The Art of Performance Poetry
© Magdalena Ball
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.
There are many definitions of performance poetry, and there are those who didactically argue that there is a serious difference between "performance poetry" and the performance of poetry. It really doesn't matter. If it is performed, virtually or live, it is performance poetry - whether props or visuals are involved or not. There are poems which work best on the page and poems which only come to life when read out loud. There are poets who can take a seemingly simple and perhaps trite poem and turn it into something extraordinary in their readings, and others who can take a wonderful moving poem and turn it into something utterly mundane by throwing in too many gimmicks or reading it in monotone, without effective emphasis. Mixing live readings with imagery and even music can change a poem, reach new audiences, intensify and heighten the power of a poem. When done properly it is a piece of art in itself which removes the borders between the arts, especially in collaborative efforts with a range of very talented artists. When done poorly, as it often is (relying on a variety of talents not often found in a single person), it can render all the arts involved trivial, as the poet attempts to work in a visual or rhetorical medium to which he or she is unaccustomed to.
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