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

Then, I...

Now, I...

 

My question then was...

My question now is...

 

If I could...

I would...

 

Forgetfulness - Billy Collins

Jackson Hille

 

No Attitude, no poem

Stance

Voice

Prop

Eli.mp3

 

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

Amanda Fernandez

 

*Eye Contact Exercise

"I am a duck, zigging and zagging across a pond of rippling water."

 

Facing It - Yusef Komunyakaa

Branden Emanual Wellington

 

Voice and Gesture Exercise

Luke, I am your father.

I see dead people.

"From Blossoms" to Da da da

 

Pushing the envelope:

Asian-American.mp3

Group Poem.mp3

 

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Poetry Writing Exercises

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.

 

 Poetry Writing Exercies.doc

 

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