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Daaaaamn! | SLIP OF THE TONGUE | Slam poetry delux
Wow. Standing ovation deserved...to Adriel Luis for his amazing words in his slam poem SLIP OF THE TONGUE, and Karen Lum for adapting the poem into a video (Watch it under the cut). Although only 4 minutes in length, Slip of the Tongue articulates the notion of "ethnic makeup" and promises to blow you away. Savour it.
Karen Lum shot and edited Slip of the Tongue in 2005 in Oakland, CA as part of a youth media organization called Youth Sounds Factory. Adriel Luis is well-established in the poetry scene, having traveled the world with iLL-Literacy, a spoken word collective that he founded in 2002. He was a finalist in the 2002 & 2003 Youth Speaks Teen Poetry Slams, and was the 2004 San Francisco Slam Champion in the adult circuit. Adriel has published three chapbooks, and his debut poetry book, How to Make Juice is published on First Word Press.
Slip of the Tongue has been screened in over 50 international film festivals and was awarded a Northern California EMMY Award for Best Youth Film.
A part of Adriel Luis' poem: "An Ode to All Languages," which he performed in the final round of the San Francisco Slam:
"We've lost our minds
Because we value our English-speaking skills to the point where it defines us
English text and Englishmen told us our languages are inferior
So since birth we twist our lips and bend our tongues in shapes that we were never innately able to
All this to make room to expand this forced knowledge
And after all this, you think you've mastered English
When really, English has mastered you."
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Comments
Daaaang I remember reading this and being bloown away.
That was an awesome piece.
I remember a while back hearing a piece on a burned CD called
"Asian Slash American"
that is also powerful- i wish i could find it our who it is by...
Posted by: tariq sabur | February 7, 2008 11:27 AM