LINK

This is the youtube link to Big Poppa E performing his slam poem on HBO. since it's supposed to be performed at a poetry slam, it's a good idea to watch. it's cool.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEhcjKZP6LI&feature=related

The Wussy Boy Manifesto

My name is Eirik Ott
And I am a Wussy Boy.

It’s taken me a long time to admit it.

I remember shouting out in high school,
“ No, Dad, I’m not gay! I’m just… sensitive.
I tried to like jet planes and hot rods
and football and Budweiser poster girls
but I never got the hang of it!
I don’t know what’s wrong with me…”

And then, I saw him,
there on the silver screen,
bigger than life and unafraid
of earrings and hair dye
and rejoicing in the music of The Cure,
Morrisey and Siouxsie and the Banshees,
walking loud and talking proud
my Wussy Boy icon:
Duckie in Pretty in Pink.

And I realized I wasn’t alone.

I looked around and saw other Wussy Boys
living large and proud of who they were:
Anthony Michael Hall, Wussy Boy;
Michael J. Fox, Wussy Boy; and 
Lord God King of the Wussy Boy Movement,
Matthew Broderick,
unafraid to prove to the world
that sensitive guys kick ass!

(“Wussy Boy Manifesto” cont’d)

Now, I am no longer afraid
of my Wussiness, hell no, 
I am empowered by it!
When I pull up to a stoplight
And some redneck testosterone
methamphetamine jock frat boy pulls up
beside me cranking his Trans Am’s stereo 
with power chord anthems
to big tits and date rape,
I no longer avert my gaze, hell no,
I just crank all 12 watts of my car stereo
and I rock out right to his face: 
“ I am human and I need to be loved
just like everybody else does!”

I am Wussy Boy, hear me roar (meow).

Bar fight? Pshaww!
You think you can take me, huh,
just because I like poetry 
better than Sports Illustrated?
Well, allow me to caution you
for I am not the average, every day,
run of the mill Wussy Boy you beat up
in high school, punk:
I am Wuss Core!

Don’t make me get Renaissance on your ass
because I WILL write a poem about you!
a poem that will tear your psyche limb from limb,
that will expose your selfish insecurities,
that will wound you deeper than knives
and gats and baseball bats could ever hope to.

You may see 65 inches of Wussy Boy
standing in front of you,
but my steel-toed soul 
is ten feet tall and bulletproof!

Bring the pain, punk! 
Beat the tar out of me!
Show everybody in this bar
what a real man can do, 
but you’d better remember 
that my bruises will fade,
my scars will shrink and disappear, 
but my poem about the pitiful, small, helpless, 
dumb-ass, no-neck oppressor you really are
will last forever.

--Big Poppa E

Slam Poetry is supposed to be performed in front of a casual audience, sometimes as part of a competition. It utilizes contemporary slang and cultural allusions, as well as strong, aggressive diction and hyperboles to convey raw emotion and an honest opinion. Essentially, it's battling with poetry.

This poem's exposition presents the topic that will be handled through the speaker's confusion and apologetic response of his seeming sensitivity and nonconformity to male stereotypes like enjoying "jet planes" "cars" and "Budweiser poster girls".  The following stanza's explain the speaker's revelation and new understanding of the topic, when he finds other "Wussy Boys" who made it big and were admired, making allusions to contemporary actors such as Michael J. Fox and Matthew Broderick. In these stanzas, the speaker uses hyperboles and juxtapositions the stereotypical characteristics of "normal boys" and "Wussy Boys".

After this, the poem's tone shifts and becomes more empowered, albeit more aggressive and on the offensive. He still uses common generalizations and stereotypes, such as "redneck testosterone/methamphetamine jock frat boy pulls up/ beside me cranking his Trans Am’s stereo/ with power chord anthems/ to big tits and date rape..." to depict a clear, negative picture of the "opponents" confronted in this slam poem. This is like an attack, using some cacophony, and strong diction with the words such as "redeck" "methamphetamine" and "anthems to big tits and date rape" to create the desired effect, which would come through even more clearly when heard performed.

The spirit of the "slam poem" is strongly captured in the lines:

a poem that will tear your psyche limb from limb,

that will expose your selfish insecurities,

that will wound you deeper than knives

and gats and baseball bats could ever hope to.

The purpose of this slam poem is to stand up for "wussy boys" (exaggerated: sensitive, poetry writing, the Cure listening, well dressed boys). It "slams" negative opinions of such boys, and (on the offensive) "slams" the stereotypical opposite of what it's defending. Since this style is almost presented as an oral outcry, or argument, it is most effective when utilizing contemporary slang and references, and well as concrete language, and vivid adjectives to best get across the purpose and emotion to the audience.