Emotions bottled up can lead to explosions.
Young men are often not allowed to have their range of emotions. The tears of sadness are ridiculed. Toxic shame hides under the bravado. There is no place for fear. Anger masquerades as strength holding back the pain of bottled up sadness and shame. This leaves two acceptable emotions–anger and joy.
Emotions can be painful to hold inside. Anger explodes. Many young men channel their anger into fights, violence, or drugs. Others direct this energy into sports, competition, or punching bags. Still others discover their emotional range through mentors, support groups, or art.
Brandon Leake channels his emotions into the art of Spoken Word Poetry. This style of poetry is not written to be read on the page, but written to be performed live on stage. The cadence of the recitation and the word play create moving images and emotions. “Spoken Word” is a modern style of that combines poetry and personal storytelling performance to create something unique. While often expressing anger and angst, the whole range of emotions can appear in Slam Poetry competitions.
Brandon took his poetry to America’s Got Talent (AGT) this season and became the first Spoken Word poet to win in the Finals.
Bradon Leake in America’s Got Talent
More from Amazon
Join the Storytelling Transformation
Are you interested in traditional storytelling performance as a transformation art? For information on courses and content by Dr. Joel Ying, join the transformation at JoelYing.com/storytransforms