Jennifer Falu filled the room with laughter on a night in June. I watched the people sitting around me, and their faces lit up as they listened, and they turned to each other. This is spoken word. This is poetry on its feet and in the streets.
WordxWord gathers writers to perform their own work live. They come into coffee shops and museums, and they stand on corners. They compete in poetry and story slams, picking up the mic without a script. They hold events year-round, across the county, and a weeklong festival through downtown Pittsfield in August.
In her own words, Falu turns herself into water, deep and clear and open in the sunlight. She turns to look the room full on with sadness and warmth in her voice.
She says, “You can swim — can’t you?”
WordxWord brings live performance to many places in the Berkshires. They hold contemporary conversations at the Berkshire Museum year-round. In summer they hold a week of events on Pittsfield in early August — with head-to-head haiku, Crosstalk at the Tyler Street Lab and a poetry sCrawl through town. They pair dance and spoken word in the gardens at The Mount in Lenox, and more.
Spoken word live
Politics of Identity: Poetry of Inclusion and Exclusion, a program of work by poets spanning ages and styles, 3 p.m. Nov. 12. Who gets to belong? Who gets to decide? Poets answer this challenge from whatever direction they choose, and the program may contain explicit material. along with Setsuko Winchester’s Freedom From Fear/Yellow Bowl Project free at the MCLA’s Gallery 51, 51 Main St., North Adams. The poet Safia Elhillo, above, has performed in the annual WordxWord festival in Pittsfield.
Listeners share a drink on the roof in the annual WordxWord festival in Pittsfield in August.
Nationally acclaimed spoken word poet Jennifer Falu performs at a WordxWord event in North Adams.
WordxWord gathers local poets, storytellers and songwriters at its annual downtown festival in Pittsfield in August.
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