the power of three
Saturday night found me at the Grand Slam Finals of the Annual Youth Speaks Teen Poetry Slam . Riding thru a city with people in green spilling out of every vaguely Irish tavern, it struck me as fitting that I was going to a poetry slam. The Irish love the word, and words were what was being celebrated tonight at the Masonic Hall, high atop one of our most prestigious hills, Nob Hill. Perfect too, given my current ruminations on listening, silence, and speaking. The Master of Ceremony of the evening was the incredible Beau Sia , and he started out saying something to the tune of “Make some noise; your silence won’t protect you”. “Make some noise” is the refrain of all the Youth Speaks events I’ve gone to. It means giving the poets a rousing applause, and of course, it means speaking out. In Youth Speaks culture, speaking out and speaking up is a virtue, each sentence crafted to be an arrow of truth aimed at opening hearts and changing minds. The teenagers are courageous, r...