This article explores using spoken word poetry and song analysis in the classroom to inspire students to analyze their identities and strive for social justice in their research efforts. Poetry is empowering. It can show students how people express themselves, push them to consider their own identities, and inspire them to seek social change. Through this, students gain valuable insight into the human experience. In writing their own poetry about their struggles, experiences, and desires, students are doing important work in analyzing their identities and critiquing their places in society. Songs and spoken word show students a different face of poetry -- one that can engage them by using multimodal elements and reflecting the various ways that people make their voices heard. The author performed research with their twelfth-grade World Literature classes of approximately 100 students at a suburban high school in southeast Michigan during 2015 and 2016. Students were 17 to 19 years old and predominantly white and middle class, with five Latino/Latina students, two American Indian students, and one Moroccan student. The author introduced students to protest songs and spoken word poetry before they engaged in their own searching, poetry writing, and researching. When the author met Bruce Springsteen, the most powerful thing they could think to tell him about was the fire his songs have started in the author's classroom. As educators, according to the author, we have power in allowing students the freedom to think for themselves, and in nurturing a care for critical analysis and societal betterment.