Popping bubbles: Spoken word artist Ericka Thompson works to inspire action
The ArtPrize finalist, with her on-stage persona Kyd Kane, addresses racism, poverty, and oppression. Instead of just words, Thompson says she wants action—to open eyes and “reconstruct mindsets.”
Last fall, spoken word artist Ericka Thompson (Kyd Kane)’s work “broke(n)hunger” in ArtPrize 9 examined the hunger epidemic in the United States. The combination spoken word-plus-video-plus-installation was part of UICA’s exhibition entitled “Cultivate,” a show that focused on “food as a lens to examine cultural history, social equity, and the effects of globalization on communities.”
Her piece won the hearts of the public, earning her a spot as a finalist in the time-based category. Although she didn’t win a monetary prize, which she admits would have been nice, she still feels like she won.
“I got the opportunity to connect,” she says. “I won the opportunity to allow people to hear my words.”
Life is different since ArtPrize.
“In my mind I was alone but after that, I realized what type of network I have around me—how many people are supporting me,” she says. The experience has built up her confidence in her work. People really want to hear what she has to say. It’s also given her “a more beautiful glimpse of the art world.”
Though she writes poetry, Thompson doesn’t consider herself a poet as much as a spoken word artist. The pieces she creates serve to promote connection and invoke feelings, which is right in line with the genre of spoken word poetry, rooted in performance and often speaking to issues such as race, social justice and community.
She distinguishes poet from spoken word artist by explaining that she doesn’t just read her poems from the page; rather, she performs them. She even takes on the persona of “Kyd Kane,” her stage name, much like an actor takes on a character.
When she is performing as Kyd Kane, Thompson says, she becomes someone else. She learned from a very young age how to fend for herself emotionally and as a result is often guarded in her life. As Kyd Kane, however, she is allowed to speak out about the personal, to give voice to the parts of herself she has often kept hidden.
“Kyd is fearless, bold,” she says. “I feel untouchable as Kyd Kane.”
Words have always been her best friend and her safe haven. Her earliest experience with poetry readings happened when she was 8 years old at a poetry festival. In more recent years, she attended spoken word poetry nights in Grand Rapids, starting at the Hookah Lounge.
When it came time to start sharing her own work beyond poetry readings, however, she took a different route. She worked with a friend to have her piece “Awaken” produced in video form and published to YouTube. She received an outpouring of support from her friends in the poetry community when her video was shared on social media.
Thompson realized she couldn’t stay silent about what she was seeing in the world. Race issues and police violence in the national spotlight woke her up to how racism that had affected her own self-perception.
“Racism is embedded into people of color early in youth, in a way that is automatic,” says Thompson. It is unavoidable for black children to be exposed to racism; it’s a lesson that each of them learn. “Like how we are taught to avoid a hot stove.”
As an empath, she wasn’t just hearing these stories in the news; she was feeling them, and paying attention to their effects in her lives and others. Thompson got involved with the Black Lives Matter movement as a way to channel her feelings. After a time, it became clear to her that her work there wasn’t as effective as she had hoped. Instead, she found herself consumed by the hurt and anger that she was immersed in.
Thompson decided to stop trying to force change through a movement and instead “reconstruct mindsets” through performing her own poetry.
Thompson is committed to changing the world by changing how she experiences the world. There was a time her life that she reacted to the chaos around her. Now she focuses on cultivating an inner peace and steadiness so that she can respond to what’s happening, all while remaining calm.
This personal effort has changed her relationship with writing, too. She now writes from peace rather than problems. She is careful to say this doesn’t mean that her life has no problems. Rather, she doesn’t let them overtake her.
Thompson’s work has become a mission, reflected in her references to #therapoetry and #thoughtsbecomethings. She begins every performance by setting an intention, sharing it with the audience and connecting with people to open them up to what she has to say.
But it’s not political, she says.
Politics, says Thompson, is words without action. It’s a front, only pretending to make a difference. With her intention and her mission she strives to love herself more completely and love humanity itself. She strives for words in action.
“There is no politics in my world,” she says. Instead she’s “popping bubbles,” the bubbles of complacency that we too often live in.
With the dawn of 2018, Thompson has devoted herself to continue along on her path to self-mastery. She found a mentor to help her reach financial goals and is working towards publishing two children’s books and a book of poems. She is thankful for the peace she has found. She works and writes “to become whole, regardless of what has happened to me.”
To get your own beautiful glimpse of art through her work, visit Creston Brewery on the 2nd and 4th Sundays of each month, starting at 8 p.m., where she cohosts an open-mic night called Creston Vibes.
