Cover image via Project Voice
There will always be those people who make us feel that living on this earth is not that bad at all.
One of them is Sarah Kay.
Image via YouTube Speak Easy NYC
These lines are excerpts from her books, [B] (http://www.amazon.com/B-Sarah-Kay/dp/0316386626/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1461658979&sr=1-1&keywords=B), [The Type] (http://www.amazon.com/Type-Sarah-Kay/dp/031638660X/), and [No Matter the Wreckage] (http://www.amazon.com/No-Matter-Wreckage-Sarah-Kay/dp/1938912489/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8). Enjoy!
Image via Tumblr
On pursuing freedom
"It does not matter how strong your gravity is, we were always meant to fly." — [A Poem for Nelson Mandela] (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zbb4lNe2DvM)
On forgiving one's self
"Forgive yourself for the decisions you have made, the ones you still call mistakes when you tuck them in at night." — [The Type] (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYAiYMlOCI4)
On long distance love
"You can only fit so many words in a postcard, only so many in a phone call, only so many into space before you forget that words are sometimes used for things other than filling emptiness." — [Postcards] (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23zv5I-hZJ8)
On the true test of friendship
"When the walls come down, when the thunder rumbles, when nobody else is home, hold my hand, and I promise I won't let go." — [An Origin Story] (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esgfG3BoAPc) (Sarah & Phil)
On random — thoughts like, "If I should have a daughter"
"Your voice is small but don't ever stop singing and when they finally hand you heartbreak, slip hatred and war under your doorstep and hand you hand-outs on street corners of cynicism and defeat, you tell them that they really ought to meet your mother." — [Point B] (https://www.ted.com/talks/sarah_kay_if_i_should_have_a_daughter?language=en)
On accepting the realities of love
And love will tell you "You are beautiful" — and mean it, over and over again.
"You are beautiful."
When you first wake up, "you are beautiful."
When you've just been crying, "you are beautiful."
When you don't want to hear it, "you are beautiful."— [When Love Arrives] (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdJ6aUB2K4g) (Sarah & Phil)
On loving
"But I know better. I know about your rough edges and I have seen your perfect curves. I will fit into whatever spaces you let me. If loving you means getting dirty, bring on the grime." — [A Love Letter] (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIAQENsqcuM)
On how to love truly
"But I have seen the best of you and the worst of you, and I choose both." — [An Origin Story] (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esgfG3BoAPc) (Sarah & Phil)
On seeing yourself in a different light
"If you grow up the type of woman men want to look at, you can let them look at you. But do not mistake eyes for hands. Or windows. Or mirrors. Let them see what a woman looks like." — [The Type] (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYAiYMlOCI4)
On embracing sugar (!) and life
"And no matter how many land mines erupt in a minute, be sure your mind lands on the beauty of this funny place called life. And yes, on a scale from one to over-trusting, I am pretty damn naive. But I want her to know that this world is made out of sugar. It can crumble so easily, but don't be afraid to stick your tongue out and taste it." — [Point B] (https://www.ted.com/talks/sarah_kay_if_i_should_have_a_daughter?language=en)
Image via null
On being grateful
"I spend most of my time wondering if I should be somewhere else. So I have learned to shape the words thank you with my first breath each morning, my last breath every night. When the last breath comes, at least I will know I was thankful for all the places I was so sure I was not supposed to be. All those places I made it to, all the loves I held, all the words I wrote. And even if it is just for one moment, I will be exactly where I am supposed to be." — [The Paradox] (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StE7b5mRWHk)
So if the option of being a professional poet wasn't modeled, how did it come into your scope of possibilities?
"When people say, 'Oh, this must be a dream come true for you,' that doesn't seem valid to me because it was no dream of mine. But what I did know was that I loved poetry, that I always wrote poetry, that I would continue to write poetry, that I loved sharing it, that it was always going to be a part of me, having nothing to do with a career — it was just part of the fabric that made me up." — Sarah Kay, *Poet Sarah Kay on How We Measure Creative Success* via [Brain Pickings] (https://www.brainpickings.org/2016/03/07/sarah-kay-interview/)
Image via Finland Today
What advice would you give to a writer looking to give poetry a try?
"I would love to see someone who is traditionally a science writer start writing poetry. Or I would love to see what happens when a historian writes poetry. That's how the art form grows and breathes and expands and makes room for what else is possible." — Sarah Kay, *Stage to Page* via [The Writer Mag] (http://www.writermag.com/2014/03/21/sarah-kay/)
Image via Asia Society
Support the blooming art of [spoken word poetry] (http://www.projectvoice.co) by watching [Sarah Kay] (https://www.facebook.com/kaysarahsera) and [Phil Kaye] (https://www.facebook.com/Phil-Kaye-656945654335108/) LIVE in the Philippines!
**Cebu, Philippines**
When: May 11 (7.30p.m.)
Where: CAP Theater
Buy your tickets [here] (https://pvcebu.eventbrite.com)
Image via Facebook Phil Kaye
**Quezon City, Philippines**
When: May 7 (7p.m.)
Where: Villamor Hall, University of the Philippines Dillman
Buy your tickets [here] (https://pvph2016.eventbrite.com)
Image via Facebook Phil Kaye
