This year, I decided to retire from the competitive side of spoken word poetry. I've won a handsome number of titles, and at this stage, I was no longer getting anything out of competing. The element of stress and pressure once spurred me into motion, but now, it seems unnecessary.
After the work I've done over the last few years, I'm lucky enough that I get to perform on a regular basis. In the past, a lot of my work has taken political standpoints and addressed controversial issues in ways that are designed to make people think. Now, I'm starting to see the appeal in more light-hearted pieces. I've pledged to write some more silly poems, some entertaining words that are a bit more comfortable to digest.
It might sound ridiculous, but I've been wanting to write a poem about the X-Files for years. Now, finally, I did it, and performed it for the first time in front of a receptive audience.
-SJJ