莎拉·凯的诗歌让人着迷

莎拉·凯在曼哈顿长大, knowing only city life until one summer when she left the city for the first time to visit cousins in California. While there, she was constantly teased for being “too young” or too “New York.这个故事让她写出了她分享的第一首诗， “浣熊”, where she depicts encountering a raccoon for the first time while in California. 她以为这是一只神奇的猫，想要养它. 然而，她的家人却不知道，并取笑她.

Ms. Kay then introduced us to a few love poems that were filled with “punniness.” She explained that her love for language and her silliness equal puns. She then walked us through a dream in which she was attending a CosPlay Parade. 在她的梦里, she wore a white t-shirt with a handwritten trigonometry equation. 在她的梦里, 方程的答案是cos (X),但t恤上只写着“_____(X)”，她觉得很痒. 她创造了那件t恤，实现了自己的梦想, 穿着一件黑色皮夹克, 万圣节装扮成"没有Cos的叛逆者. 得到它? Punniness!

在分享她的下一首诗之前. Kay revealed that as a poet she tries to find the “right” words to describe every situation. Once she has found the “right” words then she can write the best poem. 她接着解释说:“我们需要语言来命名事物... 但有时候，并不是所有时候都能找到“合适”的词语. Language is not perfect and we may not have found the words to describe the feelings yet.”

也, 我们必须注意到，在每首诗之间她都表演过, she paused and took a dramatic sip from her water bottle to let us know she was finished. 她提到了这个, 问我们是否注意到, explaining that she prefers “dramatic emotions over the simple things.” She describes herself as having “A brain that is always looking for meaning.” She then says “it feels like a joy but every 100 days, it feels like a burden.“这让我们看到了她的下一幅作品， “无用湾.”

插入戏剧性的水啜饮* 

《纽约时报》 has a team of researchers that looks through its own archives to find gems to do specific projects and write-ups on. One team noticed a long tradition at the NYT of women being filed under their husband's names; like Frida Khalo — to find all of her works you would have to look under Diego Rivera. 玛丽莲·梦露也是一样. 你得找乔·迪马吉奥. NYT wanted to remedy this phenomenon and asked Sarah Kay to write a poem about society erasing a woman’s history when she is called by her husband’s name. 她给它起了名字 “夫人."

 

接下来，她讲述了遇见她最好的朋友的故事. 他们是在大学里认识的. 凯说她是有史以来最聪明、最勇敢、最酷的人. To her dismay, her friend started dating someone that became abusive. 是女士. 凯学习了理查德·普希金的诗歌, she leaned in with a listening ear when he said “Everyone needs a place and it shouldn’t be in someone else.这激发了她写一首诗给她的朋友. 她把这首诗命名为 “类型."

这首诗有一个附录. Before this poem was published in a book, it was just in the form of a video of her performing it. 一个名为“Tumblr少年”的用户把这些话打了出来，但听错了几行. In this poem, she says “Sometimes it is not you, they are reaching for. 瓶子，门，三明治，普利策奖，另一个女人. The “Tumblr Teenager wrote, “Sometimes it is not you, they are reaching for. 一个瓶子，一扇门，一个三明治，一个钢管舞者，另一个女人.” She loved it and this version is still floating on the internet today. 几年后，在拉斯维加斯的一次演出中，一个女人走近她. She had choreographed a pole dancing routine to that piece of poetry that the “Tumblr Teenager” prophesied.

The epilogue to this story is that while performing that piece and talking about the “Tumbler Teenager” at one of her last live shows, 后来，一男一女走近她，谈起了这件事. 年轻人激动地说:“她有事要告诉你,紧张地说。, the young lady confessed that she was the “Tumblr Teenager” who accidentally changed the poem. Though the “Tumblr Teenager” was much older now, and embarrassed about her mistake, Ms. 凯很荣幸见到她.

During the question and answer portion of the presentation, students asked a series of questions.

One student asked, “How do you filter through your ideas to choose one for a poem?” Ms. Kay explained that whenever there is a moment that captures her mind, 她试着把它写下来作记录, 不是为了诗歌. 它们是她写给自己的小纸条，就像面包屑一样. 当她准备坐下来写的时候, she reviews her notes until she finds something “particularly juicy.她在指定的写作时间里提到了这一点, 她问自己, “which of these Lego blocks will help me build a Lego house for my city today?或者“我的大脑在想什么?? 我的大脑试图用魔方把什么组合在一起?”

Another student asked, “How many times do you revisit a poem before it is done?她回答说:“这完全取决于诗歌。.” Ms. Kay shared her process explaining that she writes as much as possible because she is typically in a particular mental and emotional state when she feels something is poem-worthy. So she will write out all her emotions while she is in that place at that moment. 然后她会让它静置一秒钟(一天，一周，等等).) and review it, condense it, and make sure she is saying what she wants to say with the right words. 然后她会试着大声读出来, 与她的同龄人分享, 与观众分享, 也许在她认为完成之前再进行一轮编辑. She says, “For some poems, it takes a year to write and another year to perform.”

Another asked, “Was there a specific poem that inspired you to make this your career?“对于这个问题，. 恺回答说:“不.” When she was a “younger person,” she was not aware that you could be a professional poet. She liked sharing poems and later discovered she liked teaching about poetry which turned into her career. She says she was “lucky” to perform at TED and did not realize she made a career out of her love until she heard someone else announce her as “Poet, 莎拉·凯”.

She then shared with all participants that “If you have a love of art, 你的责任是挤出时间把它放在首位. 在你的生活中为那些能给你带来快乐的艺术腾出空间!”