Recapping: The APIA Spoken Word and Poetry Summit Summary

by Molly Higgins

Imagine the fantasy camp of your dreams, then combine it with your ideal family reunion. That’s a little bit of what the APIA Spoken Word and Poetry Summit felt like. Something like 100 Asian American poets, singers, rappers, and actors converged in Minneapolis, MN the first weekend on August to share our stories with each other.

On the last day, Dennis Kim sent a video that included the phrase “to affirm our existence and amplify our realities”. The phrase stuck with me as I came back home, because it so elegantly sums up why both arts and get-togethers like this are so important.

To affirm our existence: for so many of us, who do not see our ethnicities, or sexualities, or our histories, or our religions in TV shows or class room curricula or public policy debates, it can feel like we are invisible. It’s like being told over and over again that we are not important enough to be acknowledged. This is one of the few spaces where we get to speak to our own experiences. And more than speaking to our experiences, we were able to hear other people with experiences similar to ours. East Asians, Arabs, Southeast Asians, queers, transgender folks, adoptees, South Asians, mixed race Asians, high school students, and a few with grey hair—we were all there. And we were all there with people like us, talking to people who understood our experiences or who genuinely wanted to.

To amplify our realities: to have our stories listened to, to have our voices encouraged, to receive hugs after we share. So many times, when I write, it’s because I can’t stand to have my words inside me anymore. I feel like I’m experiencing something that no one else is experiencing because no one else is talking about it. To put it succinctly, sharing at the Summit made me feel like I’m not alone and I’m not completely misinterpreting the things that happen around me.

To say that the Summit feels like being surrounded by family is an understatement. To say that I wish I could be surrounded by such open, loving, talented people every day would be an understatement, too. Every time I met someone I thought “Oh my goodness! You’re famous!” or “Oh my goodness! You’re amazing! You’re definitely going to be famous!” Four days of listening, writing, performing, and hanging out with such people only happens once every other year.