Living Through Poetry | Amari Walker | TEDxYouth@Davenport
The speaker frames poetry as a potent tool for combating trauma by transforming difficult emotions into a written, creative form that can foster understanding and hope. The speaker, who struggled with speech impediments and familial absence, argues that performance poetry helps the audience experience emotion rather than just read it. This process is summarized by the acronym LIVE: Listen, Instruct, Value, and Express.
## Speakers & Context
- Speaker is a poet/performer who wrote a piece to address the absence of a relationship with his father, citing his own struggles with his father's incarceration.
- The performance is framed as a source of self-advice, derived from personal experience, as it helps the speaker understand poetry's function.
- The speaker notes that performance poetry is meant to be *experienced* rather than read.
## Theses & Positions
- Poetry, specifically performance poetry, is effective because it allows the individual to combat trauma by "taking those emotions morphing them into a creative in written fashion."
- Articulation and emotional expression through poetry aid in the healing process and can offer hope to others.
- The process of mastering self is structured around the acronym LIVE: Listen, Instruct, Value, and Express.
- The speaker believes that the ability to articulate emotion through rhythm can help overcome speech impediments.
## Concepts & Definitions
- **Performance Poetry/Spoken Word Poetry:** Art form meant to be experienced rather than read, where the *acting* of emotions is key.
- **LIVE:** An acronym detailing the process for living through poetry:
- **Listen:** To oneself and to others for better understanding of operation.
- **Instruct:** To be instructed through trauma or to instruct others.
- **Value:** Understanding one's inherent worth, as everyone possesses worth.
- **Express:** Sharing personal discoveries with trusted people to give hope.
## Mechanisms & Processes
- **Trauma Combat Mechanism:** Translating raw, painful emotion into a tangible, written, and performed creative work.
- **Overcoming Speech Impediment:** The "rhythmatic cadence of my own thoughts" helped the speaker overcome this impediment.
- **Healing Process:** The process of going through trauma, being helped by family/mentors, and writing about it to give self-advice.
- **Poetry's Function:** To articulate emotion and help "actually live through poetry."
## Timeline & Sequence
- **Infancy/Early Life:** Described as traumatic; speaker was "one pound 14 ounces one doctor one premature child one breath fighting to without help one prayer linked arms with fear."
- **Childhood:** Growing up in a single-parent household.
- **School Years (Fifth through eighth grade):** Attempted to recite poetry aloud, leading to a challenge with his mouth and stuttering.
- **Three Years Ago:** Attempted to reach out to his father, only to be told he was back in jail.
- **Present Day:** Teaching poetry and creative writing in his community.
## Named Entities
- **Mother:** Mentioned in the context of familial disappointment regarding the speaker's perceived existence or connection.
- **Father:** The central absent/incarcerated figure whose relationship the poetry addresses.
- **Brother:** Mentioned in mathematical context relative to the speaker's existence.
## Numbers & Data
- Premature baby weight: **one pound 14 ounces**.
## Examples & Cases
- **The Alphabet/Poetry Contrast:** Comparing the predictable structure of singing the alphabet to the unpredictable nature of poetry.
- **The Math Equation:** Framing the relationship such that "your mom thinks I'm a zero and your brother does too but that doesn't add up my actions were subtraction leaving me to be the negative one so what this is equal they say like father like son so if this is true then joining your father only makes you negative."
- **Video Game Analogy:** The speaker was the "first RPG" because "the role I played was G being the first person she would always turn heads in the split-screen no multiplayer."
- **The "I Wish":** The speaker wishing he could change the rules of mathematics to make the family unit "three into one."
## Tools, Tech & Products
- **RPG (Role-Playing Game):** Used as an analogy for the speaker's unique role in life.
- **Video Games:** General subject area used for the RPG analogy.
## References Cited
- None.
## Trade-offs & Alternatives
- **Reading vs. Experience:** Poetry must be *experienced* rather than merely read.
- **Self-Isolation:** The tendency to want to be left alone, contrasting with the need for connection and expression.
## Counterarguments & Caveats
- The speaker acknowledges that the desire to be left alone conflicts with the need to process feelings through art.
- The initial struggles with articulation were significant, requiring more than just therapy to overcome.
## Methodology
- **Performance:** The performance itself is the primary methodological act, aiming to articulate complex emotions publicly.
- **Deconstruction/Reconstruction:** Using mathematical and pop-culture metaphors (RPG, algebra) to deconstruct and reconstruct familial relationships.
- **Literary Technique:** Using poetic forms to process real-life trauma associated with parental absence and mental health struggles.
## Conclusions & Recommendations
- The speaker recommends that others "live through poetry" using the LIVE framework.
- The ultimate message is hope derived from shared creative expression and community support.
## Implications & Consequences
- Art is a vital mechanism for psycho-emotional processing, capable of helping individuals navigate trauma without collapsing into despair.
- The failure of healthy family bonds is mirrored in the speaker's mathematical formula, suggesting relational imbalance leads to negative outcomes.
## Verbatim Moments
- *"I wonder if you've written about me and how you've probably sat at home sometimes just wanting to be left alone because deep down you really know that I'm not at home."*
- *"I wish I can change the rules of mathematics and make us three into one."*
- *"my actions were subtraction leaving me to be the negative one so what this is equal they say like father like son so if this is true then joining your father only makes you negative."*
- *"I was the first RPG you ever seen because the role I played was G being the first person she would always turn heads in the split-screen no multiplayer."*
- *"The rhythmatic cadence of my own thoughts helped me to overcome a speech impediment that's amazing."*
- *"LIVE is an acronym for listen instruct value and express."*
- *"If my brain is using its left it was a real challenge for me."*
- *"how is that possible let me explain live is an acronym for listen instruct value and express."*