For award-winning artist Amanda Shea, spoken word poetry is more than just performance; it’s transcendent.

“It’s an invitation to the spirit,” Shea said on GBH’s Under the Radar. “It’s also an invitation to transform all of our pain, trauma and joy, and alchemize that into spaces where audiences can not only relate but also understand.”

Shea, host of GBH’s “Outspoken Saturdays” at the Boston Public Library, is part of the spoken word community steadily rising in popularity all over the country, thanks to poetry slams, scholastic competitions, and increased visibility on social media and even on the inaugural stage .

In 2023, the Grammys officially presented its first award for Best Spoken Word Poetry Album to veteran spoken word artist J. Ivy, who also helped create the category.

“Historically, there was always a spoken word category at the Grammys, but the academy defined 'spoken word’ as any recording without music, so that included poetry, audiobooks, narration, storytelling, speeches,” J. Ivy said. “And for the past few decades, audiobooks have dominated the spoken word category.”

He found himself in a position to change that, and spent years working on a proposal to split the category.

“The reason for wanting to see us have our own category is because of the work of the poet, the healing work that we do, the connection that we’ve made, the power that we infuse into people. I’ve seen it change lives, I’ve seen poetry save lives,” he said. “So the Grammys was an opportunity to put more eyes and ears on this incredible art form that I absolutely love.”

Shea and J. Ivy are also paving a path for a younger generation of spoken word artists like Abigail Drumm, a senior at Agawam High School and the winner of the 2025 Poetry Out Loud Massachusetts competition. Drumm said she wasn’t a fan of poetry until she was exposed to spoken word.

“When I started high school and learned about Poetry Out Loud, that’s really when the switch went off for me,” Drumm said. “I realized just how meaningful it can be towards making human connection and discovering more about myself. It became less of a mental exercise trying to decipher what a poet is trying to say and more of trying to decipher what I feel about it.”

Drumm is one of thousands of students around the country competing in the Poetry Out Loud competition, and she heads to the national finals in Washington, D.C., in May.

As a new cohort of spoken word artists take the mic, J. Ivy and Shea both hope to create more opportunities for their art form to shine.

“I want to see the expansion of the art form in regards to industry, in regards to us having a better foundation when it comes to a circuit that we can tour, festivals, radio placement, anything that will support the art form,” J. Ivy said. “Poetry is a part of everything that we do: every commercial, every movie written, every song written — poetry is a part of it all. We just tend to forget that it’s the foundation. We need to create more space for poets and not feel that we’re restricted to open mics and poetry slams.”

Shea, who recently wrote and performed an original rhyming poem for a WBZ commercial and who will be performing at this year’s BAMS Fest, said she wants to see poetry take the main stage at major festivals like Newport Jazz Fest, the Roots Picnic or Boston Calling.

“People think that poetry is just like you and a mic and it’s all a capella,” Shea said. “But I’ve watched people like J. Ivy — and I’ve done so myself — perform with full bands. I feel like there are no limits. There’s no barriers.”

Guests

  • J. Ivy , two-time Grammy Award–winning performance poet, spoken word artist, songwriter and author
  • Amanda Shea , award-winning Boston-based performer, educator, activist and host of GBH’s “Outspoken Saturdays”
  • Abigail Drumm, senior at Agawam High School and winner of the 2025 Poetry Out Loud Massachusetts competition