I recently came across the spoken word poet Shane Koyczan. What a beautiful, vulnerable, powerful presence this man has!
I love spoken word and used to work for an organization that hosted many a poetry slam. And what I find so intriguing about experiencing this form of art is the translation of feeling from the word isn’t limited by it’s analytical definition, but is actually lifted higher by the tone, sound, music and visual accompaniment surrounding the word. It is one thing to read a poem, and a completely different phenomenon to EXPERIENCE a poem.
And that doesn’t even begin to touch on the content of Shane’s poetry. An area so many of us can relate to. A collective memory of those sensitive moments many of us still carry in the coffers of our hearts. Locked away, though present. Ignored, though memorized.
His TED talk moved me in a way few TED talks do. It didn’t stay in my intellectual mind, it touched my heart. The same heart of that inner child who longs to act as vulnerable as she once did, before she believed that the world was a harsh, sometimes cruel place. And with some renewed awareness of that desire for vulnerability, from which authenticity blooms, I find courage to believe in myself just a little more.
That is how I’m discovering peace with that child from long ago.
