Taylor Mali

Taylor Mali's poetry can be found in numerous forms on the internet. I watched two, one in which Mali spoke the poem in front of a small crowd, and one set up like a prezi, with a recording of Mali playing as the words appeared on the screen. The poem itself stay constant between the two versions, yet I took a completely different meaning away from each short clip. When I watched Mali deliver the poem wearing a geeky scrabble t-shirt and jeans, it allowed me to see the type of man stating the truth through poetry. With the added visual of hand gestures, it helped me to focus on what the author wanted to emphasize. In the print version, although very interesting, I found myself more focused on reading all the words as they were creatively arranged, and it took much of the meaning away from the poem. Although in the text form different fonts and sizes were used to help accent the important phrases in the poem, seeing every word appear in a non-traditional form was too overwhelming for me.  I chose to watch the print version first, so without the prior knowledge of the type of man Taylor Mali is, it allowed me to make my own prediction. I noted his appearance early on in my entry because it stuck with me throughout his entire performance. If I were to stand and read his poem, a majority of the audience would take a different meaning away. Live, Mali successfully uses hand gestures along with his diction to accent the main points in his poetry. Although his voice sounded identical in the print version, with only words in front of me, I struggled really listen and focus on the words of the poem. This exercise proves that style really does impact meaning of a writing piece. One person's interpretation of an essay, novel, or even poem can easily change by simply viewing the text or only listening to the words.