Performance Art/Spoken Word

this week we attended a performance by the spoken word artist, stacey ann chin. she's a chinese/jamaican lesbian feminist poet who rocked the house. she's worked for russell simons on broadyway, and her work has been acclaimed by various publications, such as the village voice. she read poems (haikus and longer poems) about various subjects linked to her identity and experience: a very funny poem about lesbian women desiring straight women; another about the personal conflicts about wanting to be in jamaica, but basing herself in new york city because of the difficulties of being queer in jamaica, and about white racism etc etc. she was hip, urban, energetic and her politics were very politically saavy. in addition to performing her poetry, she also had regular conversations with members of the audience, and fielded questions about anything and everything. anyway, check out her site: www.staceyannchin.com/

here is one of my favorites - a haiku

you white liberal
how long will you wear double
x hooded sweatshirts.


hahahahahaha. pretty funny, huh?

joyce

p.s. poetry thrives in urban, spoken word artists like chin and sarah jones. really. it's not dead.