# African-American style poetry (def poetry)

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/african-american-style-poetry-def-poetry/210593>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [October 31, 2003, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/african-american-style-poetry-def-poetry/210593 "2003-10-31T03:48:31Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Deathstatic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/2acd7d/32.png) [@Deathstatic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Deathstatic)\
**Post date:** [October 31, 2003, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/african-american-style-poetry-def-poetry/210593/1 "2003-10-31T03:48:31Z")

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Hey, I have recently started listening to this type of poetry due to the strong emotions and images stirred by these excellent writers/readers. I am not exactly sure what to call this type of poetry though… hope I got close. My interest kind of got started by Blair Underwood in the movie Full Frontal… then I recently downloaded a song by Lauryn Hill called Adam lives in Theory, which I thought would be a really good poem to read out loud like that.

Anyway, to the **POINT!** I need some hints on what to look for. Who or what do you like in this genre? Anything I can download or buy? Know of any good poetry readings in KC? Why do you like this style of poetry?

Thanks for your help.

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**Author:** ![Super\_Gnat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Super\_Gnat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Super_Gnat)\
**Post date:** [October 31, 2003, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/african-american-style-poetry-def-poetry/210593/2 "2003-10-31T04:09:21Z")

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Spoken Word? (As an aside, it was way harder to Google for this than it should have been.)

I’m not really that into it, mainly because I’m not in the whole coffeehouse culture, but at least I can give you a name.