Hilborn hasn’t always been so comfortable with performing. “I threw up a little in my mouth the first time I performed at a slam poetry event,” he recalled. “I have no idea what possessed me to do it the first time.”
Slam Poet Hits Campus
April 18, 2016
Neil Hilborn stepped up to the microphone, breathed in and said, “the first time I saw her, everything in my head went quiet.”
On April 6, EvCC hosted The Spoken Word featuring poet Hilborn. His opening lines were from “OCD”, the most popular slam poem on YouTube at 11 million views.
Since his internet discovery in 2013, Hilborn has been featured in news outlets such as NPR and Fox News. It has brought Hilborn to colleges, high schools and theatres.
“Every show I’ve ever done in Washington has been so much fun,” he said in a one-on-one interview with The Clipper. “I guess I’m in shock that everything is green because I live in Minnesota, where everything is just brown and dead.”
Students poured into the Henry M. Jackson Conference Center to hear Hilborn recite poetry for an hour. Onstage, the podium held a list of his set along with poems not yet memorized.
Afterwards, students were able to purchase merchandise and acquire autographs from Hilborn.
“I’ve been a big fan of him for a long time. I think he gives a voice to psychological taboo in today’s society,” Kayli Erickson said.
Hilborn signs an “OCD” poster. They had just been released to the public days before the event. His Facebook page, where he announced the news, went nuts.
EvCC student Tabitha Berlin enjoys Spoken Word poetry. “I’m a psych major, so this is my thing. I really like the first poem OCD,” she said.
As the poem “OCD” says, Hilborn was diagnosed with obsessive compulsive disorder at the age of 11. Along with OCD, Hilborn spoke on having bipolar disorder in his poem “The Future”.
“Some characteristics of bipolar disorder include dissociation, hallucinations and fugue states, so sometimes I wake up in places I didn’t go to sleep!” he recited.
Hilborn manages daily life with two mental illnesses by attending therapy.
“The tools and skills I learned have helped make me into a functioning human being,” he said.
Diane Brown, a developmental psychologist and professor at EvCC, said, “research shows that, depending on the diagnosis, the best approach is to have multimodal therapy.”
Poetry has also played a factor in Hilborn’s mental health.
“Art in general is therapeutic. Not only is the action of writing what’s going on in your head helpful, but it’s also getting up in front of an audience and talking about it,” Hilborn said.
Whether you consider yourself Shakespeare or an obese pigeon when it comes to writing, Hilborn encouraged everyone to try slam poetry.
Hilborn’s latest book “Our Numbered Days” was released last May, but he’s already working on the next.
“It’s definitely a weirder project,” he confessed. “I’m taking a bunch of pictures of what it’s like to be on the road by yourself, and I’m trying to do that with a poetry book. It’ll be fun.”
The event closed with “The Future.” Hilborn spread his feet, breathed out and finished.
“The future is a blue sky and a full tank of gas. I saw the future, I did, and in it I was alive.
“My God, I was alive.”