This past Monday, Tigertail’s WordSpeak poetry slam youth group performed to a packed patio at Panther Coffee in Wynwood. The audience had almost as much as the energy as the poets poured into their performances.

Tigertail WordSpeak. Photo by Neil de la Flor

Slammers Christell Victoria Roach, Steffon Firstclass Dixon, Maylin Joann Enamorado and others from the Tigertail team illuminated the twilight with their powerful poems that addressed tough social and political issues, such as gay camp, sexual abuse of women and prescription drug abuse.

Tigertail’s Wordspeak team is nationally recognized, and (as I type this post) they’re literally on their way to perform on HBO’s “Brave New Voices,” which is considered the Olympics of spoken word. With more than 500 teens and 50 teams participating in the youth poetry festival, Tigertail’s team heads to Chicago to represent the 1,000 plus inner city teens involved in its WordSpeak program.

Tigertail WordSpeak. Photo by Neil de la Flor

Tigertail’s WordSpeak poetry slam youth group reminded me that poetry isn’t just about alliteration and pretty language. Poetry is about protest. It’s about communicating a message to provoke awareness, conversation and even effect change. If poetry doesn’t do this, then what’s the point? Tigertail’s Wordspeak youth team put the point back in poetry by performing mature works that speak up and speak out about issues not readily discussed in everyday conversation.

Tigertail WordSpeak. Photo by Neil de la Flor

To learn more about Brave New Voices and Tigertail, visit youthspeaks.org/bravenewvoices and tigertail.org.