January 30, 2013 at 5:54 p.m.
TEDxBermuda 2011
Spoken word artist Paynter receives a double standing ovation
Event organizer John Narraway described Tiffany Paynter as “one of the most talented in the arena of the spoken word in Bermuda”.
She garnered arguably the biggest applause of the day with her heartfelt speeches about life in Bermuda.
She received two standing ovations — one at the end of her speech and one during it. Ms Paynter decided to recite three of her own pieces and spoke a little about each one. Rooster was a controversial piece challenging unsavoury politics, religion and white privilege.
“I crow because our youth’s SOS is hieroglyphics in blood, their distress glares red like flare guns and we are losing our minds trying to get found.”
Her piece Indigenous captured the magic of youth as a soft, ambling acoustic guitar carried her words gently and nostalgically into the audience.
“I remember the days we played we played leapfrog and British Bulldog and It and we tried to find ways to say shhhhh**t without saying sh*t. But too soon we lose hope, become adults and trade in our jog ropes for cynicism and clever insults but I liked it then, when everything ended in pretty, pretty please.”
Her third poem, about the difficult relationship she had with her father after he found out she was a lesbian, brought people in the audience to tears. She invited the audience to wear a blindfold, presumably to help us to visualize the vivid imagery within the passage.
“So before I am a lesbian waiting for Two Words and a Comma, I am just a daughter searching for a rescue poem for her father. If only words were a bridge of stones across the ones you’ve thrown I would replace my armour with pajamas.”
[[In-content Ad]]TEDxBermuda 2011
- 'If the ocean's species die then we all die'
- Discovering the secrets of our tiger sharks
- A mural of epic proportions
- 'New wars are not breaking out in Africa, we are open for business'
- Spoken word artist Paynter receives a double standing ovation
- Music from around the world
- How did humans get so smart?
- Tales from within Guantanamo
- Taking from a society of waste and giving to a society of want
- Can our oceans heal themselves?
- Cleaning up corrupt professional cycling
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