Objectives: Be Heard is a local youth poetry slam competition with 100 young poets vying to be one of six to represent Minnesota and compete at the International Youth Poetry Slam. It focuses on sharing community, building community, and sharing the often-untold stories and narratives through spoken word while helping them find the confidence to find their own voice. In this activity, you will create your own spoken word poetry and compete in your own poetry slam!

Activity

1. Watch the segment and discuss:

   a. “Poetry allows people to express themselves, what flows best for them, whatever style is best for them” – what do you think this statement means? Why?

   b. “I am alive. I am alive in this space.” – How would poetry help someone “feel alive”?

   c. “Art is the voice of the oppressed” – what do they mean by this statement? Why is it important?

2. Creating your own poetry

   a. Brainstorm an issue, story, community, anything that is important to you (but more significant than “I like…”). Think about the message it should have and the effect it has on you and the effect you want it to have on other people listening.

   b. Write your poem, reread it until you are happy with it, then practice reading it aloud.

   i. An important aspect of the poem is the way in which it is read, so make any edits necessary until it has a flow that you feel is best suited for the poem.

   c. When ready, perform your poem in a poetry slam!