How To Write Slam Poetry

To write is to express with subtlety, and Slam Poetry is an excellent way to speak your heart out effectively, and writers are always admired portals like StoryMirror are hall of fame for writers. The question that we all face is, can I also write? and if I can then how to write? Well it is not a steep climbing task as we all take it to be, it is as easy as writing a letter to your loved one and reading it out to the same person. All you need is just a pen, some time, and of course your mind to work upon it. All you need to do is sit down, relax and write it all out whatever you feel like without worrying over rhymes, meters or any rule of such sorts. It should be a point to remember that slam poetry is not just about writing but also about reading it out loud and enactment of expressions.  You can start with following steps and write whenever you feel like, hopefully you can become a good slam poet someday.

To begin with you can sit at a calm place and think. You are free to think about anything that matters to you or anything for which you possess genuine emotions or attachment, trust me it is easier than writing your exams as you are free to write whatever suits your mind. It can be a past event that had an impact on you or a person that influenced you in some way or may be a place where you have been or you wish to go to. Decide a subject and it will act as a centre to your poem and after this you can brainstorm about rest of the aspects or attributes of the subject of your choice. Keep in mind that your work must be original.

Start your pen with the first thing that comes to your mind about your subject, and so on. Try describing the progress or the different aspects of your subject. Write as much as you can and as long as you feel like. Try using more of a communication language, and make sure you nail the words nicely, not to sound great but to tell your listeners what you wish to convey. Write it to be rhythmic and passionate.You must not exceed three minutes limit of performing so write accordingly.

Read your own work again and again and practice it in front of mirror. Try reading it as loud as you can and try fitting it to the time frame. Remember to enact your words using your hands and body, you can also include sign language as part of your performance so it would be nice if you know a little about sign language. And putting your feelings into words while you say would always help. You can check out poetry slam videos on YouTube or maybe attend a session for first hand experience

Now as you have practiced and have become self satisfactory you may turn to your friends to have your first audience. They will tell you your mistakes there itself and will not mind them anyway. So practice is the key to success and Slam Poetry is the key to an amazing experience of expression.

Those who have not written anything ever should begin today with a pen paper and their mind at work, nothing much is required no expensive instruments or anything of that sort, just you and your poetry can let the world know what you wish to say or to convey.

CINDERELLA

 

Cinderella is the common man’s fairy tale. The story is about kindness and gentleness of a girl who was treated poorly all her life. The Disney version, again the most popular, tells us about a girl whose mother passed away and her father remarried so that she could have the love of a mother. However, her stepmother has two daughters and can never accept Cinderella into her life. So when the father dies, the stepmother is cruel to Cinderella and treats her like a maid. A few years pass. The Prince of the region has organized a ball to find him a suitable wife. Cinderella goes there by the aid of her fairy godmother. However, the spells will wear off at twelve.She arrives at the ball and immediately the Prince falls in love with her, her charm, her beauty and her kindness. They dance all night and Cinderella just realizes that it is almost twelve. She runs and accidentally drops her glass slipper while hurrying home. The Prince, who fell in love with Cinderella finds her through that slipper and proposes. They live happily ever after.

Cinderella is one of the most beautiful stories of all times. It tells us that the bad situations will end. And everything will be okay eventually. If you are kind, honest and good, you will get a happy ending. Cinderella was a nobody, another one of those souls who was abused at home and treated poorly in general. Yet, the Prince fell for her. Her kindness, her good nature, her attitude and her intelligence attracted him. These traits are irreplaceable, found only in the good souls of this world.
Cinderella is one of the most relevant of the fairy tales in the modern world. That can be proved by the number of movies, serials etc. made on the same. It is the story of an everyday girl who was ill-fated and ill-treated. It is a story of a happy ending. The modern versions of this story has no fairy Godmother, rather it has helping neighbors, caring workers and best friends giving our Cinderella or Ella a makeover. Instead of balls, there are proms or parties, instead of Prince Charming, the star player and the famous singer.

Originally though, Cinderella was a tale of abuse. The name ‘Cenerentola’ comes from the Italian word ‘cenere’ (ash). It has to do with the fact that servants were usuallysoiled with ash due to the cleaning work and were nobodies. This story has the richest history and so many variations before the modern time itself. The earliest known Cinderella story is the story of Rhodopis, about a Greek slave girl who marries the king of Egypt (7 B.C.).

I think that Cinderella is one of the best fairy tales because people can actually relate to it. Yes, it has elements of magic. But that is what actually makes it the fairytale that it is today. And we need to believe that miracles do happen. We just have to be kind and good. The rest will follow. We will always get our happy ending.

Cinderella ends my blog discussion about the fairy tales and the variations that we can read even today. Where magic is replaced but not forgotten, miracles happen, but are believable and happy endings are possible. Because Once Upon A Time, in a land far away, there was a girl, who had the courage to follow her heart and she did.  And everyone lived happily ever after. Except maybe the evil stepmother.

SNOW WHITE

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is one of the most publicized and talked about fairy tales. The Disney version, the one which is the most widespread, tells about the princess whose evil stepmother sends her off to the woods with a hunter who has the task of killing her and bringing her heart. The hunter, who sympathizes with the princess, has a change of heart and lets her free. The evil stepmother, after learning that she is not dead, because Snow White was still the fairest of them all, decides on killing the princess herself. Meanwhile, Snow White finds a little house in the woods, with little beds and pots and cleans and cooks for the people. After being exhausted, she sleeps and is woken by seven dwarfs who let her stay with them, making her a bed and assigning her tasks. They also grow very close to her, treating her as a member of their little family. The queen comes to the little cottage disguised as a hag bringing Snow White a poisoned apple, who falls into a death-like sleep that was broken when Prince Charming gave her a kiss of love.

Such a nice tale, so neatly wrapped and served to the kids. The fairest of all, getting justice for her father and marrying the Prince Charming. But the original version, the one by Grimm Brothers, was slightly more gruesome yet more realistic. Snow White wasn’t woken up by the kiss from Prince; she was woken up after the piece of poisoned apple got dislodged from her throat. Also, as a punishment for her attempted murders (not just one- but three tries) of Snow White, a pair of glowing-hot iron shoes were brought forth with tongs and placed before the evil Queen. She is forced to step into the burning shoes and to dance until she drops dead.

Such variations were made to the story to make it more child-friendly. Torture was taken out, magic and miracles were added. They were made unaware of the cruelty of the world, and were taught to hope. Because even though Snow White was a Princess, and she had everything that money could buy her, she was lonely. Only her kind-heart got her the acceptance from the seven little humans. Also, she was thrown into the woods, asked to fend for self, she did not lose hope. She survived and thrived in the unfriendly environment. This was a story full of love, miracles, happiness, friendship and the triumph of good over evil. The ideal classic fairy-tale for kids.

But now we have grown up, even just a bit. We now know that the world is a harsh place, full of evil witches and warlocks. There is more evil in us than we like to believe.  And it is not just black and white; there are those shades of grey that define us. That makes us wonder how Prince Charming could fall in love with just a glance, and Snow White reciprocate it; how the queen could be so evil, etc… We want to know the backstory of the characters, to know what really happened which defines how they are today. Basically, we want more, and this time we want it to be realistic.

Hence, more variations were introduced, stories were made adult. Backstories were given and explained. We learned to sympathize with the queen, understanding why she became like this. One variation had Snow White’s mother humiliating the evil Queen early in her life, resulting in the evil Queen, Regina losing everything she held dear. So many variations have left us in awe. Movie adaptations like Snow White and the Huntsman and TV adaptation like Once Upon a Time made us want more of Snow White.

So much new in now, yet the basic message is clear. Good will triumph over the evil, whether it is Snow White and the Queen, or the good inside the Queen winning over the evil. And justice will prevail, even if you or I is the fairest of them all.

“A classic is a book that has never finished saying what it has to say.” 

― Italo Calvino, The Uses of Literature

-Swati Hans

Once Upon a Time

We have all grown up listening to tales and stories narrated to us by our grandparents, parents, siblings or other family members. These ‘Pariyonkikahani’ or ‘Lori’ helped us fall asleep, to believe that there is a higher power who watches over us, who punishes the evil and rewards the good. It taught us, even scaring us into believing, that we have to be good, kind and helpful. God will make everything right eventually. They opened our eyes to an alternate world where magic and wands solve the problems, good fairies triumph over the evil witches, and peace and happiness is restored in the land.

 We should celebrate the role of fairy tales in our growing years. The way Little Red Riding Hood taught us courage by crossing the woods alone to get soup to her grandmother; Snow White taught us that a small good deed like taking care of someone goes a long way, Sleeping Beauty taught us that forever is actually true and Cinderella taught us to be good no matter what, have made us what we are today. These stories, which were once dismissed as kids’ stories, have caught the attention of the internet fraternity now.

 Alternate storylines, original storylines and fan-fiction has now changed how these stories are viewed. The storylines have changed to accommodate the changing audience. It now focuses on seduction, adultery and even darker shades of the characters. After growing up, no one really believes that a kiss woke up the Sleeping beauty, or that happily ever after was so easily achieved. They want to know what really happened, and how is it relevant in our lives. Because the books grow up with us, don’t they?

Let’s discuss the origin of fairy tales. Though most people would credit The Grimm’s Brothers for telling us about Snow White, Rapunzel, Hansel and Gretel and so many others, it is widely disputed that these stories were folk tales of different regions and religions which were passed on to the successors to teach them important moral lessons. They could have also been based on true incidences. Little Red Riding Hood could be a story about violation or rape, Snow White of abandonment, and Cinderella of domestic violence.

These stories were narrated to us to help us adapt to the society, by telling us of its bad things and cruelty in a subtle manner, and to teach us to not lose hope. Studies have shown that these tales help in our survival, and we use them as references later in our lives as well.  So let us go back to our favorite bed time stories, talk about their alternate endings, and their origins. Let us discuss our versions of it, open our minds to accept the changes, and imagine how we would have wanted it to end. Because, as C.S. Lewis put it, you can’t just read a good book only once.
- Swati Hans