A New Word Order

Roshan Abbas Jan 27, 2021

A 22 year old poet walks on stage and wins over the world. Not just with her words but with her performance. Her gestures are those of a measured slam poet. The Guardian and the world spoke of her in glowing terms.

“Amanda Gorman’s star continued its remarkable climb Thursday following the presidential laureate’s resounding delivery of her poem during the US presidential inauguration.

Within hours of Wednesday’s delivery, her soul-stirring reading of The Hill We Climb, at the swearing-in of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris had landed the 22-year-old’s two upcoming books at the top of Amazon’s bestseller list.

“I am on the floor. My books are number 1 and number 2 on Amazon after day 1,” the Los Angeles native wrote on Twitter.

Gorman, who described herself as a book worm as a child, overcame a speech impediment in her youth to become the first US national youth poet laureate in 2017.

Brandon Leake is a spoken word poet and the winner of the fifteenth season of America's Got Talent. He was the first spoken word poet to be on America's Got Talent and received the Golden Buzzer award in the first round from Howie Mandel.

"Over 14 previous seasons, “America’s Got Talent” — television’s most popular summer reality series — had been ruled by singers, comedians, dancers, magicians and the like. Until Leake, 27, burst onto the scene in June with an emotional poem dedicated to his sister, who died as a baby, a spoken-word artist had never even appeared on the show, let alone captivate its millions of fans and bring a judge — Sofia Vergara — to tears.

And he was just getting started. In subsequent weeks, Leake, a student adviser at Delta College, went on to mesmerize viewers with his powerful and personal performance poetry. He addressed uplifting and poignant subjects, including his strained relationship with his father and the power of forgiveness, his new baby daughter and the joys of parenthood.”

Coca-Cola has enlisted spoken-word artist George the Poet for a campaign marking the cultural significance of the coronavirus pandemic, after the brand paused marketing spend in April as lockdown measures were enforced around the world.

Created by 72andSunny Amsterdam, “Open like never before” stars George the Poet as he performs a piece calling on the public to look at the world in a different light.

“In February, we announced that to bring our purpose to life we would focus on empathy – the ability to walk in someone else’s shoes and understand other people’s feelings – and that empathy was the focus of the brand moving forward,” Walter Susini, senior vice-president of marketing, EMEA, at Coca-Cola, said. In the next few months, Susini said that the “core of what Coca-Cola will be doing” will entail utilising George the Poet’s work for outdoor activity. People will be able to scan the ad using their smartphone to listen to the full poem.

In India a TV show has begun called “100 Crore ka Kavi'' . Young poets and storytellers like Megha Rao, Rakesh Tiwari, Yahya Bootwala, and Amandeep Singh are living their passion. Performance poetry is their vocation and their art. Many organisations like Kommune, Unerase, Spill Poetry are working to promote slam poetry. Spokenfest an annual festival has become the Coachella for these voices and showcases the best of poets from India and across the world. What is incredible is that it gets a paying audience of 14000 people and is referred to as the empathy boot camp by its fans. This January would have been its 4th edition but due to the pandemic we are still contemplating a method to do this right. Meanwhile there is good news elsewhere. Brands in India like The Man Company have used Ayushmann Khurrana for a poetry piece. Even OTT platforms like Amazon Prime and Netflix have started using poetry as a crowd sourced format to promote their shows.

Has the time for this niche performing art arrived?

At Kommune we see this as a tipping point, a moment which we have long waited for. To a generation struggling with anxiety, loneliness and self image, spoken word is a release. They are discovering their words and we are giving these words a stage.

Rakesh Tiwari’s Millennial Kavi has crossed 2.6 Million listens on JioSaavn, Megha Rao’s Podcast “Poems to Calm down to” is a Spotify Top 20 podcast. Arunoday Singh’s Instagram poetry series during lockdown (he would read out his favourite poems) is well followed and sets him apart as the thinking actor. Going by the name sufisoul he often takes to Instagram to recite and talk of poetry building a special connection beyond his on screen persona with the audience. Rabia Kapoor was only 19 when her piece Introvert’s Banter resonated so much with the audience that it broke the internet. She has since launched her own spoken word EP, How To Make Paper Boats.

Why is poetry knocking at the door of pop culture and why is it so enduring? Perhaps because it speaks to people’s emotions on a very visceral level. Gen Z is known for self expression, activism, empathy. Their stark, honest, unafraid opinions often not in keeping with the current dominant social narrative are finding expression on social media. While regularly trolled, they are the ones brave enough to still express themselves. In the poetry slams and shared WhatsApp videos the quiet multitudes give their nod of approval. Varun Grover’s protest poem “Hum Kaagaz Nahi Dikhayenge'' captured the zeitgeist of the nation as did Aamir Aziz’s “Sab Yaad Rakha Jayega. '' even being quoted by Roger Waters in a protest in the USA.

But it's not all about revolution. Sriti Jha’s piece on asexuality What happens when you don't like sex? - Sriti Jha | Spoken Fest Mumbai'20 is one of the most heard pieces from Kommune. Priya Malik has had two brilliant pieces 2019 Mein 1999 - Priya Malik ft Baksheesh Singh | Spill Poetry and Fake accent (performed at Spoken fest 2018) and is amongst the well-known performance poets we have. When Popular film lyricists like Kausar Munir, Swanand Kirkire take to the stage at Kommuneity events they feel a freedom they have not experienced. There is nobody shoving a filmi situation down their throat and the freedom to express followed by the authentic praise from peers and passionate enthusiasts is a cherished victory.

Tomos Roberts recently had his work featured in the playlist to accompany the fireworks over London on New years eve. He has also written a poem for Sainsbury and says he is writing “Simple poems for complicated times” The poem Great Realisation had such an impact that even Jake Gyllenhaal reached out on Instagram suggesting he turn it into an illustrated book. Lo and Behold, Harper Collins got involved and Tom is well on his way to being a celebrated children author. You of course know him as Tomfoolery.

The consumption of spoken word has been on an increase during the pandemic. As socially we distance from each other the need to connect emotionally is even more. And our words can jump across borders and boundaries, and embed themselves straight in your heart. This has led to followings of millions in days when a piece resonates. I saw Amanda’s following go from 273K to now 3 million in 4 days. In the world of the passion economy will this lead to icon status, endorsements, influencer gigs and paid performances. Will poets be able to sustain themselves on their own. Amanda Gormon’s unreleased books are number 1 and 2 on the NYTimes bestseller list with preorders already.

It was 28 years ago when Maya Angelou read out her poem “On The Pulse Of Morning” at Bill Clinton’s inauguration, in 2021 we had Amanda Gormon at Joe Biden’s inauguration. The young are casting their vote for their values by speaking in a strong voice. Brands should be brave and step forward and embrace this. Or perhaps at our next Independence day we may have an Indian poet on the ramparts of the Lal Qila inspiring the crowd before the Prime Minister.

With Inputs from Shantanu Anand