Nicole Homer - False Memories
First, the disclaimer: This isn't your average poem. It is in its entirety a spoken word piece. In fact, I think if I saw it written down it would appear at first glance to be prose. (Not that there's anything wrong with that. If it can work for Baudelaire, why can't it work for you or I, or Nicole Homer?) Its not meant to have line breaks, I should think. Those would only serve to as a distraction. The second warning is connected to the first. This poem is a bit long.
Now, to the meat of the matter: Nicole describes a phenomena that I think most of us experience, and one that is particularly significant to me. Not only is there the disconnect between our childhood idols and the later realization of their significantly less-than-ideal realities, but there's also the trick that our minds play when we look back on the past, and on childhood. If I really analyze it, the only things that have changed about some of the things in my life; my parents, my family, my country, even the cities, neighborhoods, and houses that I live in, have been my varied opinions and perceptions of them.
Originally I thought of a poem reminiscent of smiling, shirtless days in the sunlight, but this seems more significant, especially when considering poetry as a tool for self discovery. After hearing this poem, I remember immediately realizing 'Oh, that's right. Its impossible to have an appreciation of childhood as a child.'
And I became that much more enlightened.
Now, to the meat of the matter: Nicole describes a phenomena that I think most of us experience, and one that is particularly significant to me. Not only is there the disconnect between our childhood idols and the later realization of their significantly less-than-ideal realities, but there's also the trick that our minds play when we look back on the past, and on childhood. If I really analyze it, the only things that have changed about some of the things in my life; my parents, my family, my country, even the cities, neighborhoods, and houses that I live in, have been my varied opinions and perceptions of them.
Originally I thought of a poem reminiscent of smiling, shirtless days in the sunlight, but this seems more significant, especially when considering poetry as a tool for self discovery. After hearing this poem, I remember immediately realizing 'Oh, that's right. Its impossible to have an appreciation of childhood as a child.'
And I became that much more enlightened.
So...In an effort to insert as much willy-nilly into this pre-arranged undertaking, I went ahead and made this post without so much as glancing at Geoffrey Philip's Blog Spot, the place where I actually got the idea to do this from, on his 'Day 1' Entry. Now that I have, I realize that its probably a good idea to include a brief Bio. So here's Nicole Homer's, snagged straight off her myspace page at http://www.myspace.com/travelerpoet
Nicole Homer
is finding her voice. Since she started slamming, she has won numerous
slams at venues such as the Nuyorican Poets Café, The Bowery Poetry
Club, Brookdale College, Port Africa, Cantab Lounge and the legendary
Chicago Green Mill. She has featured at the Shore Institute for
Contemporary Arts, The Five Spot, The Brooklyn Big Art Show, Georgian
Court University and has opened for Amiri Baraka and Miquel Algarin at
the Newark Museum and for Jim Caroll at the Forum Theater. She is winner
of the Emerging Writers Audience Favorite award at Wordfest 2006. She
was an NYC Urbana finalist but went to the 2006 National Poetry Slam
with Central Jersey's own Loser Slam!!! Nicole represented Urbana at
the 2007 Individual World Poetry Slam in Vancouver where she ranked 9th
in the world. Nicole competed in the 2007 National Poetry Slam in
Austin, TX on the Urbana team, where they placed 6th in the nation.
