"True Love"

I search deep inside my thoughts and soul for the words to create.

I crave and yearn for the words to write. 

With my words I'm taken to another place where creativity and expression become the session of my art.

I live for the written word to open aspects of my mind I might not otherwise find.

I watch as these words begin to flow across this page unleashing subtle rage wisdom beginning to grow.

I hide behind the words I write as a means to show my depth and sensitivity or to find some objectivity. 

I cry these words with tears of fears that my voice is still not really being heard.

I hold them next to me tight for without them I grow silent and cannot speak up to become defiant.

I express these words in my way which is any other way that might be… your way.

These words that become verse tell my story but just to know me without them would not be to truly… know me. 

I breathe these words like the first breath I ever took; eyes open wide to this hook just asking you to look.

Before these words I began to articulate from my tongue I never had a voice to shout my self was in doubt.  Without these words I lived in isolation because the voice it gave me saved me, set me free and raised me. 

Now with my words and rhyme I can insight, empower and drop rain of knowledge to those who grasp this plight.

The expression of love and the feeling itself is defined by a word.

True love for me began with this blank page waiting to be standing on top a stage whether or not the camera will ever be raised.  As I wrote this I inhaled it as if I toked it with my minds elation beginning to float now I can speak this with my tongue and throat.   
                                                                     

 

Copyright © Scott Compton 2004

 

Christine Gifol "Catcalls"

This talented Spoken Word Artist is one I am proud to call my friend.  Currently residing in Largo FL, Christine started taking her passion for writing poetry to the Mic in Feb of 2010, after being encouraged by a friend.  She found an open mic, at a nearby public library, in order to conquer her fears and received support by one of her best friends, Todd Wood, who accompanied her to the library readings.  As many of us do, Christine had her fears about getting up in front of people and sharing her work.  Living with a belief that one should conquer their fears she set out on a personal mission.  She not only rose above her fears but landed a featured performer spot at Tampa's longest running open mic night, Black On Black Rhyme.  In just three months of gracing the stage at BOBR they called on her to be a featured artist.  I'm personally looking for more to come from Christine and sharing more Epic nights at BOBR Tampa Family.


Copyright © Christine Gifol 2011

Scott Compton "Dear Dad"

At age 19 I lost my father very suddenly due to an illness, I think to this day, my family is still confused about.  He spent two and a half days in the hospital and was then gone from our lives.  None of us could have comprehended the seriousness of his medical condition, as the Doctors couldn't seem to diagnose the situation.  As a result, he died before we could even begin to think we might need to say a much needed one last I love you or an emotional goodbye.  Twelve years after his death I wrote this piece because the adult I had become grew to understand what I truly didn't see in my father as a teenager and what I missed out on as a result.  In a sense this piece is like a letter I wrote to my father to apologize for my young like mind that just didn't understand. 

Copyright © Scott Compton 2011

Spoken Word Artist Or A Poet; What's The Difference?

With written word, the inner spirit of a poem is there on the page, and the poet connects individually with the reader.  The page dictates the line breaks, and the reader determines the pacing and tempo when the poem is read silently in the reader's head or out loud.  The words are there to savor or to return to whenever needed by the reader.  Books are comfortable companions that surround the reader with intimate connections from the writer.  There is an individual communion and healing between the poet and the reader.

Once that poem moves off the page and is performed with the rhythm and the soul of the artist it makes a different kind of connection, a connection with the community, and it now speaks to the masses.  The artist determines the rhythm and spirit of the poem and sometimes starts to merge other art forms into the performance as well.  The poem is now alive being acted out or told like a riveting story.

Poets aspire publication while Spoken Word Artist aspire the stage and the masses.