How to "read" your poetry

Intro to Poetry Slam: How to “Read” Poetr

“A slam itself is simply a poetry competition in which poets perform original work alone or in teams before an audience, which serves as judge. The work is judged as much on the manner and enthusiasm of its performance as its content or style, and many slam poems are not intended to be read silently from the page” (poets.org, bolding mine)

Some poems are meant to be written and read silently, but most are not! Poetry used to be entirely spoken; writing them down is only a modern necessity for publishing purposes, and even then, many poets are returning to speaking their poems, since technology lets us record audio.

Spoken word poetry or performance poetry are terms for any poetry that was intentionally written with the goal of being read out loud. Slam poetry is performance poetry that is specifically performed at a competitive slam. (“Open mic nights” are usually not competitive and are not the same thing.)

At a typical slam, poets read their original work one at a time; the readings are VERY dramatic on purpose, and poets use their bodies and facial expressions too. Sometimes poets are scored by a judge, who uses a point system; other times, the winner is decided based on the audience’s reaction (snapping, cheering, shouting, etc.) In most slams, the audience is not just allowed but ENCOURAGED to make noise to show enthusiastic approval! (MMmm!)

So how do you know what a poem is supposed to sound like?

1.      Certain hints are given to you on the page: ·         Stanza breaks ·         Line breaks ·         Punctuation ·         Dialect, slang, etc.

2.    You can infer information from the author and content too: ·         Look at the year written, the author’s identity, and other background information. You will read a poem differently if you know that the narrator is a young Latino and not an old white man! ·         Look at the content: the topic, the tone, and the mood that the tone creates. Is it bitter? Happy? Heartbroken? Adjust accordingly!

Poem #1: “We Real Cool” by Gwendolyn Brooks

Text and audio recording by author: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15433

	Wow – that’s a short poem! And yet still effective. What do you notice about the way she reads this poem out loud, compared to how it appears on the page? Is it what you expected?

 

We real cool. We

Left school. We

Lurk late. We

Strike straight. We

Sing sin. We

Thin gin. We

Jazz June. We

Die soon.

Poem #2: “Totally like whatever, you know?” by Taylor Mali

Text source: http://www.taylormali.com/poems-online/totally-like-whatever-you-know/

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCNIBV87wV4

FYI – the video and the text don’t perfectly match. Why do you think that happened?

In case you hadn’t noticed,
it has somehow become uncool
to sound like you know what you’re talking about?
Or believe strongly in what you’re saying?
Invisible question marks and parenthetical (you know?)’s
have been attaching themselves to the ends of our sentences?
Even when those sentences aren’t, like, questions? You know?

Declarative sentences—so-­‐called
because they used to, like, DECLARE things to be true, okay,
as opposed to other things are, like, totally, you know, not—
have been infected by a totally hip
and tragically cool interrogative tone? You know?
Like, don’t think I’m uncool just because I’ve noticed this;
this is just like the word on the street, you know?
It’s like what I’ve heard?
I have nothing personally invested in my own opinions, okay?
I’m just inviting you to join me in my uncertainty?

What has happened to our conviction?
Where are the limbs out on which we once walked?
Have they been, like, chopped down
with the rest of the rain forest?
Or do we have, like, nothing to say?
Has society become so, like, totally . . .
I mean absolutely . . . You know?
That we’ve just gotten to the point where it’s just, like . . .
whatever!

And so actually our disarticulation . . . ness
is just a clever sort of . . . thing
to disguise the fact that we’ve become
the most aggressively inarticulate generation
to come along since . . .
you know, a long, long time ago!

I entreat you, I implore you, I exhort you,
I challenge you: To speak with conviction.

To say what you believe in a manner that bespeaks
the determination with which you believe it.
Because contrary to the wisdom of the bumper sticker,
it is not enough these days to simply QUESTION AUTHORITY.
You have to speak with it, too.

What do you notice about his reading in terms of voice, body, facial expression, and overall EMOTION?

 

GUIDED NOTES:

Become a slam poet in five steps: video by Gayle Danley, et al.

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9f8VcV8v2LE (3 minutes, 31 seconds)

Step 1: Write it all __________.

Step 2: Read out __________.

Step 3: Cut the ______: abandon extra words

Step 4: Read out loud, ________.

Step 5: Add “Flava”: power, movement, emotion

1.       What do you notice about the way “Tyler” reads his poem aloud, both in his voice and his body?

2.       What do you notice about the way the narrator is speaking?

3.      

Review 1.       What is slam poetry? 2.       How is slam different from other forms of poetry, such as spoken word or poetry that’s meant to stay on the page? 3.       What should a “good” slam poem include or sound like?

What can you infer or conclude about the writing process for slam poetry? (For example, what makes it different from writing an essay?)