Competitor Profile: Rebecca Yung
"I think the reason is that if a poem is important, it means changing or admitting something about your life. Important poems contain hard truths, and so naturally sometimes I just want to sweep all of that under the rug, at least until the moment for action has already passed. So I think that's a goal for me, to write the important, scary poems, because there's nothing worse than dishonest poetry."
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"Romans"
They told me "pray to him,
he understands"
So I knelt down, and I looked up,
and I tried to find strength in his example
But it turns out you don't need Romans to drive nails through your palms
Your own will work just fine
They offered me the cup of blood, but it always just tasted like wine
So I ripped open my chest, trying to find
the sacred heart of Jesus
and then I tasted blood, and, Lord in heaven, it was vile
I swallowed everything they gave me,
learned about Eve and David and Naomi,
Original Sin and the fires of Pentecost
About how St John was an eagle, St Mark was a lion, St Luke was an ox,
but St Matthew was a man
We talked about gay sex until I
couldn't think straight
I sang along to all the hymns
but secretly wondered if God wouldn't prefer something a little more upbeat
On retreat
I heard about how God works in mysterious ways
For my classmates, He
left keys in parking lots,
sent hurricanes to Caribbean islands the day after
they caught their first class flight home,
sent guardian angels to look over their pets in surgery
So I thought surely the God
of rich people's dogs
has time for me
I carved prayers on my arms,
one letter each day,
I've almost finished the Rosary
But I guess God can't read them
I always did get bad marks in handwriting.
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Name: Rebecca Yung
Stage Name: Sky Blue
Age: 20
Years Active in Slam: Less than one
Teams You’ve Been a Member of: None
Place from which you are traveling to get to TGS: About seven miles down Texas Avenue
Top 5 influential poets: Andrea Gibson, Andrea Gibson, Andrea Gibson, Andrea Gibson, and Daisy Longmile
Have you been to TGS before, & if so, what are you hoping is the same/different from your previous experience?
I attended TGS last year, and it was phenomenal. I'm just hoping I get to hear such a wide breadth of excellent poetry again. And maybe this year I'll actually talk to some of the poets.
How would you describe your writing style?
I have a lot of "doodle pages". I'll write down ideas and phrases that stick with me, and whenever one gets really stuck in my head, I just sort of pour it out. Then I'll refine it and work on making it sound good out loud. Endings are definitely the hardest for me.
Do you consider yourself more of a writer or a performer?
Definitely more of a performer. I don't think I've written a single poem that really holds its own when pinned down on paper. They all need to be read aloud in a very specific way in order to convey the right meaning.
Who are you looking forward to/nervous as hell to compete against?
Oh man, the lineup this year is like my YouTube suggestions just came to life. I would call myself a blushing fan of Sam Cook, Desiree Dallagiacomo, and Michael Lee (please no one tell them, I want to play it cool). Also, Good Ghost Bill and Nick Lupfer are two of my favorites from Mic Check, and I can't wait to hear more from them.
What is your goal for this competition?
To grow as a poet, if that's not too cheesy. I'd also like to not crash and burn and forget my poems or anything.
What is going through your head before you get on stage?
Very little, to be honest. I try to clear my head before I start a poem, and to remove the vanities, like thinking about who's in the audience, or what impression this poem will leave about me in the minds of my acquaintances. I just want to read the poem well and let it stand on their own.
What is it about Andrea Gibson's poetry that really gets you? I mean, obviously, REALLY gets you?
Well for one thing, Andrea Gibson was the poet that first got me into slam poetry. In high school, my best friend performed "Blue Blanket" at a coffeehouse event, and that was my introduction to the art form. Also I just adore her writing style. For me, her poems hit that perfect place on the spectrum between literal/straightforward and so-artsy-I-have-no-idea-what-you're-even-talking-about. And the language flows beautifully- there's rhyme and cadence, but it's never rigid or forced.
I feel like our writing processes are really similar. I write a few lines here and there. And what I really do when I say I'm writing, is gluing these pieces together, kinda carving out a poem from all this stuff I have over three or four pages of my little lines, quotes from other people's poems, bad drawings, etc. The problem, for me, is to know what belongs in which poem. Do you struggle with this is well? Or, do you have a better idea of what goes in the beginning and middle, but not the end? Do you feel like your poems are always too short, or maybe too long?
It is tricky to know what belongs where. Sometimes I'll just cannibalize other poems I've written that never really got finished and turn it into a franken-poem, but I don't think that's the best. You can always sort of hear the seams. The best case scenario is when one idea or line is the seed, and all the rest grows out from that. With regards to length, I would say my poems tend to run short. Three minutes is very standard for slam poems, and most of mine never hit that length. I think the reason that endings are hard for me is a good ending wraps up what the poem was about and what it is supposed to leave the listener with, and sometimes I reach the end and have to confront that there really isn't a coherent message in my poem. And that's very difficult because I know I have to go back and do extensive editing to really make it finished, so sometimes I just don't.
How do you know when a poem is important? Are you scared to write it? Does it come all at once?
I'd definitely agree that important poems scare me a little. I think the reason is that if a poem is important, it means changing or admitting something about your life. Important poems contain hard truths, and so naturally sometimes I just want to sweep all of that under the rug, at least until the moment for action has already passed. So I think that's a goal for me, to write the important, scary poems, because there's nothing worse than dishonest poetry.
What is your biggest hope in terms of your poetry, and the places it could take you?
My biggest hope is that some day, someone will read my writing and think "Yes! She gets me!", because I have definitely come across poetry that makes me feel that way, and it is such a gift. So I'd like to think that I could share that gift with someone else. As far as what my poetry can do for me, I don't really have career goals or anything like that. Competing is fun, and it's always very validating to receive recognition for my work, but that's not why I do it. I do it to help understand my own emotions, and because creating art is its own reward.
What is your all-time favorite line of poetry?
"I have been told, sometimes, the most healing thing to do is remind ourselves over and over and over: other people feel this too"