When Love Arrives

Sarah Kay and Phil Kaye are two New Yorkers and performers of spoken word poetry. 

They have founded Project V.O.I.C.E. (Vocal Outreach Into Creative Expression), a national movement that celebrates and inspires youth self-expression through Spoken Word Poetry.

Transcript

Both: I knew exactly what love looked like- in seventh grade.

Sarah: Even though I hadn’t met love yet, if love had wandered into my homeroom I would’ve recognized him at first glance. Love wore a hemp necklace.

Philip: I would’ve recognized her at first glance, love wore a tight french braid.

S: Love played acoustic guitar and knew all my favorite Beatles songs.

P: Love wasn’t afraid to ride the bus with me.

B: And I knew,

S: I just must be searching the wrong classrooms,

P: just must be checking the wrong hallways, she was there, I was sure of it.

S: If only I could find him.

B: But when love finally showed up,

P: she had a bowl cut.

S: He wore the same clothes every day for a week.

P: Love hated the bus.

S: Love didn’t know anything about The Beatles.

B: Instead,

P: every time I try to kiss love,

B: our teeth got in the way.

S: Love became the reason I lied to my parents.

P: I’m going to- Ben’s house.

S: Love had terrible rhythm on the dance floor, but made sure we never missed a slow song.

P: Love waited by the phone because she knew that if her father picked up it would be:

S: “Hello? Hello? *heavy breathing* I guess they hung up.”

P: And love grew,

S: stretched like a trampoline.

P: Love changed.

S: Love disappeared, slowly, like baby teeth, losing parts of me I thought I needed.

P: Love vanished like an amateur magician, and everyone could see the trapdoor but me.

S: Like a flat tire, there were other places I had planned on going,

B: but my plans didn’t matter.

S: Love stayed away for years, and when love finally reappeared, I barely recognized him.

P: Love smelled different now, had darker eyes,

S: a broader back, love came with freckles I didn’t recognize.

P: New birthmarks, a softer voice.

S: Now there were new sleeping patterns,

P:  new favorite books.

S: Love had songs that reminded him of someone else,

P: songs love didn’t like to listen to.

B: So did I.

P: But we found a park bench that fit us perfectly,

S: we found jokes that make us laugh.

P: And now, love makes me fresh homemade chocolate chip cookies.

S: But love will probably finish most of them for a midnight snack.

P: Love looks great in lingerie but still likes to wear her retainer.

S: Love is a terrible driver, but a great navigator.

P: Love knows where she’s going, it just might take her two hours longer than she planned.

S: Love is messier now,

P: not as simple.

S: Love uses the words “boobs” in front of my parents.

P: Love chews too loud.

S: Love leaves the cap off the toothpaste.

P: Love uses smiley faces in her text messages.

S: And turns out,

B: love shits!

S: But love also cries. And love will tell you you are beautiful

P: and mean it,

S: over and over again.

P: You are beautiful.

S: When you first wake up,

P: “you are beautiful.”

S: When you’ve just been crying,

P: “you are beautiful.”

S: When you don’t want to hear it,

P: “you are beautiful.”

S: When you don’t believe it,

P: “you are beautiful.”

S: When nobody else will tell you,

P: “you are beautiful.”

S: Love still thinks - you are beautiful.

P: But love is not perfect and will sometimes forget,

S: when you need to hear it most,

B: you are beautiful,

S: do not forget this.

P: Love is not who you were expecting, love is not what you can predict.

S: Maybe love is in New York City, already asleep, and you are in California, Australia, wide awake. Maybe love is always in the wrong time zone,

P: maybe love is not ready for you. Maybe you are not ready for love.

S: Maybe love just isn’t the marrying type.

P: Maybe the next time you see love is twenty years after the divorce, love looks older now, but just as beautiful as you remembered.

S: Maybe love is only there for a month.

P: Maybe love is there for every firework, every birthday party, every hospital visit.

S: Maybe love stays-

P: maybe love can’t.

B: Maybe love shouldn't.

P: Love arrives exactly when love is supposed to, and love leaves exactly when love must.

S: When love arrives, say,

B: “Welcome. Make yourself comfortable.”

P: If love leaves, ask her to leave the door open behind her.

S: Turn off the music, listen to the quiet,

P:  whisper,

B: “Thank you. Thank you for stopping by.”

The Balcony Scene

And if you enjoy a challenge, heres' an excerpt from the famous balcony scene:

Some words are in Middle English, so here are their modern equivalents: thou = you (subject); thee = you (object); thy = your; art = are; doth = does



Act 2, SCENE II. Capulet's orchard.

Enter ROMEO

ROMEO
He jests at scars that never felt a wound.

JULIET appears above at a window

But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks?
It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.
Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon,
Who is already sick and pale with grief,
That thou her maid art far more fair than she:
Be not her maid, since she is envious;
Her vestal livery is but sick and green
And none but fools do wear it; cast it off.
It is my lady, O, it is my love!
O, that she knew she were!
She speaks yet she says nothing: what of that?
Her eye discourses; I will answer it.
I am too bold, 'tis not to me she speaks:
Two of the fairest stars in all the heaven,
Having some business, do entreat her eyes
To twinkle in their spheres till they return.
What if her eyes were there, they in her head?
The brightness of her cheek would shame those stars,
As daylight doth a lamp; her eyes in heaven
Would through the airy region stream so bright
That birds would sing and think it were not night.
See, how she leans her cheek upon her hand!
O, that I were a glove upon that hand,
That I might touch that cheek!

JULIET
Ay me!

ROMEO
She speaks:
O, speak again, bright angel! for thou art
As glorious to this night, being o'er my head
As is a winged messenger of heaven
Unto the white-upturned wondering eyes
Of mortals that fall back to gaze on him
When he bestrides the lazy-pacing clouds
And sails upon the bosom of the air.

JULIET
O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo?
Deny thy father and refuse thy name;
Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,
And I'll no longer be a Capulet.

ROMEO
[Aside] Shall I hear more, or shall I speak at this?

JULIET
'Tis but thy name that is my enemy;
Thou art thyself, though not a Montague.
What's Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot,
Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part
Belonging to a man. O, be some other name!
What's in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet;
So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call'd,
Retain that dear perfection which he owes
Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name,
And for that name which is no part of thee
Take all myself.

ROMEO
I take thee at thy word:
Call me but love, and I'll be new baptized;
Henceforth I never will be Romeo.

Romeo and Juliet, an ancient teenage love story

Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare in his early career.

It is a play about two young "star-cross'd lovers" whose deaths ultimately unite their feuding families*. It is not known exactly when Shakespeare wrote the play, but it is thought to be around 1594 - 1595. It was among Shakespeare's most popular plays during his lifetime and, along with 'Hamlet' and 'Macbeth', is one of his most frequently performed plays

It has been adapted numerous times for stage, film, musical and opera. Adaptations of recent years have most notably included the 1950s stage musical 'West Side Story', and Baz Luhrmann's 1996 'Romeo + Juliet' which starred Leonardo Di Caprio and Claire Danes.  (source: benchtheatre.org.uk)

* there was rivalry, enemity and hatred between the families of the two lovers.

Franco Zeffirelli's 1968 movie version of the play, starring 

Leonard Whiting and Olivia Hussey.

Baz Luhrman's adptation of Romeo and Juliet to film, 

starring Leonardo di Caprio and Claire Danes

Based on the scenes shown in the videos above, what's your first impression? Which adaptation do you like best?

Only Love

Love Idioms

ask for someone's hand in marriage - ask someone to marry you

attracted to - feel a physical or emotional attraction to

blind date - a date where the two people have never met

break someone's heart - cause someone emotional pain

Chagall, Blue Lndscape

break up - end a relationship

crazy about - think that another person is wonderful

dig someone - like someone a lot

dump someone - end a relationship

fall for (someone) - fall in love with someone

fall in love (with someone) - begin to feel love for someone

find Mr. Right - find the right or perfect person

get back together - return to a relationship

get engaged - decide to marry someone

get hitched - get married

get serious - a relationship becomes serious and long-term

go dutch - a date where each person pays half

good together - two people who get along well

go steady - date one person regularly

have a crush - have strong feelings of love for someone

have a thing for - be attracted and care a lot about someone

hit it off (with someone) - get along well with someone

hung up on someone - be obsessed with another person

interested in - have a romantic interest in someone

kiss and makeup - become friends again after a fight or argument

made for each other - two people who get along extremely well

make eyes at someone - look at someone in a way that makes it clear that you like that person and find them attractive

make up - when two people forgive each other after an argument

Lovers over Saint-Paul

a match made in heaven - a couple who get along perfectly

on the rocks - a relationship experiencing problems

the one (for someone) - the right partner

one and only - the only person that one loves

patch up a relationship - repair a broken relationship

pop the question - ask someone to marry you

seeing someone - be dating someone on a regular basis

set a date - decide on a date for a wedding

settle down - establish a regular routine after getting married

Chagall, The Three Candles

split up - two people decide to end their relationship

steal someone's heart - cause someone to fall in love with you

those three little words - the words "I love you"

tie the knot - get married

walk down the aisle together - get married

walk out on - abandon your partner and end a relationship

whisper sweet nothings - in someone's ear