“It was all just so… Inexplicably beautiful. As personal and emotional as it is, it is just too beautiful to not come back to.”
Rozlind Silva, a second year student at UCSB, prides herself in spoken word, an oral art form which captures the aesthetics of rhetoric, word play and inotonation. This intriguing hobby and talent has moved the hearts of a broadening audience over the years. With new technology, this oral art form has made its way to many talented and ambitious millenials like Rozlind. She has demonstrated her talents in spoken word through popular media outlets like Youtube and has also been impresively officiated the title Youth Poet Ambassador for the city of Los Angeles twice. In an interview with UCSB HerCampus, she explains what spoken word means to her and how spoken word has helped her through various life obstacles.
Major/Year: I’m a second year, Comparative Literature major, with a double minor in Education and Applied Psychology.
Can you explain to me what spoken word is?
I actually really can’t capture what spoken word is. It means so many things to so many people. It’s both largely communal and yet extremely personal all at once. I think at the larger level, spoken word is a movement. It’s a community based movement that uses personal stories and individual voices and art to connect larger ideas and bridge people’s experiences together. To some, it is an outlet. To some, it saves lives. Spoken word actually originated as a way to bring back poetry from inaccessible academia, back to the common person. So that poetry wasn’t just for university students to study and analyze and write, but it was for anyone to write and tell their truth. It brings people together, and it gives a space to voice out really anything: thoughts, opinions, stories, trauma, music, movement, etc. It’s really so much, there’s no way to capture all of what spoken word is in one definition.
How did you discover this hobby and how did you end up pursuing it?
So I attended this poetry show at a high school and I just thought everyone performing was so cool. They sounded so cool, they sounded so brave, and important and intelligent yet emotional. I ended up attending that high school and joining the poetry club there, and through the club’s advisor I found myself slamming (aka competing with poetry) to compete in an international poetry competition called Brave New Voices (BNV). I did that once when I was about 15 or 16 years old, and then again my senior year in high school. The second time our team actually made it all the way to semi-finals, which in an international competition, was really cool. Organized under a non-profit organization called Say Word, it was with the BNV slam team that I saw the true impact poetry could have in people’s lives. I have been so blessed to share spaces with some of the most bravest people I have ever met. I have been so blessed to learn from them and learn with them, and share our experiences and our beliefs together. I have seen healing from trauma. I have seen political discourse. All from youth poets under the age of 19. I myself found a space to talk about my own identity and the hardest parts of my life I never dared open up apart. This kind of extremely personal aspect is what kept be coming back to poetry. The people I slammed with became some of my closest confidants and helped me flesh out words I never thought I was allowed to say. Say Word and my experience slamming with my teams at BNV really just gave me a voice and provided me with a community to share personal healing and growth with and it was all just so… Inexplicably beautiful. As personal and emotional as it is, it is just too beautiful to not come back to.
Have you made a name for yourself anywhere on social media— Youtube, Facebook etc.?
I wouldn’t necessarily say I’ve built up any kind of reputation for myself, but I would be lying if I said I didn’t want to. I was officiated twice as a Youth Poet Ambassador for the city of Los Angeles. Just recently I did a slam in Los Angeles at the 25th Annual Festival of Philippine Art and Culture and placed 3rd. I know a few familiar faces in the spoken word community, but in all honesty, I have not accomplished much. I don’t put out finished and polished works, nor do I publicize my work. I would say that as much as I care and cherish writing and speaking my poems, I haven’t done much to professionalize it and “make a name for myself,” so to speak.
Would you say your hobby right now is a serious one?
Like I said, I would say my hobby is serious as it is a big part of my self-care and my personal identity. As far as professionalizing myself and my work though, I have not done much. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t kind of planning to, though.
Other than spoken word, what do you like doing on your free time?
I’m like a super artsy person. I love singing. I know the basics of guitar, piano, and ukulele. I love learning choreography. I love musicals and any like arts and crafts events on campus… Yeah, I just love it.
Do you want to do anything with it in the future?
I don’t think I’ve ever planned on making a career out of slam poetry. I know people that do. They go out and perform for a living, and do this as their sole source of income. I don’t think I’ve ever considered that. I have considered competing in higher ranks, though. Like CUPSI which is like University-level slam competition. I really wanted to do that, but there’s not a CUPSI team here… And I don’t know if I’d want to spearhead the creation of one here. There’s also NPS which is like national level poetry slam.. That’d be a dream to be that high up there. Yeah, I’ve never really thought of making it my job, career, and source of income… But I want to see how far I can go competitively. I also have had friends put out their work in books and I think I would absolutely love to try that one day.
What is one of your favorite pieces created by you?
One of my favorite pieces is actually a group piece I did with former teammate and magical human being and artist by the name of Marissa Perez. It was called “Mamacita” and it was basically about guys who fetishize like an entire race as being desirable. It was all about my experience with guys with like “Yellow Fever” and her experience being hit on and cat-called in Spanish, which she doesn’t even speak. It’s a very funny and humorous piece, and at the end it just feels good to feel empowered over these guys who objectify us on the daily.
As far as my own pieces, I guess one of my favorite pieces is called “A Break Up Letter From Tinkerbell.” Just the name itself like… It catches people off guard. People aren’t expecting to hear a poem about Tinkerbell breaking up with Peter Pan. I love catching people off guard with that, but another thing I love about the poem is just that its also relatable. Like the idea of connecting with a Disney character or a fairy tale character is weird, but it works. People understand jealousy, people understand heartbreak– no matter who it’s from. So it’s really just fun to personify this character and connect with the audience and make them see how they can identify with something or someone they would never think they have anything in common with. It’s also just a really fun piece, pretending to be tinkerbell and all.
Where do you often find your inspiration?
Inspiration can come from literally anything! From Say Word and my teammates and my coaches, I just really learned to always write about what you love. That’s what you know best: the things you love. But other times, inspiration can come from so many things. Once I saw a girl in the backseat of a car, and out came a poem about my experience having separated parents. Other times I see posts or quotes on social media and write off that. Sometimes I’m just stressed and need to vent and poems come out of that. Tinkerbell, my poem, actually came from a Peter Pan spin off that I was reading. Like really, life has so many inspirations. I don’t think any artist could narrow it down to any one thing or source that inspires them.
If you could have a perfect day at UCSB what would it look like?
My perfect day at UCSB would primarily be no homework (or like… Finished homework), and just hanging out with as many of my friends here as possible. At UCSB I have been blessed with some of the most relaxed and fun individuals I cherish my time with. Any day that I see as many of my friends as possible is a good day to me.
What are you grateful for since coming to UCSB?
Kind of repetitive, but I’m really just glad for some of the people I’ve met. They’ve made it so easy to like.. Not be alone. They’ve made it so easy to just be accessible and make plans and spend time together for any reason at all. Here I’ve also just been really thankful to be away from everything I’ve known and really create myself and find out who I am away from where I’ve grown up. I’m learning more about how to be on my own, like responsibility-wise and self-care/self-sufficiency wise, and I really am greatful for this small space I have on this gorgeous campus to like learn how to be an adult, but also still kick back and have a break from adulthood as a student. I just really enjoy this atmosphere and being here. A lot.
What is a random fun fact that you normally share at ice breakers? Is there a reason why you choose that fact?
Poetry is usually the thing I share during ice breakers, just because people like know about it but maybe never know people actually a part of that community. It’s a really large part of my identity and greatly impacted me in terms of the person I am today, and the beliefs I hold. Other than that I also like to tell people I play three instruments, but I usually leave out the part where I tell them I only know how to play very easy very basic songs. Honestly, it’s just to show that that’s kind of who I am. I love art and sharing art with people, whether that’s poems or music or anything. That’s just who I am– it makes up so much of me.