Sarah Kay: How many lives can you live?
A performing poet since she was 14 years old, Sarah Kay is the founder of Project VOICE, an organization that uses spoken word poetry as a literacy and empowerment tool. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
The moon sees me.
A Hold néz engem.
that I don't see.
his laptop, his pager, his alarm clock.
csipogóját, ébresztőóráját.
asleep on his couch,
of coffee in the kitchen air.
sem érződik kávéillat.
stopped working on their particle machine.
a munkát részecskegyorsítójukon.
out the trash, is nervous,
hogy levigye a szemetet, is ideges,
a banana peel and a paper cup.
ejt ki és papírpoharat.
what this all mean for lost time.
hogy ezzel mennyi időt vesztettek.
are we losing per second?
can be launched?
flies off its energy cloud.
the table for dinner.
vacsorához az asztalt.
pulse against his wrist.
és planktonokról álmodik.
the pillowcase's sailing masts.
opens his eyes at once.
the most wonderful job in the world.
lehet a világon a legcsodálatosabb.
not understand the concept
számomra az a felfogás,
that I was going to get to do
hogy elérek mindent,
based on age or gender
megvan a maga ideje.
to actually experience
of the civil rights movement
emberjogi mozgalom élén állni,
on a farm during the dust bowl
átvészelni a porvihart,
dynasty in China.
my typical response was:
mindig azt válaszoltam:
is that I wasn't trying to invent
hogy nem valami összetett,
I was gonna get to be:
and an astronaut.
probably went on from there.
hogy a lista itt nem ért véget.
of if I was gonna get to do something
hogy elérek-e valamit,
to do everything,
to move pretty quickly,
of stuff I needed to do.
in a state of rushing.
that I was falling behind.
in New York City, as far as I could tell,
talán elmondhatom,
this sinking realization,
any more than one life.
to be a teenage girl
New Yorkban milyen élni,
that I became obsessed with stories,
történetek megszállottjává,
that I was able to see
más szemével látni,
however briefly or imperfectly.
other people's experiences
kezdtem el epekedni,
that there were entire lives
arról a tömérdek életről,
about everything that I was missing.
amiről lemaradok.
were never gonna get to experience
in New York city.
New Yorkban élni.
after your first kiss feels like,
I wanted to tell them.
el akartam mesélni nekik.
and sharing stories and collecting them.
gyűjtésével kötöttem le magam.
nem ismertem fel,
I can't always rush poetry.
there's this challenge
a nemzeti költészeti hónapban,
community participate in,
for the entire month of April.
for the first time
at which I was able to produce poetry.
milyen hatékonyan írok verset.
back at these 30 poems I had written
30 versemre visszanézve feltűnt,
all trying to tell the same story,
történetet próbálja közölni,
out the way that it wanted to be told.
mire kitaláltam, hogyan akarom elmondani.
of other stories on an even larger scale.
az összes történetemre is igaz.
tried to tell for years,
évek óta próbálok elmondani,
searching for the right words.
folyton az odaillő szavakat keresve.
by the name of Paul Valéry
és esszéíró szerint
finished, it is only abandoned.
re-editing and rewriting forever
átfogalmazás soha nem érne véget,
when a poem is finished
fejezem be a verset,
my very obsessive nature
megszállott természetemnek,
and the perfect words and the right form.
és a tökéletes szavakat keresi.
and work through things.
iránytűként használom.
doesn't mean that I've solved
még nem jelenti azt, hogy kitaláltam
where I was at that moment
a pillanatban pontosan hol voltam,
over for years and years
the prefect form,
nem biztos, hogy megtaláltam,
in search of a better way to tell it.
hogy miként közölhetném jobban.
amikor visszanézek,
this is where I was at this moment
voltam abban a pillanatban,
in this room, with you.
ebben a teremben, veletek.
to get your hands dirty.
for most of it, fumbling was a given.
az esetlenség adott volt.
contrast, more saturation,
chemicals, longer up to your wrist.
mélyebbre ért le csuklód.
with his sleeves rolled up,
the sailor man come to life.
with a smirk and a hobby.
kaján vigyort és hobbit vitt.
much about photography,
hogy azt mennyire ismeri,
Europe like a map,
térképként Európát,
of a fighter plane,
read his way home.
hitte, hogy az hazamutat.
fegyverüket a rozsda vitte el,
they would put their weapons out to rest,
fotós felszerelését.
and the cameras home with him.
into a family affair.
world of black and white.
the tiny clicks and slides
lágyan miként tekeri rá
but not the art.
de a művészetet nem.
spent his time following light.
minduntalan a fényt követte.
to follow a forest fire,
követve egy erdőtüzet,
I only recognize from photographs.
csupán fényképekről ismerem fel.
with the creaky hallways,
ahol nyikorognak a padlók.
white walls and cold floors.
a fehér fal, a hideg parketta.
before she was mother.
all the way up to the ceiling,
felértek a plafonig,
an 8x10 bed enlarger
edénnyell, 8x10-es nagyítókerettel,
by a giant hand crank,
in and out from the wall.
előre-hátra mozgott.
with basketball hands,
with red balloons and yellow icing.
babazsúrok képei lepték el.
without freckles,
did not have darkrooms in their houses,
házában miért nincsenek sötétkamrák,
hair and bubble gum cheeks.
ennivaló pofácskája volt.
in that house near the park.
a park közeli házban.
the sweet potato boy,
and said their prayers,
became a house under ash, so they escaped
hamu lepte ház vált, így elmenekültek
was built for an artist,
művésznek lett építve,
do not hold in the yelling
nem tartották a sikolyt vissza,
put his weapons out to rest.
fegyverét elvitte a rozsda.
and no maps pointed home.
és hazavezető térkép sincs.
his fists into his mouth
a cukorborsó fiú öklét,
went treasure hunting on her own.
kincskeresésre magában indult.
with the creaky hallways
ahol nyikorog a szobapadló,
she found a note,
left over from a time before towers,
azelőttről, hogy a torony ledőlt,
the girl who works in the darkroom."
szereti a lányt a sötétkamrából."
picked up a camera again.
the Christmas lights,
New York City's trees,
from out of the darkest darks.
villogtak felé a sötétség sötétjén.
across the country to follow a forest fire
átszelve követett egy erdőtüzet,
it with his camera,
in the margins of my notebook.
the art of embracing.
the art of letting go.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Sarah Kay - PoetA performing poet since she was 14 years old, Sarah Kay is the founder of Project VOICE, an organization that uses spoken word poetry as a literacy and empowerment tool.
Why you should listen
Plenty of 14-year-old girls write poetry. But few hide under the bar of the famous Bowery Poetry Club in Manhattan’s East Village absorbing the talents of New York’s most exciting poets. Not only did Sarah Kay do that -- she also had the guts to take its stage and hold her own against performers at least a decade her senior. Her talent for weaving words into poignant, funny, and powerful performances paid off.
Sarah holds a Masters degree in the art of teaching from Brown University and an honorary doctorate in humane letters from Grinnell College. Her first book, B, was ranked the number one poetry book on Amazon.com. Her second book, No Matter the Wreckage, is available from Write Bloody Publishing.
Sarah also founded Project VOICE, an organization that uses spoken word poetry as a literacy and empowerment tool. Project VOICE runs performances and workshops to encourage people to engage in creative self-expression in schools and communities around the world.
Sarah Kay | Speaker | TED.com