In this instructional video, Arthur Ayotte walks viewers through his personal workflow for creating spoken‑word poetry. He begins by describing how he harvests inspiration from everyday life, conversations, and spiritual moments. He then moves to the brainstorming stage, emphasizing unfiltered, free‑writing without editing. Ayotte explains how he uses music to shape rhythm and vibe, and later refines his drafts on a phone notes app, trimming lines so every word serves a purpose. The final phase focuses on performance: rehearsing tone, pauses, intensity, posture, and expression to make the piece feel alive. Throughout, he stresses openness, emotional impact, and the importance of pushing personal limits, while acknowledging that each poet may develop their own method.
Chapters
Hey, what's up everyone? It's Arthur Ayotte. Today I'm gonna walk you through how I write my spoken words, from finding inspiration to getting those first drafts down, and how I turn it all into something that feels real. Let's dive in. First things first, inspiration. I don't sit around waiting for the perfect moment. I find it in the world around me. It's in the things I see, the things I hear, the conversations I have with people, and sometimes it's just God speaking to me in the quiet moments. Whether it's a Bible verse, a personal struggle, or something I've witnessed, there's always something to write about. You just have to be open to it. Once I've got my inspiration, it's time to get to work. I start by writing whatever comes to mind. No edits, no second-guessing. The first draft isn't about perfection. It's about getting the thought out of my head and onto paper. Sometimes it's a mess of words that don't even make sense at first, but that's the point. You gotta let the raw idea come through before shaping them into something solid. Look at this. Messy, unfiltered, but real. This is where the heart of my spoken word starts. I'ma only keep half of what's on this page, but if I don't let everything out first, I could miss something powerful. I call this the brainstorming phase, where I just write with no fear of getting it wrong. That's key, because you can't refine something that doesn't exist. I usually listen to music to shape the rhythm and vibe of the words. Sometimes the right sound can take a line from decent to powerful. I close my eyes, run the words in my head, and let the music guide the energy of the piece. Even if I'm not writing to a beat, this helps me lock in my delivery. Now we go back to the page, or in my case, I go to my phone, my Notes app. This is where the real magic happens. I start by trimming down and cutting what doesn't fit and sharpening the lines that I added on paper. Every word has to serve a purpose. I think about the rhythm, impact, and clarity. If a line doesn't hit the way I want it to, I rewrite it. I want people to feel something when they hear it, not just listen, but really connect. This is the story of Adam and Eve. They lived in perfect harmony. This is the story of Adam and Eve. They lived in perfect harmony. Then comes performance time. Writing is one thing, but delivering it, that's a whole different level. I practice over and over, playing with my tone, my pauses, my intensity. Certain lines need to hit hard, others need to breathe. I watch my expression, my posture, my movement. The goal is to make the words come alive, not just sound good on paper.
So yeah, guys, that's my process on how I, you know, learn to create and then also memorize and then also Be inspired and then also create more lines and then also develop a greater piece within a smaller, you know, theme. And so once I've learned to develop that theme, I then go as far as I can to push my limits because I want to provoke emotion within people. I want them to read my piece, listen to my piece, and just be inspired, you know, by whatever they hear or read. And so this is just a process that I've learned that worked best for me. Of course, everyone's going to have different ways of doing it. doing it. I just hope this inspired you to want to go out there and make something special, something new, and something that's you. God bless y'all.
