Twin Cities Slam Poetry: Blythe Baird
Blythe Baird is an author, viral spoken word poet, and teaching artist. Her work has been featured by The Huffington Post, VICE, Write Bloody, Button Poetry, Mic, and EverydayFeminism. Her short film "When the Fat Girl Gets Skinny" won the 2017 ADCAN film award for the National Eating Disorder Association.
I loved the line, “I was looking for another way to punish myself.” How do you reflect shame in your work?
I reflect shame in my work by interrogating what’s driving the shame and thinking about what purpose that shame is trying, but failing, to serve.
This poem shows the complexities of having an abortion. Why do you think it's important to discuss these complexities?
I think it’s important to talk about the complexities around abortion because it’s important to normalize abortion as a topic. It is not this scandalous thing, many people have had abortions, and they feel some type of way about it, and I think that it’s hard to talk about having shame within that without risking furthering a narrative you don’t want to further. I’ve had distance since I’ve wrote that poem, and I do feel so much more at peace with my decision now than I did then, and I think that it’s also important to showcase that grieving an abortion can be a whole process. I’m glad that I can be someone that people can hopefully see themselves in and know that they really are truly not alone in what they’ve experienced.
How did you get involved in the Twin Cities slam poetry scene?
I got involved in the Twin Cities poetry slam scene shortly before I started college. I went to Slam camp in Minnesota when I was a high school student, a couple summers, and my mentors there, like Sierra DeMulder and Cari Jackson, they were all from the Twin Cities, and so, I believed and knew that the Twin Cities were a thriving community of poets and artists, and all sorts of cool stuff, so I knew I wanted to be there. I got involved by competing at local slams in Saint Paul and Minneapolis and then went on to do the National and Regional circuit as well.
What is your favorite part of the Twin Cities poetry community?
My favorite thing about the Twin Cities poetry community is how many different disciplines poets are also involved in. Like you see poets who are working with visual mediums as well, and doing more theatrical performances, are doing dance interpretations, I think that it’s cool to see so much intersection of art in the twin cities poetry scene, I think everybody brings other forms of art to the table which really informs their work, which I really appreciate.
How do you think we can better uplift queer women and gender-nonconforming artists in this community?
I think we can better uplift queer women and gender nonconforming artists by supporting them with money. Booking them for shows, and events, book signings, buying their merch, buying their books, and helping support them in their artistry.