At Risk Teens

Alicia Sousa

ENGL 199-014

November 10, 2010

Essay #4 Draft

Using Spoken Word with At-Risk Teens

In today’s world, teens face many pressures, a great deal of which are not good. It seems as if in every city in the country, there are gangs, violence, teen pregnancy, and drugs waiting for teens to try and become a part of. Many of these pressures, lead these teens down a path headed for trouble. Fortunately, in the last two decades, schools and out- of school programs alike, have started using forms of poetry, such as spoken word and rap, to help reach out to at-risk teens and steer them down better paths in life.

To many, this term of spoken word may be unknown, but the concept is one that has been around for decades. Spoken word is the term used to refer to works or performances that consist mainly of one person speaking as if naturally, similar to narration or speaking as the person would in conversation. Spoken word is often used to express a person’s views, emotions, life experiences or information, on subjects such as religion, politics, sex and gender. It is a type of contemporary poetry that is seen as “raw and in-your-face”.

Spoken word started becoming a well-known form of poetry in the 1950’s through the 1960’s with The Beats, “a non-comforist community of writers and poets that became famous in the post-war years” (Miazga 1). These poets, Allen Ginsburg, Jack Kerouac, William Burroughs, and many others, wrote against social norms, and wrote these poems not only to be published, but also to be performed. This selection from Allan Ginsburg’s poem, America;

America why are your libraries full of tears?

America when will you send your eggs to India?

I’m sick of your insane demands.

When can I go into the supermarket and buy what I

need with my good looks?

America after all it is you and I who are perfect not

the next world.

Your machinery is too much for me.

You made me want to be a saint.

There must be some other way to settle this...