My Turn on Slam Poetry
When Dr. Berry first told us about what they call Slam Poetry what I first noticed was that it would not be the typical activity that is forgotten over time or a momentary effort that will result in only a grade. From that first moment I thought of expressing my message with the one thing that continues to make my heart twist: my father. The elaboration of the poem was more complicated than I assumed before starting, I did not imagine that inspiration would disappear so easily when touching a sensitive subject. For that reason, during the process I wanted to stop many times because spending time on this assignment made me feel bad. I was writing and remembering the past.
The day I finished recording the audios I felt a relief that ran through my whole body. It was that way because my voice was cracking over and over again, I was reading wrong and not pronouncing correctly what I had written, and I wanted everything to came out perfectly. Moving forward on the project was as if the wound was healing and turning into a scar. But then came the editing, which was the hardest part for me. There I came up with the incredible idea of adding subtitles — Poor me — not knowing that to fit everything in the right time I would have to listen to my voice an unimaginable number of times, while repeating the story and evoking those feelings again.
Finally, the Slam Poetry Festival arrived. Throughout the day I was nervous despite the preparation and the certainty that I had given my best in this work. But after sharing such a special and cathartic moment with my compadres I gave a good closure to an important moment in my life that I can now remember better. Thank you, Dr. Mora, for opening this space and for your words.
