Poems and Their Performance
Lyla Poetry Slam Winner
Poetry for PERFORMANCE:
It's about presence as much as it's about poetry--being present, becoming a presence
So make your words present: This fellow/This Guy
Them all/the mall/everyone
Gesture
Silence
Tone shift
Posture shift
Scratch & Dent Dream--Slam Poetry
Act the voice--attitude and persona
*Brainstorm Personas
Attitude - Profession - Situation
Narrative works well to get into a persona
Repetition--emphasis and structure
What I remember...
No, actually...
I've been waiting...
List Poems:
"The Things I Want for My Birthday"
"Thirty Memorable Embarrassing Moments"
"Moments I Wish I Could Forget"
"I am from..."
The only truth is that you are performing: the speaker is not the poet.
Then, I...
Now, I...
My question then was...
My question now is...
If I could...
I would...
No Attitude, no poem
Stance
Voice
Prop
Attitude exercise
Don't write what you think and feel. Write what you WANT to think and feel. And about what you do not want to think and feel.
*List Desires/Fears
Don't forget to Laugh
Parody
*Slam "Passing Thru" p. 52
(how to hold a manuscript)
*Recipe poem--imperative mood
*Another poem exercise: Something you observed between waking and arriving in this room
The only truth is that a poem was written
The sound of language is the truth
Silence, sincerity, presence
Unknown Girl in the Maternity Ward
*Eye Contact Exercise
"I am a duck, zigging and zagging across a pond of rippling water."
Voice and Gesture Exercise
Luke, I am your father.
I see dead people.
"From Blossoms" to Da da da
Pushing the envelope:
Accurate, Engaging, Vivid
Fill the blank with a word or a phrase—striking comparisons: metaphors, similes
1. In his rage my father would bang on the wall like a …
2. Among her new in-laws, the young wife was as nervous as…
3. I paced the room as restless as a…
4. Like a …, his smile suddenly collapsed.
5. It was the old sycamore in the front yard, swaying like a…
Evocative images through strong, specific language:
6. I loved the … of the wash on the line in the summer morning.
7. I was afraid of his …, his drunken, ungainly walk.
8. I will not forget the … of your lips, your skin’s …, or the … or your eyes.
9. She wished to draw me deeper into the … of her life.
3-4 Sentences that sparkle with linguistic invention—using precise, charged language:
10. A rundown house
11. An old table, desk, bicycle, truck or car
12. A particular potted plant
13. Someone working in a kitchen or a garden
14. A small incident seen in the street or in a store
With Sentences 1-9, choose one to expand into a poem.