Live Reading - Poetry
I am going to cross post this post, which was originally posted [Mar 6] in my Inbetwixt blog. I hope it will promote some discussion about using voice recordings for poetry.
Reading Poetry
J and I went to a speed poetry event on Sunday. There were 20 poets reading, including yours truly. J said something interesting to me ....
He asked if there was a particular 'way' poets read, or poetry was meant to be read. It seemed to him that the most of the poets who were reading, read very 'flat' almost 'monotone' and he naturally found that dull.
I think, especially in the world of performance poetry - where the poem is meant to be memorized and performed - eliminating the barrier of paper between the poet and the audience - I would expect 'performance' not a flat read.
I am going to post a couple links here of poets reading poems.
First of them is Louise Glück reading The Red Poppy. I have to say I love Louise's poetry, I think she is breath taking and brilliant - but I think her reading is appalling, abysmal ... absolutely terrible!
Next up for grabs, Anne Sexton reading Her Kind Now I of course, love Anne's poetry too ... this reading is better, her voice is interesting, not so flat, but still, it sounds 'read' and certainly not performed. This is how I'd sit and read my work to my husband or a friend. I would not 'perform it' in this way.
Ok, a last read one, Adrienne Rich reading The Art of Translation. Again, she's reading with at least some feeling, but there is the same 'sound' to the reading. Its got something to do with an inflection added to the endings of words, a slight upward 'tilt' to the word endings, especially noticeable at the end of lines.
Now .. try this .. Emilie Zoey Baker' s Fannyism (click the link at the right hand top of page)- she's an Australian performance poet -- and ok, she's using props, sounds etc - and is using humor -- but tell me there is not a HUGE difference in interest and likability factor!
I am considering all of this, as of course, the performance heats for the Queensland poetry competition start this weekend. I intend to perform my pieces, without paper, and I certainly hope I will sound interesting.
J and I went to a speed poetry event on Sunday. There were 20 poets reading, including yours truly. J said something interesting to me ....
He asked if there was a particular 'way' poets read, or poetry was meant to be read. It seemed to him that the most of the poets who were reading, read very 'flat' almost 'monotone' and he naturally found that dull.
I think, especially in the world of performance poetry - where the poem is meant to be memorized and performed - eliminating the barrier of paper between the poet and the audience - I would expect 'performance' not a flat read.
I am going to post a couple links here of poets reading poems.
First of them is Louise Glück reading The Red Poppy. I have to say I love Louise's poetry, I think she is breath taking and brilliant - but I think her reading is appalling, abysmal ... absolutely terrible!
Next up for grabs, Anne Sexton reading Her Kind Now I of course, love Anne's poetry too ... this reading is better, her voice is interesting, not so flat, but still, it sounds 'read' and certainly not performed. This is how I'd sit and read my work to my husband or a friend. I would not 'perform it' in this way.
Ok, a last read one, Adrienne Rich reading The Art of Translation. Again, she's reading with at least some feeling, but there is the same 'sound' to the reading. Its got something to do with an inflection added to the endings of words, a slight upward 'tilt' to the word endings, especially noticeable at the end of lines.
Now .. try this .. Emilie Zoey Baker' s Fannyism (click the link at the right hand top of page)- she's an Australian performance poet -- and ok, she's using props, sounds etc - and is using humor -- but tell me there is not a HUGE difference in interest and likability factor!
I am considering all of this, as of course, the performance heats for the Queensland poetry competition start this weekend. I intend to perform my pieces, without paper, and I certainly hope I will sound interesting.
Comments
I like Anne Sexton's reading the best - I'm not saying that it would be ideal for a performance, I just like that her wryness flows from her words to her cool, strong voice.
And I enjoyed Emilie's reading/performance/production A LOT more than I thought I would. If it were simplified to her voice and a simple beat behind it would have been perfect.
I like Anne Sexton's reading too -- I think that when I am reading, it ends up being a lot this way. When I am 'performing' poetry - I'd like to kick it up and for me that is a lot about how could I use multi-media to make it a more 'holistically' entertaining experience.
I like Emilie's work as well -- it's quite campy, and 'fun' and is very much what I am seeing here in Australia. For instance; Last year's winner of the Brisbane Poetry Festival is a wonderful lady named Pascalle Burton who is also part of a duo with her sister, called Maiden Voice - which again is wonderful AND sorta of campy. (Please listen to Pascalle's poem, Be Careful of Writers - it's wonderful!) But not what I want to do with my work.
What is important to me is that we start listening to poetry again, discussing poets, poems, possibilities ... performance - the vitality of work.
I love that you listened to those - I'll try to keep the exploration moving!
One of my favorite VOX things is how people 'unfold' and we get to know all sorts of interesting bits about them! Thank you for sharing your poem, and a little about your incarnation as a performance poet!
I think there are some divisions in 'performance poetry' and it has something to do with 'theater' and something to do with 'hip hop/rap' and something to do with this thing that is being done with poetry that we aren't too up on ... yet.
Sorry to do this again, but I did post something a bit about this again, over in Inbetwixt ;)
This is fantastic and I agree, Christine Hume's poem/performance/presentation is fantastic. It really demonstrates again, the range of possibility of audio programs.
I love that this raises the bar!
Thanks!
I found a present for you Renee - Alice Notley reading :)
There seems to be a lot of blurring in respect to 'performance poetry' and I think that its an okay thing. To me, it means that there is this 'new' consideration on the books ... its not so defined that it needs to be any particular way. The discussions about what is it - are almost as stimulating as doing it!
I completely agree with you - poetry isn't really poetry until it is read aloud. Its a chemical inter-action between words and sound!
My pleasure Renee :) It's amazing what I can stumble upon in the course of a day ;)