Spoken Word is not Beatnik Poetry

While Spoken Word and the Beatniks do share an emphasis on poetry and poems about consciousness and confession, there are a number of important differences.  The first difference is the lack of emphasis at all on publishing.  Spoken Word is not recognized because it is not published.  Many artists and poets have not published any of their works in book forms.  More often they use video and audio recording.  Also spoken word is more about spreading all poetry of all diversities; not just about the white male community as was the Beats in the 1960s.  Many poets today are more concerned with having their work heard than having it read off the page.

Another and more important difference is it's diversity.  The Beats were very particular about who was in and out.  Spoken word has a rough-edged, populist attitude, is intent on spreading the word of all poetry, and carries a democratizing energy.  It's a product of the current times, thus there are women and other nonwhite men involved.  Despite their liberal beliefs, the Beats were strictly a white male community, a marked distinction from the populist attitude of the 1990's spoken word movement.  Spoken Word seeks to promote a tolerance and understanding between people.  The aim is to dissolve the social, cultural, and political boundaries that generalize the human experience and make it meaningless.  The Beats shared a philosophy, a political agenda and even a style that separates it from Spoken Word.  The Beats in the 1960's could have never envisioned the poetry style that would become the Spoken Word movement in the 1990's.

The philosophy and purpose of Spoken Word has been to reveal poetry as a living art.  It's about getting people excited, about what you say and how you say it.  With its dynamic performers and subject matter that twenty-something people could understand and relate to, was an attempt to open up the world of poetry to an audience whose idea of the art form was derived only from inert pages in a book.

Simply put, Spoken Word is bringing poetry back to the people through performance art while breathing life into their work and not through means of publication.