For Asghar, that goal is a reason to create spoken word poetry, using the language in new ways and to address stories at the margins, including her own. The Obamas hosted a "Poetry Jam" Tuesday ...

IOWA CITY - For Rudy Francisco, one of the most widely known spoken word artists in modern poetry, it started with a feeling.

Spoken Word Poetry has been around for millennia. The advent of language, which conservative estimates put at about 60,000 years ago, made it natural for oral tradition to become man’s primary ...