My Attempt at Performance Poetry

It seems that the only performance poetry I can think of writing is angry. I don't know if this is because most of the performance poetry I have heard (spoken word) has been by urban teenagers and has had pretty serious, often angry, anti-status quo messages. Actually, writing this down was difficult because I felt the need to mark the words I wanted to emphasize so the reader would know where to place the emphasis. On the other hand, I changed quite a bit of it once I heard myself recorded; hearing it aloud really changed what I wanted to do with it.

I cannot seem to get any type of audio file to upload here, so here is the written version.


You Think You Know

You think you know something
about me?
You think you're smarter
than me?
You think you know kids
like me?

You think you understand
my life?
You think you see something in
my eyes?
You think you get what's in
my head?

Fuck you.

You tell me to look inside.
You tell me to think some more.
You tell me to calm down.
Fuck you.

You say you know about
my mom.
You say you've heard about
my dad.
You say you've seen
my kind.

You say you understand
my situation?
You say you're here to help with
my life?
You say you can relate to
my reality?

Fuck you.

You tell me to look inside.
You tell me to think some more.
You tell me to calm down.

But you don't bother to listen to what
I say.
You don't bother to hear what
I speak.
You don't bother to see what
I see.
You've never touched what
I feel.
And you don't even know how to taste what
I taste.

So fuck you.

Don't tell me to look inside.
Don't tell me to think some more.
Don't tell me to calm down.

I know what's inside.
I know what I think.
And I know what my life's like.

But you don't listen
You don't hear
You don't see
So fuck you.