VOICE...!

Sarah Kay – a writer, performer and educator from New York City – tells the story of her metamorphosis from a wide-eyed teenager soaking in verse at New York's Bowery Poetry Club to a teacher connecting kids with the power of self-expression through Project V.O.I.C.E. in this talk.

Project voice is an interesting initiative that utilizes poetry to entertain, educate and inspire. It has worked with hundreds of schools in thirty countries reaching over 150,000 students from kindergarten through university level. Project voice promotes empowerment, improves language skills and spurs creative collaboration through award-winning performances and innovative workshops.

Sarah’s ‘confession’ about her poetry is not only downright candid but also absolutely profound - 

"...But there are plenty of things I have trouble understanding. So I write poems to figure things out. Sometimes the only way I know how to work through something is by writing a poem. Sometimes I get to the end of the poem, look back and go, "Oh, that's what this is all about," and sometimes I get to the end of the poem and haven't solved anything, but at least I have a new poem out of it..."

We have read, heard, shared and interpreted Abraham Lincoln’s the world-famous Letter to his Son’s teacher that talks about the values that must be taught to the pupil. No doubt it is a classic example of communication literature and the optimism about the virtues against the vices makes it timeless also, however, it is more retrospective in nature being based on experiences of an adult and tends to become little idealistic in expression.

Sarah in her poem ‘If I should have a daughter…’ seems to be more realistic and revolutionary as she doesn’t advise her daughter to get adjusted to the circumstances as they are but tries to fuel her with the preparedness to empathize with the situation and try to change it for better. Her narration is overflowing with the hope and the grit expressed is so contagious that it can ignite minds. I strongly recommend that you hear it out completely no matter how long it seems. Here are few excerpts…

"...And, baby," I'll tell her, don't keep your nose up in the air like that. I know that trick; I've done it a million times. You're just smelling for smoke so you can follow the trail back to a burning house, so you can find the boy who lost everything in the fire to see if you can save him. Or else find the boy who lit the fire in the first place, to see if you can change him. But I know she will anyway..." 

"...Because there's nothing more beautiful than the way the ocean refuses to stop kissing the shoreline, no matter how many times it's sent away. You will put the wind in win some, lose some. You will put the star in starting over, and over. And no matter how many land mines erupt in a minute, be sure your mind lands on the beauty of this funny place called life..."

"...Your voice is small, but don't ever stop singing. And when they finally hand you heartache, when they slip war and hatred under your door and offer you handouts on street-corners of cynicism and defeat, you tell them that they really ought to meet your mother..."

"I know that Jean-Luc Godard was right when he said that, "A good story has a beginning, a middle and an end, although not necessarily in that order."

Way to go…!