of Me" is magic
3dogsdesert 1 year ago
@rpeek Whoa! Ummm... I would like to see that actually.
alexiscentric 11 months ago
@alexiscentric Yea, I'd like to see it too, but I bet Taylor's right. It's probably much better in my memory.. hahaha.
rpeek 11 months ago
Comment removed
alexiscentric 11 months ago
@alexiscentric That's pretty much the reaction the crowd had that night, and I did think we were going to have to fight our way out of there but Taylor was amazing. I'd never seen anything like it, before or since.. The man was and is always amazing, that night, was just unbelievable...
rpeek 11 months ago
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@rpeek I have NEVER seen a White poet say that. Admittedly, I would have an "Oh NO HE DIDN'T" moment, but I still would love to see it and have it have MEANING (and not just for shock value)
alexiscentric 11 months ago
lol..this is sooo true..it's annoying when poets do this too...he's so right.
exprodigal83 2 years ago
So here I am listening to yet another poem spoken and written by and you and I find my self in marvel. If I had attended such a recitation I know exactly what I would have said to you. I would have said. "Teach me." I have aspirations to be a poet but I find the poetical norm hard to mold around but if I form my own structures of out of the clay they get upset at me and claim that its not right. So I would like to say that you have inspired me to become better at what I love doing. Thank you.
UnmaskedTime 2 years ago 3
i say to hell with the poetical norm. Poetry is art. Art is a way to say things that cannot be said in normally. Why would we want to hear another poet just doing the same things every other poet had done? If people don't like your style then they can find another poem to read. Express yourself however you want to. Be different. Be "wrong." What does it matter, as long as you are saying something that matters?
jazzfusionforall 2 years ago 2
I like his point. I've read poetry before and I sorta felt like I should be reading like like I have heard other authors read it. But then I was like fuck it.. Im doin it my way
blackstillos44 2 years ago
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I watched some of the guy's poems before and he seems like a guy who writes poetry for all the wrong reasons. He does slam poetry solely because he looks at it as competition...
amanjunk 2 years ago
watch what teachers make or the impotence of proof reading...this guy has an uncannny style of poetry that i appreciate
jusboss21 2 years ago
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you're right... I do enjoy this, but i wouldn't call it poetry... it is definitely art, but i would describe this more as "rapping" (don't think dr. dre or snoop dog) i'm mean talking to get a point across in an artistic way... but there is no alliteration here, or rhyme, or rhythm or stanza structure (these are all examples of poetic craft) that would make this a poem...
but like i said, it is enjoyable
WVUrockerBoy 2 years ago
It surprises me that you say this. This is poetry. Contemporary poetry is mostly free-form, meaning it usually drops the rigid stanzaic and metrical forms used a century ago. Freeform poetry has been around for quite some time now. Check out Blast!, which was a serious of pieces that were experimented with the placement of words on the page more like a mosaic than in the lines or paragraphs we are so fond of. This is poetry. It's just not 19th century.
brianjeppesen 2 years ago 6
Funny. And sadly, true.
squeekytoy123 2 years ago 2
he's taken the language and just.... pimped it. He's amazing!
banghiphorray 2 years ago 2
I would so watch 'Pimp my Poem' if he hosted it.
NihonShorty 2 years ago 2
I love his poetry...it's far better mine
I stick to safety, just meter and rhyme
Maybe it's the influence of old Dr. Seuss
That has me bound in this poetic noose
mathgeek37 2 years ago 8
It's weird how I agree with BOTH Squallboy1 and drone81 - and I'm a poet! It's good to live in the middle :D
Just1the2boy 2 years ago
i do as well
jusboss21 2 years ago
absolutely hilarious.
kimciotola 2 years ago
I thought I recognized billy collins... he is awesome... and actually... I like this poem even better than "What teachers make"
Just because it is so true!!!
alfisuck 2 years ago 2
he talks about the same thing in LIKE all of his LIKE poems!...
PvtSkittlez313 2 years ago 2
Ha, I never noticed Billy Collins. That must have been an awesome reading.
tonpole 2 years ago
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deadonred 2 years ago
That would be "write"
mrnvisible 2 years ago
I'd like to point a few things out. Last time I checked, poetry has no rules, no black and white boundaries. Stop arguing whether or not art is for the self or the whole, it's both. Like anything else, you have extremes both ways, but the middle path is the wisest. Andy Warhol once said "Art is what you can get away with." In all honesty, it doesn't matter what one person, or a group of people think. Art is open to everyone.
mrmoomoocow 2 years ago
he is the best
merfytruth22 2 years ago
freaking hate poets. I recited one I wrote about getting my wisdom teeth taken out at this high-school poetry something or other, and the audience loved it, but the artsy students like Mali's talking about dismissed it as if I wasn't SERIOUSLY thinking of entering that poem. they said that to my face, too. bastards.
johnplaystuba 2 years ago
the first lesson of poetry you need to learn is that you do it for yourself. You're right that there are a lot of judgemental pricks in the poetry scene--don't let anyone stop you from creating your art, man. There's too fucking little of it in the world at it is.
Inferno41 2 years ago
hey, guess what
if you write poetry for yourself, you're just jacking off
any poet who says otherwise isn't a poet, just somebody enamored by their own genetalia
hope this helps
drone81 2 years ago
not very often I meet an open attention whore.
art is for the self. If other people get any pleasure or meaning from it, all the better, but it is not a requirement. Anyone who creates art for others will inevitably be disappointed.
Inferno41 2 years ago 4
"One writes only for a reader. Whoever says he writes only for himself is not necessarily lying. It is just that he is frighteningly atheistic. Even from a rigorously secular point of view." -Umberto Eco
you seriously don't know what you're talking about. it isn't about attention whoring, but communicating, and you'll never be very good at it if you're only doing it for yourself
drone81 2 years ago
one more: "Why should you examine your writing style with the idea of improving it? Do so as a mark of respect for your readers, whatever youre writing. If you scribble your thoughts any which way, your readers will surely feel that you care nothing about them. They will mark you down as an egomaniac or a chowderhead--or worse, they will stop reading you."
i'm not the self-centered one here. at all. a troll maybe, but also a troll who's right
drone81 2 years ago
A poem is simply a group of words that arouse emotion from it's meaning. There is no requirement about whether the ideas are for someone or not. Poetry should be written to express oneself. If I write a poem that helps me get through the day, and no one else will ever hear it, should I have not bothered, and just remained miserable? No. Poetry can be therapeutic for just yourself.
I think art should be treated individually. Stop placing useless rules upon it. If you don't like the poem, shut up
Squallboy1 2 years ago 3
i like the poem, you people are just glad-handing tools that give poetry a bad name
if writing helps you get through the day, hey great, jacking off serves the same purpose, but don't delude yourself into thinking you're creating art/poetry any more than a masturbator is creating babies.
art is what happens at the intersection between the artist and audience, and without the audience, it's all vanity.
write to be heard, and write to be judged. your writing will better because of it
drone81 2 years ago 24
@drone81 I agree you're right in a way. It is really helpful to takecriticism and to see the reaction of people when you deliver your poem. I myself have used the expression 'mental masturbation' about my own stuff when it feels like im rambling with no direction or whatever, but I wouldnt say poetry is not art without an audience. That sounds like vanity to me but I may be wrong. As if without other peoples validation we can not be what we want to be?
13thfloor18 1 year ago
@drone81 I write for myself with hopes that it will reach others but if it doesnt then i have still accomplished something in my eyes, call it what you want. I am sorry if ive misunderstood your point, if so i would be happy to hear more thoughts on this. For instance do you thin that a painting isnt a painting until it is put ina gallery and bought?
13thfloor18 1 year ago
@13thfloor18 a painting is a painting so long as it consists of paint. sure, it might accomplish *something,* but that doesn't necessarily make it a work of art. there's no art without communication, and in order to communicate, one must have an audience.
that doesn't mean people have to pay extravagant sums for it--give it away to a homeless guy if you want--but if you just keep it tucked away in an attic and nobody ever knows it exists, then it only exists to stroke your own ego.
drone81 1 year ago
@drone81 I see what you mean. It's an interesting point and i've been thinking about your opinion and how it applies to me, so thanks. I have fears of showing my writings but I do anyway so it must be that important. This fear I suppose is more about people not reacting than a good or bad reaction so it strenghtens your point I think. Art has to reflect back at you and react with people to be expressed?
13thfloor18 1 year ago
@13thfloor18 more or less. like i said, art is the experience that lies at the intersection of the artist and the audience.
drone81 1 year ago
@drone81
WOW. that was amazing. this guy i know really needs to read what you just wrote. he doesn't get the message. he contradicts himself, saying "i write for myself" yet on facebook his status updates give updates about his poems and beggin for attention.
Moiez101 1 year ago
@drone81 I like what you are saying except 'art is what happens at the intersection between the artist and audience, and without the audience, it's all vanity" I mean as far as poets go some of the best never did shows and Emily Dickinson never even really went out of her house.
Art is something that catches you and sticks with you, no matter how it is made. Art just is. When it hits you you know it.
clinker243 1 year ago
@clinker243 i don't think you know as much about dickinson as you think you do.
dickinson shared her poetry often and freely, mostly through personal letters, and a relative handful were published during her lifetime. the people with whom she corresponded served as critics and, in the case of susan gilbert, 'muse.' she continuously sought creative and publication advice from thomas higginson, beginning during her most reclusive (and productive) literary period and continuing until her death.
drone81 1 year ago
@clinker243 [cont'd] so the idea that dickinson was just a recluse living in amherst writing only for herself is a pretty ridiculous caricature of someone who had a pretty rich--if unconventional--social life. she actively sought feedback and criticism and incorporated it into her work, and more importantly, she understood that art must have an audience to be meaningful.
drone81 1 year ago
@drone81 thx for that reply. yea I was exaggerating when I said that about Dickenson (also I don't claim to know much about poetry). I knew some of her stuff was published during her life but not much, most of her poems I thought were found later stashed away like they didn't really matter. High school English doesn't go too deep into the subject. I do know though that you can be artistic without an audience, and some sell out for more fans or money. Art is art no matter who sees/hears it.
clinker243 1 year ago
@clinker243 well whether individual works see the light during the artist's lifetime is kind of beside the point, which is that dickinson did seek out an audience. besides one of the earliest and best works in the english language (the canterbury tales) is unfinished. but both sought out listeners, and any artist with any interest in growing should put their work out there for others to experience because that's the only way growth happens...
drone81 1 year ago
@clinker243 [contd] and more than that, unless someone eventually sees what you're doing, you just can't call it art. just because some people let go of their own statements in favor of giving over to a more profitable crowd doesn't change that fact. to use your terms, unless a book, song, movie, or whatever has a chance of 'catching' and 'sticking with' and 'hitting' somebody besides the person who created it, it just can't be called art.
drone81 1 year ago
@drone81 I've never read a Dickinson biography that didn't sketch her as a reclusive shut-in. Where have you seen this? I'm genuinely curious, not trying to prove a point. Habegger definitely puts emphasis on her unwillingness to leave the house unless it was absolutely necessary in his bio for her.
Flubly 11 months ago
@Flubly i'm not trying to say she wasn't reclusive. she was. but it wasn't because she was anti-social, and it wasn't because she was shy or anything. all i'm saying is that it's not like she lost contact with the outside world or wrote in a vaccuum or anything.
drone81 11 months ago
most of the people who are majorly judgemental can't write anyway. keep that in mind. poetry is about releasing yourself.
winterssoulstyce 2 years ago
Who is a poet anyway John? What makes them a poet, and you not a poet?
You wanna write, write. You wanna perform, perform. And whoever tries to tell you that you suck, just stick it to em.
Keep going dude. Your poetry is yours/
rosesonagrave 2 years ago
Who is a poet anyway John? What makes 'them' poets and you not a poet? Inferno's right. Your words are yours. Whoever tries to tell you that you suck, just stick it to them and keep going. Hec, use it for your next poem.
Keep rockin it man...and same goes everybody else.
rosesonagrave 2 years ago
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dude my class thinx that your not that kool [and stuff] but keep on playin that tooba BRO
squashhunter 2 years ago
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BTW:
SQUASHHUNTER was talkin' 'bout the original tubameister, JOHN. [Word, y'all.]
squashhunter 2 years ago
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i'm lovin' it
caffeine3ree 3 years ago
He is a phenominal poet.
navipuppy10 3 years ago
This guy's a genius. : )
aphenobarbitol 3 years ago 2
Ahh this is fantastic.
FullPacketOfChipsSka 3 years ago
Yes that is Billy Collins and he has the right to criticize. What I want to know is why are they on stage together?
cmd788 3 years ago
according to wikipedia theyve performed together before
codyzo 2 years ago
this is amazing.
NatFlyer 3 years ago
Beautiful, man. Tell those toffee-nosed PhD poets right where to stickit!
twil9ght 3 years ago
Good stuff. The old dude didn't seem to like it too much though.
jonmahoney04 3 years ago
this is true, i spoke with someone in our media center and they gave me some advice on how to use these vids in the classroom. it would just be easier and a higher quality if i could buy a dvd. thanks though. :)
multiz007 3 years ago
I wish Taylor sold dvd's. I can use them in my English classes.
multiz007 3 years ago
You could always use a digital projector and internet hook up. That is what a prof. here used in class.
Desiree1987 3 years ago
aww man he left out some good lines. Is that Billy Collins next to him? Its hilarious the way he looks at Taylor at the end of the poem, like he was criticizing him the whole time!
rere998877 3 years ago
excellente
surtursfire 3 years ago 2
so good
sprkid3 3 years ago 2
Taylor Mali's poems always make me smile. = )
Shadsky15 3 years ago 3
Love this poem too.
podcastbard 3 years ago
I love this poem! It's all in the delivery :]
yolandawaldeck 3 years ago 3
Hey Taylor - what about the line "Glaconian, distemic, irrepscenteelia—"
Did you leave that out on purpose?
BridgeDeAgua 3 years ago
I thought that I was articulate....
Until I heard this man speak.
I have far to go....
GreatestBear 3 years ago 6
I thought that I was articulate....
Until I heard this man speak.
I have far to go....
GreatestBear 3 years ago 2
whats this about? i dont get it .
kacekace 3 years ago