Mar
11The Art Of Performance Poetry
Tagged Under : literary, literature, performance, poetry, reading, writing
Think “performance poetry” and what comes to mind? Avant garde smoky cafes late at night with beret wearing, goateed youths with black turtlenecks spouting random inchoate messages while throwing about seemingly unrelated objects? Or perhaps you imagine the “slam,” a group of fast talking, finger popping, coffee guzzling competitions where the contestants throw words at each other in a series of poorly written one-upmanship rhymes? Or maybe you imagine an insecure whispering geek who is unable to do more than stare at his feet while he mumbles his way through work that would be a lot more powerful if you could concentrate on anything other than his bad skin and shy execution? Well think again. Although the term may conjure up images which are relatively modern, the performance of poetry is about as old as language itself. Think Euripides, Aeschylus and Homer, with its strophe and antistrophe, its grand characters like Medea, Odysseus, Oedipus and Elektra. Poetry, with its emphasis on the perfectly chosen word; the instant hit of meaning, works well in the grand performance theatre. A well spoken poet can set the pace, the emphasis, and often can bring to life poetry in a way which will reach audiences with the shortest attention spans.
