At 25, Kezia Snipe (a.k.a. Kezia the poet) has been fascinated with poetry for almost 20 years, writing rhymes as soon as she could string words together. She says it's more of a "why" than a "how" when talking about her first steps into poetry.
"There were a lot of things I didn't understand," she explains, relating how her brother moved out when she was just four years old leaving her a lonely, only child in the house, "and things frustrated me…so I wrote and somehow (the lines) ended up rhyming."
Now she co-wrote a book of poetry and recording a CD of spoken word poetry in her "spare" time between her full-time job at a hospital and going to school.
Why does Kezia like speaking her poems?
"Sometimes a message is not always conveyed by someone just reading (the poem). By speaking the poem, the listener can 'feel it' and 'get it' from the writer's perspective, and all the emotions, movements and feelings that the writer put in it are released."
She did her first poem in front of an audience a couple years ago at a Poetry, Rhythm & Soul event in Memphis, TN. Poetry, Rhythm & Soul is a production company that hosts an open mic night once a month for local musicians and poets to share their work. Kezia went just to enjoy the show, but she found herself up on stage.
Poster from Poetry, Rhythm & Soul event"And (I) haven't left since!" She likes the warm, friendly atmosphere at these gatherings. "There aren't any big "I"s or little "you"s…everyone supports everyone and …cheers everyone on. I always look forward to going."
How does she get from idea to performance?
Her life is her muse, she says, admitting that sounds cliché. She's influenced by her faith, her family, love and many other people and things in her life.
"Just when you've been overwhelmed with subject matters, you peel back a layer and BOOM! There's something else to write about. It amazes me sometimes."
Like almost all writers, her ideas come at the most inopportune times. Sometimes she can "hold that thought" until she has time to write, but recently one idea kept pestering her as she tried to sleep until she got out of bed and put a rough draft on paper. "As soon as I was done, I was fast asleep."
Not every poem becomes a spoken word poem. A spoken word poem must grab a listener's attention, through language, through subject, through the rhythm. It must maintain that attention, giving the poet a means to connect directly with the audience. That connection is the primary reason Kezia memorizes her poems for performances.
Without that piece of paper between you and the audience "you can even go as far as looking a particular listener directly in the eye…and really draw (him) in. It's a beautiful thing."
Is there a market for a CD of spoken word poetry?
Kezia thinks so. "Indie music is rising at an increasingly sharp rate, and any well-marketed CD, no matter the genre or style, can do well."
Her marketing scheme includes MySpace, FaceBook, ReverbNation and other sites specifically geared toward independent artists. She will also sell the CDs at her performance venues and she has plans to talk with some bookstores.
She has found that creating a solo CD is a lot more challenging than co-writing a book. She and her good friend Louis Bryant recently completed Unclassifiable: Entries from Entities, a poetry collection. It is with a publisher.
"We were each other's motivation. Most days…we'd end our conversations with 'Yo, write something tonight! When you're doing a solo project, you have to challenge yourself, encourage yourself, push yourself, EVERYTHING yourself."
Still she hasn't been swayed by the challenge and lists among her goals the desire to make more CDs. "Maybe another book. I haven't set anything in stone because the last thing I want to do is limit myself."
And she offers that advice to new poets and writers, too. "Don't be afraid to be a trendsetter and an individual. Poetry is a free form of expression. Use it to your advantage. Play with the words, move them around, make it your own. You'd be surprised what you will come up with."
Learn more about Kezia the poet through her MySpace page, and you can listen to some of her poetry at ReverbnNation.
