A&E
Rosen delivers impassioned performance
By Kyandreia Jones ’19
December 8, 2016
Tags a+e
Vibes, Written & Spoken brought Spoken Word Artist Mike Rosen to campus this past Wednesday, Dec. 7 in the Fillius Events Barn. The audience sat on the floor as the poet walked up to the mic. There were freshly typed poems enclosed in his hands, others patiently waited behind his lips. He called the audience “angels” as he told us, “Don’t try to fold your wings to fit through doors.”
From the moment he stepped onto the stage, Rosen implored members of the audience to recognize their own importance and also to value it. Moreover, he expressed the necessity of not conforming to social norms or society’s ideas of oneself and simply living joyously and freely despite preconceived notions of happiness.
Throughout the performance he stayed true to the assertion that he was less interested in the poetry he performed and more interested in the conversations his poems created. Touching on topics from politics, how trying the year 2016 has been for many individuals, love and an addiction to brokenness, Rosen’s poems all had one common feature: an ever powerful voice.
Inspired by a Def Comedy Jam he saw as a kid, Rosen said about being a slam poet, “Half the battle for me was knowing that this art form existed.” However, when he learned of slam poetry’s existence, joking that he cannot sing or dance, he sought refuge in the art form as a means to create meaningful conversations.
“That [slam poetry] was a way to use my voice in such a powerful way,” said Rosen, “ that struck me as the most powerful way I have ever seen anyone use their voice.”
Then, he shared his voice with us and those who sat before him listened with focused attention. Several times between poems the New York City native reminded the intimate crowd that it was more than appropriate to clap, to yell, to curse and simply react honestly and “exist in the moment” with him. But yet, his voice took up the space in all its heartbreaking sincerity and unapologetic emotion, so to react often felt like a violation. Also there were many poems in which the lines were so pure in their truth that it stunned the audience, silencing us so the poetry could do its work. His poetry made the people in the room feel what Rosen said as we found ourselves wrapped in the poet’s figurative, metaphoric language, his powerful voice and the sheer force of his performance.
“What I love about a slam setting is that it is a chance to share,” Rosen said, when asked why he shared his poetry and became a slam poet. “[The slam setting] is a place of real honesty that in any other way no other art form comes close to.”
I am confident that many members of the audience would agree with Rosen’s comment that spaces in which slam poetry occur are “so utterly confessional that it’s hard to leave a poetry slam without feeling something.”
We were privy to see the slam poet through the lens through which he viewed life. However, the poetic language in which he spoke became the real light that he used to give those of the audience a chance to start talking and bridging social gaps.
Moreover, he elucidated how important it is for us, “angels” as he called us, to adorn kindness over our heads like halos and be kind to ourselves and to others.