Welcome to the featured poet series at the SLASH spoken word column! In this series, we will interview spoken word artists of any age, any background, from anywhere in the world. We feature established performers alongside students and writers who are just beginning to hone their spoken word skills. Read on to learn about our first featured poet, Zoë Riell!
Name: Zoë Riell
Age: 17
Location: Poultney, VT, USA
1. How did you first get involved with spoken word?
I was introduced to spoken word poetry in the first Creative Writing class I participated in - before that, I had dabbled with it briefly, but it wasn't until I was given an assignment to write something for the specific purpose of being read aloud that I really started to delve into it with any kind of seriousness.
2. What themes commonly feature in your poetry? How do you use the medium to express identity?
Lately I've noticed that many of my recent poems have featured the longing for fantasy - the desire for the un-ordinary and un-real in everyday life, and how that affects how someone sees the world. More often than not, I'll have a 'protagonist,' if you will, within my poems who, somehow or other, begins a metaphorical journey to go beyond the three dimensions and see what else is out there. In that respect, I guess you could say that my poems are deeply rooted in curiosity. The one thing about spoken word that I can appreciate for personal purposes is how open it is to emotion - the line break, the carefully-placed punctuation, the specific inflection of just one word when read aloud - each of those factors is paramount to being able to express what I want to say in the method I want to convey it.
3. How would you describe your style?
I would describe my style as surrealist - I enjoy taking my readers and listeners to places where they may not feel comfortable or at home, while still maintaining that human element as a lifeline that keeps them invested in the piece.
4. What sets spoken word apart from other forms of writing and performance?
Because it is so vast a medium! With spoken word poetry there is no right or wrong way to go about it - you might write it with blunt vocabulary, leaving nothing to the imagination, or you could shroud your piece in mystery and leave the readers and listeners guessing. The spoken part lends a lot of aid to both sides - there is nothing like hearing something read aloud by the author - it's a glimpse into how they see it, what they were thinking when they wrote it, what the poem means to them. That's why I will always return to spoken word again and again and again.
5. What inspires you?
Reading, without a doubt. I tend to gravitate towards surreal, metaphorically dense & poetically written fiction, and generally speaking if I find one I enjoy very much, at least four or five poems will come of the experience I had while reading them. Also, too, various media forms have all inspired me at one point or another - I've had poems I'm proud of stem from TV shows, from movies, from video games, from a verse in a song. I'm very open to inspiration coming from all sorts of sources.
6. Who are your favorite poets or spoken word artists?
I've have to say Donald Hall - I was given a chapbook by him by my Creative Writing teacher because she thought I might find a connection within his work, and I'm very grateful she did. He has a specific style in which to the casual eye he is merely narrating the everyday, but underneath he manages to capture intense, complex emotions and experiences. It's a feat I've always envied, and I've devoured his work in the hopes of figuring out just what makes him tick.
7. Anything else you'd like to share about your experience? Any advice?
Just write! I'm a notorious perfectionist, and so I find myself making excuses not to sit down and write everyday because I don't have proper inspiration, because it'll be shit, because it'll only be a line and it'll waste paper, etc etc. But what I'm trying to beat into my brain right now is that even if the first draft of something scribbled on the fly is something that should never see the light of day, it will still sit in the back of your brain the next time you sit down - maybe that line break that was decent, those two words you liked, the title you thought was clever, will inspire you to write something glorious the next time!
Name: Zoë Riell
Age: 17
Location: Poultney, VT, USA
1. How did you first get involved with spoken word?
I was introduced to spoken word poetry in the first Creative Writing class I participated in - before that, I had dabbled with it briefly, but it wasn't until I was given an assignment to write something for the specific purpose of being read aloud that I really started to delve into it with any kind of seriousness.
2. What themes commonly feature in your poetry? How do you use the medium to express identity?
Lately I've noticed that many of my recent poems have featured the longing for fantasy - the desire for the un-ordinary and un-real in everyday life, and how that affects how someone sees the world. More often than not, I'll have a 'protagonist,' if you will, within my poems who, somehow or other, begins a metaphorical journey to go beyond the three dimensions and see what else is out there. In that respect, I guess you could say that my poems are deeply rooted in curiosity. The one thing about spoken word that I can appreciate for personal purposes is how open it is to emotion - the line break, the carefully-placed punctuation, the specific inflection of just one word when read aloud - each of those factors is paramount to being able to express what I want to say in the method I want to convey it.
3. How would you describe your style?
I would describe my style as surrealist - I enjoy taking my readers and listeners to places where they may not feel comfortable or at home, while still maintaining that human element as a lifeline that keeps them invested in the piece.
4. What sets spoken word apart from other forms of writing and performance?
Because it is so vast a medium! With spoken word poetry there is no right or wrong way to go about it - you might write it with blunt vocabulary, leaving nothing to the imagination, or you could shroud your piece in mystery and leave the readers and listeners guessing. The spoken part lends a lot of aid to both sides - there is nothing like hearing something read aloud by the author - it's a glimpse into how they see it, what they were thinking when they wrote it, what the poem means to them. That's why I will always return to spoken word again and again and again.
5. What inspires you?
Reading, without a doubt. I tend to gravitate towards surreal, metaphorically dense & poetically written fiction, and generally speaking if I find one I enjoy very much, at least four or five poems will come of the experience I had while reading them. Also, too, various media forms have all inspired me at one point or another - I've had poems I'm proud of stem from TV shows, from movies, from video games, from a verse in a song. I'm very open to inspiration coming from all sorts of sources.
6. Who are your favorite poets or spoken word artists?
I've have to say Donald Hall - I was given a chapbook by him by my Creative Writing teacher because she thought I might find a connection within his work, and I'm very grateful she did. He has a specific style in which to the casual eye he is merely narrating the everyday, but underneath he manages to capture intense, complex emotions and experiences. It's a feat I've always envied, and I've devoured his work in the hopes of figuring out just what makes him tick.
7. Anything else you'd like to share about your experience? Any advice?
Just write! I'm a notorious perfectionist, and so I find myself making excuses not to sit down and write everyday because I don't have proper inspiration, because it'll be shit, because it'll only be a line and it'll waste paper, etc etc. But what I'm trying to beat into my brain right now is that even if the first draft of something scribbled on the fly is something that should never see the light of day, it will still sit in the back of your brain the next time you sit down - maybe that line break that was decent, those two words you liked, the title you thought was clever, will inspire you to write something glorious the next time!
No Glass by Zoë Riell
There’s no room for glass in here –
only the labeled shears to shorten
the ribs, the bellows
for the cavernous lungs, and the towering
dumbbells larger than I that I
attempt
to lift sometimes.
No room, not ever,
lest the blood be drawn
out from the woodwork.
I have welded the hinges to the muscle
of the mind—
no doors to my home, no welcome
mats spread for you.
I live with mementos,
memories, meticulous
mindsets,
but no glass.
No glass in here.
Abigail Rampone, SLASH Columnist
slashcolumn@gmail.com
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