Spoken Poetry Experience

November 27, 2021

Hello, hello read community. How are you doing? Today is Saturday and it's a rest day. But for a mother like me, everyday is working day.Lol Anyways, just have fun and make the most of the day but don't forget to careful.

Last night, my friend @shanesh tagged me a video of a man reciting a spoken poetry piece. I watched the video early this morning for I did not use phone last night. I rest my eyes from the gadget for my head was aching already. When I watched the video, it brought me back to the time when I was in college. There was a visiting instructor who introduced us about spoken poetry. I fell in love with it since I love reading poems and I am also a fan of declamations. In fact, I joined declamation contest and I won twice.

So, what is spoken word poetry?

Spoken poetry is a performance art that is word based. It is a writing that is meant to be spoken or delivered with emotions to an audience. It is an oral art that focuses on the aesthetics of word play, rhythm, and provisions, rhyme, intonation and voice inflection.

SOURCE

I remember, the first time I performed spoken poetry was during our Philippine Literature subject. I performed The Type of Sarah Kay. The next one was during one of our Filipino subjects. This performance of mine was memorable for the reason that the piece that I performed was exactly how I felt at that moment. It was a Tagalog piece with a title Mga Basang Unan of Juan Miguel Severo. Let me share to you the piece.

Mga Basang Unan

Word by: Juan Miguel Severo

Noong iwan mo ako ng walang pasabi,

o pangako ng pagbabalik, umiyak ako buong gabi.

Umiyak ako nang sobrang tindi; kinailangan kong ibilad sa araw ang unan ko kinabukasan.

Ang sarap pala sa pakiramdam ng patulugin ka ng sarili mong pag-iyak. Naisip ko, hindi pinakuluang dahon ng bayabas, o alak, ang sagot sa ganitong klaseng sakit.

Luha ang pinakamabisang pang-langgas sa sugat ng puso.

Kaya… inaraw-araw ko ito.

Sinisimulan at tinatapos ko ang mga araw na binabalikan ang mga sugat na iniwan mo.

Iniisa-isa ko ang mga alaala’t hinahanap kung saan sila bumaon dito sa puso ko. Nakakatawa.

Ang akala ko noon, kung dumating man ang araw na ‘to, puro mga alaala ng away at hindi natin pagkakasunduan ang iintindihin ko, kasi ‘yun, mahirap gamutin; na sila, kahit ilang balde na ng luha ang aking pigain mula sa mga mata ko, magdurugo pa rin.

Pero mas nagdurugo ako para sa mga tawa mo. Mas nagdurugo ako sa mga patawa mo. Mas nagdurugo ako sa mga yakap mo, sa kung paanong ang balat ko ay parang nalalapnos kapag dahan-dahan mo akong hinahaplos at ang hininga ko ay nahahapo at kinakapos kapag niyayapos kita.

Nagdurugo ako noong umalis ka, pero mas nagdurugo ako sa unang gabi na pinili mong manatili. Nagdurugo ako noong gabing sabihin mo na ayaw mo na, pero mas nagdurugo ako noong gabing tanungin mo ako kung pwede pa ba? Nagdurugo ako noong gabing tinalikuran mo ako, pero mas nagdurugo ako na noong pagtalikod ko, nandun ka pa.

At nagdurugo ako. At nagdurugo ako. At nadudurog at nadudurog at nagdurugo pa rin ako sa alaala na ikaw pa ang mas naunang nagsabi ng, “Mahal kita.”

Mahal kita. Kung titignan nang maigi ang mga salitang isinulat ng mga sugat na iniwan mo, ‘yang dalawang ‘yan ang mababasa ko: Mahal kita. At sa inaraw-araw ng pagbibilad kong gan’to, nagmamanhid na sila. Mahal kita. At sa dinami-rami ng luha na pinang-langgas ko rito, naglalamig na sila. Mahal kita. At sa hinaba-haba ng panahon na ginugol ko sa gamutan, nagmamanhid na sila. Mahal kita. At sa tinagal-tagal nitong kumikirot sa dibdib ko, medyo nakakasanay na. Mahal kita. At sa tinatagal-tagal ng panahon na ginugol ko sa gamutan, magsasara na sila. Magsasara, at magiging mga pilat na paulit-ulit kong mababasa at ang parati lang sasabihin ay mahal kita.

Mahal, kung magkita man tayong muli at tanungin mo kong muli kung pwede pa ba, ang hihilingin ko lang sa’yo ay mga bagong unan. Dahil ang lahat ng sa akin ay akala mo’y naulanan. Dahil lahat sila ay akin nang naiyakan at nag-iwan ng mga kwento natin. Ayaw ko nang matulog sa mga unang basa at malunod sa pagtulog sa alaala na mahal kita, mahal pala kita, na mahal pa rin pala kita. At sa wakas, hindi na kasing sakit ng dati.

Pero mahal, masakit pa.

Source

I was a week of being brokenhearted at that time. That was the time when I broke up my 8 long year boyfriend. The moment I performed the piece, I was literally crying. I felt every word I say. My classmates and instructor was amazed for they thought that I was really good at acting. Some of my friends who had a knowledge of my situation knew that it was not acting. I was glad that I performed that piece for I had a chance to burst out what I felt and also I got the highest grade.Lol

That's it for today guys. I had fun reminiscing my experience about spoken word poetry. In fact, I searched my notebook where I wrote the spoken poetry that I memorized before. I'm glad that I found it and it's still in a good condition.｡◕‿◕｡

But before I end this blog, I want to say thank you for all the support. It really means a lot to me. So, thank you so much everyone. Especially the people down here 👇.

Do svidaniya!

Lead image is made by me using the template of Canva app.