Written by lainie at 06:56 PM on January 7, 2008 in Links / Email.

Youtube poetry entertainment, from me to you!

I think anyone who's been for those Wayang Kata shows and  Googled the British performance poets who have visited us,  will have encountered Apples and Snakes at one point or other. Well, I just realised Apple and Snakes have a Youtube account.

I played their first video on the loudest my laptop would go. It was a woman shouting "If poetry was a woman...I. I. I. WILL BE A LESBIAN!".  -_-"

Niamafulat...I thought it appropriate at that moment to 

p a u s e  the video, 

s k u l k  out of my mother's room,

and go fix myself a drink. 

Anyhow, onward ho. I have separated videos with commentary from each other by alternating red and green. This Christmas colour combination was brought to you by my laziness.

First up is a poetry video of Patience Agbabi. I've read her work before, and I do like it, so I hope we see her in Kuala Lumpur soon (either her or Sophie Woolley, but I'll rather Agbabi at the moment). This is a video of her performing "Eat me":

Patience Agbabi - Eat Me.

I love Pablo Neruda, and like other prominent poets, he poetry has been made into videos. This poem is where the immensely popular "Tonight I can write the saddest lines" came from:

Neruda Love Poem - Poema 20. Poetry videos are cool.

Def Poetry Jam is awesome, I love it. They've had some of the best performance poetry videos I've seen (it helps that they have a community of ardent uploaders).

This video is Alicia Keys - POW. I think she's alright as a poet Unexpected, certainly.

"I am a prisoner of words unsaid just lonely feelings locked away in my head" Def Poetry Jam - Alicia Keys - POW

Personally, I prefer Lauryn Hill's performance:



Lauryn Hill - Motives and Thoughts.

And if you want to see angry, hostile girls bitching about a lot of things race-related:


Yellow Rage - Def Poetry Jam.