According to common consensus, poets are self-obsessed, emotionally broken and somewhat weird. To be honest, i agree, a lot of poets see nothing but their tightly confined structures, which should forever be conformed to for fear of being punished by their scorn and upturned noses. However, there is a prominent and growing number of poets who - in Lehman's terms - stuck both middle fingers up to the rules. In these modern times of...erm...things becoming modern, poetry is changing, subject matter is diversifying and it's boundaries are being blurred to a point almost beyond recognition.
While the popularity of the spoken word is gradually strengthening with the rising success of the open mics which occupy just about every corner of London and television shows such as Def Poetry Jam, it is behind a musical guise where poetry flexes it's metaphorical muscles. Hip Hop has been a growing phenomenon over the last decade or so and while rappers such as 50 Cent and Soulja Boy are far from poetical, strip the instrumental background from the likes of Mos Def, Talib Kweli and Common and it becomes increasingly hard to deny that they are poets. This, is where my love for poetry comes from. There is nothing more enjoyable than manipulating the spoken word in a way that you know will appeal to everyone. While music is often victim to different tastes, the raw material behind the music are the lyrics, the poetry. Words do not discriminate in such a way, they can speak to everyone and it is only due to a false sense of superiority held by a significant segment of the poetic community that haven't already done so.
Poetry really isn't the secretive little monster living up in the hills, it's more like an unlocked chamber in your mind. There is a poem out there for everyone because poems are merely thoughts tattooed on paper, it's when you hear that line that clicks in your head and has you nodding your head in agreement; that you know, poetry is freaking brilliant!
Kaamil Ahmed
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