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Poetry Aloud

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Qwerty
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Poetry Aloud

Post by Qwerty » Thu Feb 18, 2021 10:29 am

POETRY ALOUD
"Poetry is a contact sport: no home but your ears." ~Bob Holman

Several years ago, I began attending open mic venues for musicians, singers, poets and storytellers. After a month or so, I decided to perform one of my poems. I walked into the coffee house, entered my name on the list of performers, found a chair and ordered an expresso. After a dozen or more performances, I noticed that none were poetry. Yeah, I thought. How could a poet compete with poetry set to music, a singer with a voice clear and fresh as a mountain spring, a story told with vim and vigor—performances that touched everyone in the coffee shop.

Just as I was about to leave, the coordinator of the event called the next name on the list. A man got up, walked to the microphone, sat down on the stool, and pulled a wrinkled piece of paper from his hip pocket. As he sat there reading his poem, I looked around at the other people in the coffee house. Only a few were listening to him. Everyone else was sipping espresso and talking energetically with one another. He's not paying attention to them either.

He read his poem quickly, as if he were in a hurry. When he came to the last line of his poem, he slid off the stool and left the stage. That was the only clue anyone had that he and his poem were finished. 

The next poet walked to the mic and set the stool aside. She didn't have a piece of paper, and her eyes were on us. She's paying attention to us, I thought, so we're paying attention to her. She began slowly, deliberately, unhurried. In the first few lines, we all knew that she was speaking to us, delivering her poem from her head and her heart, not from a piece of paper. And we didn't need a degree in literature to understand and participate in the story her poem was telling. When the last line of her poem had left her lips, she paused momentarily, then stepped away from the mic. We all stood and brought our hands together in an enthusiastic round of applause. She thanked everyone with a smile and a wave and returned to her table.

Her performance encouraged me to keep attending open mic events so I could learn the do's and don't of performing my own poetry and therefore make it more likely that my poetry would be well received.
 
General Tips

The raw immediacy of a live audience will change you and your poetry forever.

As Bob Holman taught, “Poetry is a contact sport: no home but your ears.” Yes, poetry is an oral tradition, a rhythmic dance of words, an audible flow of sound and sense. So it must touch your ears before it can  touch your heart and your head.

Reading your poems aloud will do more to change you than your poems. So let your poem rehearse you. Then give your listeners everything your poem taught you. Move around, look into their eyes, whisper, shout, lean forward, turn suddenly—everything you learned during rehearsal as if the audience were already there because now they are.
 
Specific Tips

Don't deliver your poem from paper or from memory.
Deliver it from your heart—if you are enthusiastic about it, others will be too.
Introduce your poem with brief, entertaining comments.
Speak slowly, pronounce clearly and maintain eye contact.
Do entertaining, energetic poems early in the program
Do thoughtful, passionate poems later.
Do short poems for children, and longer poems for adults.
Keep a straight line between your mouth, the mike and where you are looking.
Speak over the mike, not into it, so you don't pop your P's and hiss your S's.
Position the speakers closer to the audience than to you to avoid screeching feedback.
Remove any dangling jewelry that may bump against the mike.
Get beyond self consciousness—it's about them, not you.
 
Words go together in zillions of ways. Some ways go shallow and some ways go deep. ~ James Dickey

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Deb
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Re: Poetry Aloud

Post by Deb » Wed Feb 24, 2021 5:55 am

Being a lover of storytellers and storytelling festivals with performance poets, I can say without a doubt this is all solid advice.


I have yet to do a live rendition of my own work but I'm looking forward to the day it can be done. I'm also looking forward to hearing more from the folks here this year as well.


Cheers!

~Deb

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Qwerty
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Re: Poetry Aloud

Post by Qwerty » Wed Feb 24, 2021 3:00 pm

Thanks, Deb. Appreciate your comments. Didn't expect any since I thought I was just posting a general interest article.

I've always considered poetry a story-telling medium. A poem can have the same story arc as a prose story: a title (very important) and a beginning that grabs your attention, a middle that develops the conflict and builds suspense, then an end that wraps it up so the audience has something to take home for their own lives. Poetry, after all, was an oral tradition for thousands of years before poets compromised its storytelling power by experimenting with form and style or by writing poems that made the rest of us feel as if we were working a crossword puzzle without the clues. And then along came Slam poets who focus their performance on histrionics (weird hats, wild gestures and so forth) rather than the words and how they're put together to entertain, inspire and inform us. Okay, I'm done with my rant... :

When you decide to begin your own storytelling performances, let me know. Will you do it at an storytelling festival? Youtube? Or... ?
 
Words go together in zillions of ways. Some ways go shallow and some ways go deep. ~ James Dickey

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Deb
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Re: Poetry Aloud

Post by Deb » Thu Feb 25, 2021 7:24 pm

Qwerty,

I'm not sure where I'll do my poetry. The storyteller's festival in Ojai, California that I won two all-access tickets and dinner with the tellers was canceled this year because of Covid-19. I planned on trying the open mic there but the October festival was canceled in March, so I didn't prepare anything.

My first introduction to performance poetry was at the Ojai Storyteller's Village of Tales in 2007 where I first saw Glenis Redmond and was immediately enamored with her words, her style, and just the beautiful person she is.

I took a poetry workshop from her that weekend and wrote a praise poem. Who would have thought? I was hooked but never considered myself a real poet.

I did participate in many poetry challenges at My Writer's Circle, and whenever I had the good fortune to win a poetry challenge at MWC, I used her Praise Poem formula for a few of my Winner's Challenges. I may be wrong but I'm fairly sure, Tracy, Indar, Gyppo, Mark, and maybe even Colm, among others participated in the challenge at one time, many years ago.

I love poetry. When I try, sometimes I get a worthwhile poem. Outside of a few poems here and there, and poetry challenges, most of my poetry has been written during April's NaPoWriMo.

Glenis is a teaching artist at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, and often goes into prisons to teach poetry healing.

Here are 12 and a half minutes of Glenis Redmond, who has since become a friend. She rattles my soul and makes me want to sing poetry.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wCAK-0 ... =TEDxTalks

Another 12 plus minutes of Glenis Redmond wisdom and poetry.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkVYV2P ... =TEDxTalks

I hope the links work. Let me know what you think.

I will let everyone know when I'm ready to perform my poetry.
Sing is one of my favorite poems by Glenis. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJ-hQtt ... oetryworld
~Deb

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Qwerty
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Re: Poetry Aloud

Post by Qwerty » Sun Feb 28, 2021 10:37 am

Thanks for the links. Yes, Redmond is terrific! Consistent eye contact with her audience, expressive but not exaggerated body language and gestures, and she delivers her poem with enthusiasm and without a piece of paper!

About singing your poems. I think it was Ezra Pound who said... "A poem fails when it strays too far from the song, and a song fails when it strays too far from the dance."

I live in Thousand Oaks so maybe I'll keep an eye out for the next Storytelling festival in Ojai. Many years ago I attended a festival in Asheville Tennessee. One of the performers was Stephen Hollen. Terrific storyteller. Years later I saw a quote attributed to him and recognized his name immediately. Since I collect quotes, it was a no brainer to write his into my little quotes booklet: "Happiness is like moonshine--make your own and you'll never run out."
 
Words go together in zillions of ways. Some ways go shallow and some ways go deep. ~ James Dickey

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Deb
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Re: Poetry Aloud

Post by Deb » Mon Mar 01, 2021 3:22 am

I'm glad you enjoyed the links and listening to Glenis. She truly is a force of nature.

If you can make the Ojai Storyteller's Festival, you won't be disappointed. They have an excellent group of storytellers this year. A festival pass is the way to go if you can swing it. Click here to get a look at the lineup. I've seen Regi Carpenter, Donald Davis, Clare Murphy, Bill Lep, and Bill Harley all perform and they are all phenomenal - some of the best I've seen. This year it is October 28-31. I can't wait. I guarantee you'll pick up some great quotes.

Thousand Oaks, huh? We are practically neighbors. I live in Fillmore. Let me know if you go to the festival and, if you like, I can give you some tips on what not to miss.

For the record, I doubt I would ever sing my own poetry but I have sung along with some poetic, lyrical songs.

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