Ohh the Spoken Word: Larry Moore

Spoken word leaves me speechless. This summer I learned that one of my high school friends is extremely gifted at writing spoken word. He is Larry Moore and he's one of most talented people I've met. He has a beautiful tenor singing voice that fills auditoriums with no strain, a warm personality, an awesome football player, a colorful actor, and now a writer of spoken word (and I must add, a gentleman)...I mean c'mon, spread some talent around. haha

Anyway, if you haven't heard spoken word, it's a special way of delivering poetry. It's all about the tone of voice and they way you deliver each word.It's all about the different kind of interpretations the words make you think of. Larry makes his a little more special with bits of his soulful singing.

I definitely think you have to have the right voice to deliver this goodness. I'm thinking you have to have a James Earl Jones voice combined with a singer's voice. Weird, but once you listen to Larry's track you shall understand.


He's been a member on the GS Poetry website since May and has been posting like no other (70 poems to be exact). They range from responses to other poems, erotic poems,love, metaphysical, etc. Let's just say there's a nice range.

I wanted to get in his head a little so here's what he has to say:
Me (m): When did you start writing spoken word?
Larry (l): I would say that I started writing spoken word in tenth grade. Even though, at the time, I didn’t really realize that I was. But a few of those early poems got pieced together and made into longer performance pieces when I started performing. As for consciously writing spoken word, I think it was probably the summer right after my sophomore year in high school. I met a guy named Jahmooni and he really influenced my style and I have been writing similarly ever since.

M: Is there a difference of feeling when you are doing spoken word than when you are singing?And if so how is it different?
L: I can’t say that there is much of a difference in the feeling between the two. I try and write small singing blurbs for my pieces because the music really sets it off. For the most part, performing is performing for me. It all makes me all tingly and excited on the inside. If I am competing I always feel better. If I have some singing to go with my pieces cause it moves the crowd but I would say that I love both equally and they make me feel the same way.

M: What inspires you most?
L:Wow. LOL! I would say that women inspire the most. But right after that there is music and other poets. Women are so beautiful in all of their facets and I love to write about them in a myriad of different situations (most of them sexual). To go along with that tough, I try not to just come out and say raw sexual things. I like to metaphorically play with the ideas to make them new. Anybody can write an A-B about a woman’s body and sex, but there are more interesting ways to semantically touch the topic.

M:Oh, so I remember you said you've won contests and such and that you have performances at other campuses. Can you tell me that again?
L: I compete a lot. It has become a passion of mine and I do it whenever and wherever I can. So far I have won at least six or so competitions at Truman State with probably ten or so additional second or third placements and I won the 2009 “Say What” Des Moines spoke word contest as well. One of my biggest accomplishments is being invited to host a “Power of Words” conference at Nebraska Wesleyan in Lincoln Nebraska where I performed and facilitated a discussion. But gigs like that and competing only come every once and a while so most of the time I am doing programs for different organizations on Truman’s campus or just writing new stuff to try and expand my mind and elevate my style.

M:Can you give a me a little insight into "You Are My Queen"?
L:This is actually one of my oldest pieces! I wrote this during that summer after sophomore year when I first started writing spoken word and it is completely untouched. What you have here is exactly what I put on paper six or seven years ago. It’s not really about anyone. Most of my pieces just start as ideas and I let them develop from the word play that is available. The part I sing at the beginning is newer though and that was inspired by someone special. Lol.


Check out more of his stuff on his page. Thanks Larry!