Poet G Yamazawa Performs Spoken Word

The wooden beads of George Yamazawa’s necklace gleamed in the assembly stage spotlight as his voice boomed across the Assembly Hall.

Born in Durham, North Carolina, Yamazawa is one of the top young spoken word artists in the country. He has already been honored as a Kundiman Fellow, National Poetry Slam Finalist, two-time Southern Fried Champion, two-time Individual World Poetry Slam Finalist, and has ranked second at the Ontario International Poetry Slam.

This past Friday marked the fourth time Yamazawa has performed on campus. Assistant Director of Student Activities Kelly McGahie called his first performance at Exeter “captivating.”

“The first time I tried to bring him here, the school said that they would love to have him come for MLK day and do a workshop,” she said. “He performed a poetry set in the Assembly Hall for the students [during the evening].”

McGahie asked Word!, Exeter’s spoken word club, to perform alongside Yamazawa. Upper Elizabeth Kostina enjoyed the opportunity to work with Yamazawa and the resulting artistic bond. “Performing was a great way to connect with G on a more personal level since slam poetry is very personal to the author,” Kostina said.

Kostina also noted that inviting poets like Yamazawa is an important part of Exeter’s devotion to the arts. “Getting someone to come here, pay their expenses, etc. is not easy and it does allude to the fact that Exeter is very capable of supporting these performers,” Kostina said. “The fact that these performers agree to come here is also amazing because it means that Exeter has an audience for that performer, which speaks to the huge spectrum of people at this campus and that the artist's work will be appreciated. In that sense, there is a 'support' system for performers due to the diverse population of this campus.”

Audience members praised Yamazawa’s performance. Kostina explained that the quality of his performance forged a connection with the audience. “He has this rapid-fire delivery which stems from his rap background, but it is a great performance technique,” Kostina said. “Listening to him talk and interweave personal anecdotes into his in-between bits of poetry and then switching to his slam which is also so personal and provides an amazing window to understand him...listening to him makes you feel like you've got the inside of the joke.”

Lower Julia Dobbins also enjoyed the student performers and the issues they touched on in their works. “It takes incredible courage to get up onstage and say what they said. They raised our awareness for real issues through slam poetry,” Dobbins said. “They poured their hearts out that night and it was amazing to experience.”

Dobbins noted Yamazawa’s smooth transition between poems. “I really enjoyed that he wasn’t going from poem to poem,” Dobbins said. “He flowed into each poem he planned to perform by using conversation as a transition. Hearing him talk in between poems made him a very down-to-earth and enjoyable performer to watch.”

Some were moved by the topics of his poems, as prep Josephine Elting said, “He was telling you a lot of important ideas that people try to tell you throughout your entire life in such a short amount of time and this was really effective way of doing it. I took out of it knowing who you are and being aware that you are who you are and some people might judge you for that for different reasons, not necessarily bad reasons, and that you just need to know that and do your best to be who you are and the person you want to become.”

Prep Jacob David enjoyed Yamazawa’s unique style of performing. “While his spoken word performance was astounding, I most enjoyed his casual storytelling,” he said. “It felt like we were engaging in conversation with him.”

At the core of his performance, Yamazawa explained, is his love of human connection. “I do this because I love like human connectivity,” he said. “I think I've learned how to ensure every person feels part of the conversation. I think the fluidness in which I try to treat the audience comes from years of performing. As a listener, I know how it feels to want to feel engaged with the artist of stage.”