Sisterhood, Sofas, Sharing & Support: A Spoken Word Poetry Workshop

I was feeling a bit nervous on the trip to London; notebook open on my lap, running though my Spoken Word piece under my breath, butterflies in my stomach. Who wouldn’t be? It’s creative, it’s personal, we were inviting (constructive) criticism, and other women would also be sharing theirs – so even though it wasn’t competitive there would be inevitable comparison; and I didn’t expect to come out of it well.

It turned out most of us were feeling like that about participating in the workshop. So how did we all end up feeling comfortable enough to read and perform our pieces, and why did I enjoy it so much that I’d do it all again?

Sisterhood

If you put twelve women in a room; all Christians, all with an interest in Spoken Word poetry, you might not expect us to be that different from each other, but that wasn’t the case. Some knew others before arriving, others knew no-one. A few came from London or Surrey, and others from the midlands and the North. We had a couple of mums, and a couple who working for Christian organisations. There was one published poet, one or two who’d performed in competitions, most of us had only done this once before, but we were all keen to improve! We knew the power of God’s word to change lives, of Spoken Word to capture people’s attention and we experienced the power of encouraging each other, especially in what could have been an intimidating situation.

Sofas

Finding out we would be meeting in someone’s home helped a lot to calm any nerves. It felt cosy; it felt friendly; it surprisingly felt like a normal way to spend a Saturday afternoon, which we couldn’t have recreated in a church hall or school classroom. Rachel made an excellent host: finding the right middle ground between organised and tidy enough to fit twelve people into the space and without crossing the line where no-one feels like they can move anything. A short walk (in the glorious late summer sunshine) made the perfect break in the middle to get to know each other better, and dinner together gave us the opportunity to discuss both out future poetry plans and our normal lives. The vibes of the meeting were definitely good.

Support

It was a very practical day, starting with top tips from Naomi Hutchison: sharing from her own experience of what helped her, comments from experts in creating and writing, the mistakes she’d made and, best of all, brilliantly performing some of her own pieces to demonstrate what she was talking about. Everybody had pens out and was scribbling down notes, there really was something for all levels to learn and so much encouragement both for us as creative individuals but also to the usefulness of Spoken Word: in evangelism, in conveying our emotions, and as entertainment. It was a delight to see someone a few years ahead in experience who you know started in a similar place to each of us. Naomi was so good but what’s more, she made it feel achievable: with God’s help and a lot of effort we too might reach that level.

Sharing

By the time it came for us to share, it still felt a bit weird, honestly. Almost all of us introduced our piece slightly apologetically… it was something we’d written a long time ago, for a different audience, it’s never been performed before… but no-one actually said sorry or that theirs wasn’t any good. And they were really good! It was wild how different each of these poems were: short and to the point, overtly evangelistic, Christmas themed, engaging with culture or flowery and poetic. And the reception of each of them was so enthusiastic. Your direct neighbours had to comment with either an improvement or what they loved about it, but the rest of us chimed in with encouragement and sheer delight! Knowing that we were all in it together and enjoying each other’s creations made it easier to share and take the critiques on board.

Despite my initial nerves I would do this again without hesitation, not just for Spoken Word but I’d give anything a go, if it meant I got to experience these vibes, that encouragement and the artistry from others another time. Best of all it didn’t end as we left on that Saturday; our WhatsApp still pings with new ideas and requests for inspiration; there’s even a @haveyouheardpoertry insta which has been launched for anyone to share inspiration and their own creations – because every single one of us enjoyed it and we’re not ready for it to be over.

 ~ Hannah Lewis