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I Found Out I’m Dying, by R. Sporty King, is a friendly introduction to poetic literature. Sporty King’s "Spoetry" is written in a style which can be enjoyed by the masses. One way to describe his poetry is to quote the words from one of his poems, I’ve Got a Message. "... Strong enough to be a force Light enough for the uneducated Not ethnically insulting or sexually suggestive Neither chauvinistic nor feminist Generically worded to resist conformity Though fancy enough to be chic... " Sporty includes a complimentary cassette with his book which explains the inspirations for some of his poems. The cassette brings life to his Spoetry and fills in between the lines. Something I found interesting from reading the book and listening to the cassette was my choice of favorites. My favorite read poems, in order, are "...Got What It Takes...", "Just Mad", "A Sense of Strength" and "Hey Queen". My favorite spoken poems, in order, are "I Found Out I’m Dying", "Don’t You Realize That You Don’t Know Me?", "Baggage Claim", "Through A Child’s Eyes", "An Interview With Stevie Wonder" and "The Gift of Laughter". The reason there is a difference between the read poems and the spoken poems is due to the deliverance. As I read my favorite poems, I imagined them in a different tone as to how Sporty delivered them. Just Mad was not told on the tape so maybe that poem would have been the one poem which Sporty and myself would have told the same. (highly doubtful!). As for my spoken favorites, Sporty elaborated and stressed key words and phrases in these poems which bought a new perspective to them. One thing that Sporty mentions is that you have to read his poems at least twice before you can grasp a true feel for the poem. I feel that reading and listening to the poems did this for me. Through first run, I overlooked the message in my spoken favorites. The way I read versus the way I heard these poems smothered the inner beauty of the message. Improvisation also helped increased the magnitude of The Gift of Laughter and Interview With Stevie Wonder. * * * * * "...Got What It Takes..." This is my favorite of the bunch. Character traits of a "fine" woman and a "smart" man are displayed in a conceited, exaggerated yet somewhat truthful manner. While I’m not saying all women and men in this category behave this way, the idea that society does not require fine woman or smart men to possess much of a personality to make the "most wanted" list, holds a lot of validity. However, when one does come across a person whom has a sense of personality, their memory and company has an everlasting effect. I hope that I am remembered like Sporty’s man Al... "I Found Out I’m Dying" Most often, death isn’t spoken about until someone dies or has been diagnosed to die. In this case, very rarely is it spoken of in a praising manner. "I Found Out I’m Dying" praises life from a deathly point of view. Death is hard to accept for many people, including myself. Sporty vividly explains that death is the one thing in our entire lives that we have to accept because it’s the only thing in our lives which is unchangeable, uncontrollable and inevitable. Although this fact is really nothing new, hearing the appreciation of life through the eyes of death puts a new flavor on how to live. The vow to "begin appreciating the simple things in life" doesn’t become a major task once you accept and realize the fact that you are "dying and have been since day one". The truest form of accepting death is by living life to the fullest. * * * * * "I Found Out I’m Dying" has a poem relating on many aspects of a Black American’s life. Birth, parenting, sex, black awareness, love and death are a few of the subjects discussed in this book. Whether you are the nursery rhymer or the veteran poet, Spoetry is something which will definitely inspire you. � 1998, AALBC |
