Patrick de Belen: Spoken Word Artist

Patrick de Belen at a Poetry Workshop.

Listen to his Spoken Word piece, "In Real Life" here:

Another piece of his "Too Many Narrators" here:

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Patrick de Belen came to my high school one morning as a special guest at an assembly that was scheduled for later on in the day.

It was during first period, Writer's Craft. I walked into class and saw this short, kind of chubby filipino guy, dressed in a black shirt and blue jeans with a red flannel tied around his waist, standing in the middle of the room.

He announced to our class that he would be our "Substitute Teacher" for the period (my actual teacher was just sitting at his desk). He introduced himself, and told us that he was a Spoken Word Artist. Our class had just began the Poetry Unit the day before, so having him come in for a workshop was appropriate.

He began the class with his piece, "In Real Life" (Listen to the first clip above). I always had a small interest in Spoken Word Poetry, but this work was mesmerizing. He was able to connect so many characters from different Cartoons and TV Shows to real-world issues. I've always been a sucker for pop-culture references, so that piece became an instant favourite with me. Besides from being enjoyable, the work spoke volumes to the class. It raised questions about issues such as; discrimination, addiction, inequality, etc., and how de Belen regards the life in Cartoons so much better than the real world.

His next piece was, "Too Many Narrators" (Second Clip above). It was about how society looks back at the people in history who have changed the world in someway and wishing that these inspirational individuals would somehow come back, living or deceased, and change the world again. The issue is that society spends too much time wishing for these people to come back and make a change that we become blind to our own abilities to cause our own change in the world. There are so many people that want John Lennon, Bob Marley, Malcolm X, Tupac, Biggie, etc. to rise from the dead to lead society to a better future, when these people don't realize they are just as capable of doing so.

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Patrick de Belen has become such a huge inspiration to me. He helped me understand that it's perfectly fine to speak your mind and write what I want, and that I shouldn't care what others think of me (Although, he did get suspended from his own school for reciting a controversial poem).