Follow thirteen spoken word poets as they come together as part of the Kennedy Center’s An American Playlist and Verse. These video segments present their onstage performances, as well as interviews and clips that offer insights, background, and visions for the future. With ferocity, compassion, and humor, these performers address pressing issues of our time with intensity unique to the spoken word style. Some explore deeply personal subjects including body image, identity, grief, and love. Others lament and glare at the pain of ingrained injustice and prejudice, raising their generation’s alarm at Islamophobia, climate change, sexism, racism, and poverty. The poets are at turns musical and lyrical, and always evocative and provocative. The show finishes with a driving live rendition of The Roots’ “The Next Movement.” The resources available here offer a framework to help teachers and students engage with individual performers and performances, as well as the event as a whole. Critical thinking questions guide exploration of themes and encourage viewers to dig deeper into the performances as well as the topical content. They also suggest ways viewers can use these performers as models and inspirations to put their own feelings, thoughts, and opinions into rhythm and rhyme.
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