Poetry Slam

Just came back from a poetry slam in a dark French cafe in an artsy district of Vancouver. If you've never heard of slam poetry or spoken word before, it's a new form of creative expression birthed out of the hip hop movement, and could be most closely identified with ancient Greek oratory. It's more than a poetry reading, like the ones you see on TV with the cheesy French guys wearing all black with berets, sitting on stools, snapping, calling everyone 'cats'. It's poetry performed with all the theatrics of life, words crafted to bring you into the world of the poet, with all his joys, pains and everything in between.

It gave me insight into one of the many tribal cultures here. It was mostly young adults, all jaded, cynical and confused, wandering and as someone once said, speaking with all the anger of disillusioned love. This world is broken, these poets just reminded me again. But through the charcoal-colored glasses, I could see seams of redemptive light in their words. As the apostle Paul said, they seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us. We are all broken because of sin, and we are all trying to find our way back to Eden. Some have just been given bad directions.