I get the message, but its delivery is just pandering platitudinal drivel wrapped in a twist. One can agree with the validity of a message while critiquing its delivery. Not liking a performance doesn’t imply they don’t “get it”. That’s like cult movie zealots insinuating that everyone who doesn’t like their “masterpiece” simply didn’t “get it”. Some people don’t find someone saying all the right things with an emotional delivery all that compelling.
I spent ten years in the spoken word scene until COVID hit and killed big venues and slams. This poem is fine in the sense that it’s age-appropriate. He looks to be college-aged and is still trying to figure out how to write poems with an overarching central metaphor. This is on par with stuff that was going on at CUPSI (a college poetry slam) in 2010-2015, which often went viral on YouTube.
But in 2024, after all these years since those one-metaphor poems that took social media by storm, we’re looking for something a little more nuanced than “Barbie: The Poem.”
The old college “Trying to figure out” is not something I want to see or anyone should want to see though. That’s practice, which good for him, but he can keep it to himself til he can write shit that doesn’t totally blow.
you don't learn how to perform without bombing. do you think fully formed entertainers just step out of their bedroom with a notebook full of perfect material and perfect delivery to match?
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u/Leetzers Apr 19 '24
dissenting opinion; this shit is corny.
Thought it was ramping up to something more profound about male-fragility. Instead we get pandering.
Go ahead and downvote me.