Sarah Kay's Poetry Enchants and Captivates

Sarah Kay grew up in Manhattan, 她只知道城市生活，直到有一年夏天她第一次离开城市去加利福尼亚拜访表兄弟. 在那里，她经常被嘲笑“太年轻”或“太纽约”.” That story led her to the first poem she shared, “Raccoon,” 她在书中描述了在加州第一次遇到浣熊的情景. She thought it was a magic cat and wanted to keep it. However, her family knew otherwise and teased her for it.

Ms. 凯随后向我们介绍了几首充满“双关语”的爱情诗.她解释说，她对语言的热爱和她的愚蠢等于双关语. 然后她带我们经历了一个她正在参加CosPlay游行的梦. 在梦里，她穿着一件写有三角方程的白色t恤. In her dream, the answer to that equation was “cos (X),” but the t-shirt just said “_____(X)” and it tickled her. She made her dream come true by creating that t-shirt, donning a black leather jacket, and going as “A Rebel Without a Cos” for Halloween. Get it? Punniness!

Before sharing her next poem, Ms. 凯透露，作为一名诗人，她试图找到“合适”的词语来描述每一种情况. 一旦她找到了“正确”的词，她就能写出最好的诗. She went on to explain that, “We need language to name things... But sometimes the “right” words can’t be found all the time. 语言并不完美，我们可能还没有找到合适的词语来描述这种感觉.”

也, we must note that in between every poem she performed, 她停顿了一下，戏剧性地从水瓶里喝了一口，让我们知道她喝完了. She mentions this, asking if we noticed, 她解释说，她更喜欢“戏剧性的情绪，而不是简单的事情”.她形容自己拥有“一个总是在寻找意义的大脑”.她接着说:“这感觉像是一种快乐，但每过100天，就感觉像是一种负担。.” This introduced us to her next piece, “Useless Bay.”

Inserts *dramatic water sip* 

The New York Times 是否有一个研究团队，通过自己的档案来寻找宝石，以进行特定的项目和撰写. One team noticed a long tradition at the NYT of women being filed under their husband's names; like Frida Khalo — to find all of her works you would have to look under Diego Rivera. Same for Marilyn Monroe. You would have to look under Joe DiMaggio. 为了纠正这一现象，《太阳城电子app》邀请莎拉·凯伊(Sarah Kay)写了一首诗，内容是当女性被丈夫叫名字时，社会就会抹去她的历史. She named it “夫人."

 

Next, she told the story of meeting her best friend. They met in college and Ms. Kay described her as the smartest, bravest, coolest person ever. 令她沮丧的是，她的朋友开始和一个虐待她的人约会. 是女士. Kay studied poetry by Richard Pushkin, 当他说:“每个人都需要一个地方，不应该在别人那里。.” This inspired her to write a poem to her friend. She titled this poem "The Type."

There is an addendum to this poem. 在这首诗出书之前，它只是以她表演这首诗的视频形式出现的. A “Tumblr Teenager” typed the words out but misheard a few lines. 在这首诗中，她说:“有时候，他们追求的不是你. It's a bottle, a door, a sandwich, a Pulitzer, another woman. 这位“Tumblr少年”写道:“有时候，他们想要的不是你. It's a bottle, a door, a sandwich, a pole dancer, another woman.“她很喜欢这个版本，今天这个版本仍然在网上流传. Years later a woman approached her at a Vegas show. 她为“Tumblr少年”预言的那首诗编排了一段钢管舞.

这个故事的尾声是，在演奏那首曲子的时候，在她最后的一次现场演出中谈到了“不倒翁少年”, a young man and a young woman approached her afterward about it. The young man said excitingly “she has something to tell you,” and nervously, 这位年轻女士承认，她就是那个不小心改了诗的“Tumblr少年”. 尽管这位“Tumblr少年”现在长大了很多，也为自己的错误感到尴尬. Kay was so honored to meet her.

在演讲的问答环节，学生们提出了一系列问题.

一个学生问:“你是如何从你的想法中挑选出一首诗的呢??” Ms. 凯解释说，每当有一个瞬间抓住了她的心, she tries to write it down for record-keeping, not for poetry. They are little notes to herself that work as breadcrumbs. When she is ready to sit down and write, 她回顾笔记，直到发现“特别有趣的东西”.” She mentions that in her designated writing time, she asks herself, “这些乐高积木中有哪些可以帮助我今天为我的城市建造一座乐高房子?” or “What is my brain working on? What is my brain trying to Rubix Cube and put together?”

另一个学生问:“一首诗写完之前，你会重读多少遍??” She replied, “It totally depends on the poem.” Ms. 凯分享了她的写作过程，她解释说，她尽可能多地写作，因为当她觉得有诗的价值时，她通常处于一种特殊的精神和情感状态. 所以当她在那个地方，那个时刻，她会写下她所有的情绪. She then will let it sit for a second (a day, a week, etc.)，然后回顾一下，精简一下，确保她用正确的词表达了她想说的话. She will then attempt to read it out loud, share it with her peers, share it with an audience, and maybe make another round of edits before she deems it complete. 她说:“有些诗需要一年的时间来写，再花一年的时间来表演.”

另一位问道:“有没有哪首诗激励你把这个作为你的职业??” To which Ms. Kay replied, “No.当她还是一个“年轻人”的时候，她不知道你可以成为一名职业诗人. 她喜欢分享诗歌，后来发现她喜欢诗歌教学，这成为她的职业. 她说，她很“幸运”能在TED上表演，直到听到别人宣布她是“诗人”，她才意识到自己把自己的爱好变成了事业, Sarah Kay”.

然后，她与所有参与者分享:“如果你热爱艺术, your responsibility is to carve out time to make it a priority. Make room for the art in your life that brings you joy!”