Commercial Poetry: performance

Showing posts with label performance. Show all posts

Friday, December 13, 2024

The Outerview Series: Part XI - Attracting and Impressing

If you spend time on Q&A sites (e.g. Quora) the most common poetry-related query is "Where can I post my poetry online?"

No one ever asks: "Where can read or hear [contemporary] poetry online?"

The second most popular question from neophytes is: "How can I protect my masterpieces against plagiarism?"

LOL! (By not producing anything worth stealing.)

Is money the opposite of poetry?

      When heiress Ruth Lily died in 2002 she left approximately $100,000,000 to the Modern Poetry Association. It wasn't until 2018 that all the lawsuits were settled, by which time it had grown to $257,000,000 or what is now The Poetry Foundation, publishers of Poetry magazine. It has partnered with the National Endowment for the Arts to produce the "Poetry Out Loud!" initiative. For its part, Poetry magazine was established in Chicago in 1912 by Harriet Moore. In June of 1915 she published T.S. Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" [after Ezra Pound scanned it for her to convince her that it wasn't merely "the muttering of an old man"].

      "That's the one with all the different line lengths and extra syllables before them, right?"

       Yes. Heterometrical, with a lot of anacrusis--extra syllables before the meter.

       After that brilliant start, how has small-p poetry [other than song lyrics] fared? With all of the money, effort, and other publications, how many poems have entered our public consciousness in, say, the last half century?

       "I can't think of any--"

       Zero. A perfect record, unblemished by success. With all of that money, all of the learning, critical and promotional resources--online and in print--and all of those venues you would think this would be a golden age of poetry. You'd think we'd know at least as many poets as novelists. You'd think we'd quote contemporary verse at least as much as Shakespearean.

        Nope. Not a single iconic poem since that limerick about a man from Nantucket in 1961. So how can we revive a dead art form? How do we resurrect verse?

        While it may take generations, the course of action is remarkably simple: Do the opposite of what got us into this situation. Do the opposite of what everyone else is doing.

Post Production

Having posted your performance the real work begins: Getting people to hear it at a time when poetry is dead. 99.9% of the verse you and I will hear in our lives will be song lyrics. We're talking about spoken poetry--a virtually impossible sale. It follows that this will require unusual if not unprecedented measures over a long period of time.

No one introduces their novel, news or short story as "prose" so don't refer to your presentation as "poetry". Just start talking. No introduction. No explanation. Tell your story and get off the stage. Provide the text and author's credits below the video. Give your post, if not your poem, an inviting or provocative title and hashtags of intriguing subjects. For example, this meme (i.e. text only) poem, "Paradise Has No Colonies", has tags corresponding to each line's theme, aspects of a prostitute's life: experience, redemption, incest, artifice, subterfuge, education, identity, childbirth, and pedophilia.

Revival

      If poetry is to be resurrected it must be as a participatory sport. Two hundred years ago people read verse in every available periodical not as a life lesson but as fodder for home entertainment [before movies, radio, television, the Internet, etc.]. The object, then, is to get people to perform your pieces.

      This leads us to Pearl's 14th Paradox, which the uninitiated will regard as heresy:

      "Do you mean actual plagiarism? Isn't that theft?"

       Consider this famous quote:

"Good artists borrow. Great artists steal."

Some attribute it to Pablo Picasso, but most can benefit from the wisdom without getting bogged down in authorship.

As a poet you need people to do covers--performances--of your verse. 99% will credit you for writing it but what is important is that they treat the words as their own while uttering them.

You need the actor to pause for thought before each phrase as a speaker does normally. In that sense, yes, you do need them to "steal" your words. (As with cover songs, authorship won't be an issue afterwards. Anyone who can see the posting date will know who created the poem.)

This "theft" is and always has been essential to poetry's proliferation.

In order to appeal to people's competitive natures, encourage visitors to record their own performances of your poem and post the URLs to their version below yours. Create a contest out of each of your works. Start by challenging family, friends, then strangers to outdo each other.

Next: The Meaning of Meaning

The Outerview Series

Thursday, December 5, 2024

The Outerview Series: Part X - Production

      We've written and edited our best verse and, poetry being a mode of speech, not writing, we now want to find listeners.

      "Why not readers?"

       Poetry doesn't attract a lot of those. Given the state of the art, there isn't nearly enough poetry to fill even one page of text in a periodical, let alone dozens in the average journal. What readership there might be amounts to contributors hoping to divine the editor's tastes and interests.

     "But people did used to read poetry, right?"

      Folks used to read poetry for two reasons: To find something to perform for their friends and family or to analyze why people enjoyed hearing that particular verse. At the very least, when people read poetry they were able to do so imagining how it would sound--something they could well envision because they listened to so much verse during their lives.

     "So if we want people to read our poetry we need to recite it to them?"

      Perform it for them, yes. But more directly, we want them to hear and appreciate our speech. Or rhymes, if you wish.

Enactments and Narrations.

      An enactment involves one or more presenters performing a poem on camera, with or without action. Your laptop camera or your telephone might suffice. If you have the cash, consider getting a tripod (photo at top, often under $20, usually with a remote start button) and, for sound better than a telephone call, a microphone ($6 and up). A popular choice is the Hollyland M2 (a little over $100, about the size and shape of a quarter).

      The performers need to look and sound as if they are making it up as they go along. Try to avoid looking up and to the right; this makes it seem like the speaker is trying to recall lines.

      Enunciate clearly. Textual subtitles are a good idea if hoping to attract non-anglophone audiences.

      It is a good idea to record each stanza or strophe separately, perhaps from different angles. This is particularly effective when there is a change in perspective or tone, as at a sonnet's volta.

      Insofar as lighting is concerned, position the light facing the actor(s) from two different angles [in order to avoid shadows]. A room's ceiling light can be augmented by a lamp on the floor.

      If you are too shy to appear on camera record your voice and do a slide show with still photographs in the foreground. Networking with a photographer would be a good plan. For this purpose a wired microphone will do, often providing better audio than a similarly priced wireless model.

      Speak with natural inflection. Don't give up until you are satisfied with what you have recorded. Above all: Never introduce or, worse, explain your poem. Ever. Anywhere. The only exceptions are "terms and times": a word or phrase that is either archaic (e.g. annotations of Shakespearean verse) or jargon (e.g. a mention of "Dragon" in a piece about chess).

      When you post it online you might include the text below your video.

Music https://pixabay.com/music/search/instrumental/

      Check out some of the royal free instrumental download sites. These tunes can be snipped for use before, after, or in the background at low volume during your poetry performance. Occasionally, we'll see instrumental slide shows with verse text. No recitation.

This is usually because the poet has a unique, overriding need for anonymity.

Now that you have your final version posted, how do you gather viewers?

Next: Attracting and Impressing

The Outerview Series

Saturday, September 7, 2024

The Outerview Series: Part VII - Production

      At this point we know that poetry is memorably speech, how to scan verse, rhyme, and use sounds to stitch words together. So what do we do now?

     "Write poems and get them published?"

     To what end?

     "What do you mean?"

     How many contemporary poems do you read each day?

     "Well, none, but..."

     Exactly. No one is going to read your poem, even if it is printed in a magazine.

     "Okay, post it on my blog then."

     And how much time do you spend reading verse on blogs? Or social media?

     "Probably none..."

     Precisely. No one reads poetry. Except, perhaps, others who want to be published there and trying to get a feel for the editor's preferences.

     Thus, the question becomes: "Under what circumstances would anyone want to read or hear our poetry?"

     "If it's set to music, maybe?"

     Yes, but let's just talk about spoken verse here. When might people want to read or hear poetry, as opposed to song lyrics?

     "Never?"

      Pretty much, yes. Never.

     "So what do we do?"

      We create an audience.

      "And how do we do that?"

      We ask ourselves: What do people find interesting?

      "Movies? Television?"

       Right. So our task is to get our poems into movies and/or television.

       Consider the three best poems of this century. All were made into slide shows. They attracted 1444 hits over a combined (14+14+15) 43 years. That is 33.58 hits per year. All were historical perspectives, the idea being that anyone making a documentary or feature film would web search the subject, find the poem, and consider including it.

       Never happened. A more targeted approach is in order. Find out what your favorite director's upcoming project is, write a poem about that, make a video, post it onto social media, then join an online discussion group for that director or genre and, after establishing yourself, casually mention your piece there.

       If that is not your style then write for an upcoming event. You have four months from now (2024-08-25) until Kamala Harris is sworn in as POTUS. Use that time to write, perform, record, and post an inaugural poem. Get going on it!

Other Venues and Embedded Poetry

      In addition to songs there are open mics and slams. These attract participants and their entourages more than listeners, per se.

       Shakespeare didn't publish his sonnets. What poetry he did publicize was his dramatic verse. Plays. He made enough to sustain two theatres--not just the troupe of actors but the actual buildings. It is unclear that the Bard could do that today but it is certain that no one else has managed to do this in the 21st Century.

       A different approach is to write a novel or movie script that includes (i.e. "embeds") poetry. For example, "The Paradox of Love" is a novel/movie about two open mic poets who fall in love. One has to depart [because of an undisclosed illness] so the poem she wrote as her wedding vows now serve as her farewell.

       Consider this: There is only one time every four years when the anglophone world listens to a poem: the U.S. presidential inauguration ceremony. At that, only after a Democratic victory.

       So here's a practical suggestion for American versers: Write an inaugural poem and have it performed (i.e. by yourself or someone else) on a video posted to YouTube. Add "2025 Inaugural Poem" after the title (e.g. "Locked Towards the Future" - A 2025 Inaugural Poem) so scouts can find it. Not an American? Pair up with one.

       You may need to network, joining up with a performer and, perhaps, a songwriter. In any event, writing and producing a performance (even on your telephone) will be only half the battle. You will need to spent at least as much time, energy, resources, and imagination finding an audience.

       Good luck!

The Outerview Series

Monday, July 27, 2020

Poetry in Three Minutes

This is a quick and dirty introduction to poetry basics. A slightly more comprehensive approach is "What You Need To Know About Poetry".

You may want to pause the video in places and review each one a few times.

By clicking on the titles ("Definition", "Basic Scansion", "Sonics", "Performing") you can read the underlying articles for each topic.

If you have questions please feel free to post them below.

Learning Poetry - 1. Definition

The first three minute video establishes the one word definition for poetry, regardless of epoch, culture, language, theme, genre, or form.

Learning Poetry - 2. Basic Scansion

Here, one is introduced to the elements of meter.

Learning Poetry - 3. Sonics

At the root of poetry is sound.

Learning Poetry - 4. Performing

The whole point of this mode of speech is performance.

Learning Poetry - 5: Free Verse

Free verse (not to be confused with prose poetry or prose qua poetry) and its niche.

Learning Poetry - 6. Rhyme

The repetition of sounds in related positions.

We hope you enjoy this series and find it helpful.

Earl Gray, Esquirrel

Sunday, June 14, 2020

How Long Does Poetry Take?

     How long does brain surgery take if you know absolutely nothing about medicine? Use a club to knock the patient unconscious, drill through the skull, root around until you find something that looks out of place, rip it out, close the wound, and you're done! As is the patient, but no one said anything about successful brain surgery, right?

     Newcomers often ask how long it takes to write a poem. It can take forever but, generally speaking, the answer depends on how good the poet and poem are. Poor poets produce dreck at breakneck speeds. Their process involves far fewer steps.

     Jotting down an outline can take minutes. A newcomer may now say: "Voilà! We're done!" First thought, best though, right? Time to find an unsuspecting reader...

     A slightly less raw neophyte might take the rest of the day to produce a draft. (Note we didn't write "a first draft".) Then they're done.

If writing for the "publish or perish" academic crowd the journey is a little longer. One has to inject some clever, original phrases. A random text generator can help find the perfectly baffling modifier or metaphor. One or two of these per poem should suffice. Thus, we can finish in a weekend and ship the end product off to Poetry magazine or our university press.

Because it has to have objective merit, technical verse will take weeks--a month if free verse. There is a trick to this: Do the sonics before the rhythm. Choose soft sounds for reflection, harsh ones for drama, and repeat them (as assonance, consonance, alliteration, or rhyme) as appropriate. Attend to cadence last, either in meter or in rhythm strings (which distinguish free verse from prose [poetry]).

At this point, what you have might win a Nemerov but it won't draw a crowd. Why not? Because we've forgotten that poetry is a mode of speech. We need to gear it for an audience, not a readership. We must perform it (or find someone who can and will). This usually means memorizing it and practicing our presentation. We have to sound natural, performing rather than reciting. And certainly not reading.

At no point onstage can we look up and to the right, a telltale sign than we're trying to recall something. This is vital, since our eyes must be free to search the audience for hints of waxing or waning interest. If the people at an open mic are leaning forward and shushing those around them, we have them. (This, incidentally, is the greatest feeling in human experience.) If, on the other hand, we see them slouching backward and whispering to each other we have work to do.

Once we have something worth showing the world the final step is to create a video and post it to a public forum such as YouTube or Vimeo. We will address the basics of this process in a subsequent blog.

With talent, education, practice, inspiration, and some luck, an actual poet can often finish a work in two months.

Monday, May 11, 2020

What You Need To Know About Poetry

1. Definition of Poetry

2a. Scansion for Beginners

2b. Scansion for Intermediates

2c. Scansion for Experts

3. Sonics

4. Performance

5. Terminology

6. Examples

An even quicker approach would be "Poetry in Three Minutes".

Performing Poetry

One of the many symptoms of poetry's death was the disappearance of contemporary poetry performance. Indeed, apart from Shakespearean plays and some hurried readings by Dylan Thomas, Anthony Hopkins, and Michael Caine, the world is bereft of convincing performances as opposed to readings, recitations, and overwrought original bleatings. (If you have found one please let us know below.) This has become an arcane art.

1. Memorize the words.

You wouldn't want to see actors reading from scripts on Broadway. The presenter needs to see--or seem to see, in the case of cameras--the audience and their reactions.

2. Forget that you memorized the words.

The language has to be natural and believable, as if the speaker were formulating each thought before expressing it.

3. Practice until it seems unpracticed.

     Cliché Alert: "Make the words your own."

     Practice until it seems like normal speech (if appropriately impassioned in places). Use a mirror or, better yet, a camera [phone] to record yourself.

     Use your down time. Carry a copy of a poem with you to the bathroom, into waiting rooms, onto buses, while walking the dog, etc. Don't worry what your neighbors will say. They already think you're crazy.

4. Go to open mic events. Participate once you're comfortable doing so.

     If you are too shy, find a friend who has some acting chops. Form a partnership. Elton John to your Bernie Taupin.

   As an exercise, consider starting with one of the two finest poems of this century, "Studying Savonarola", written by the greatest poet of our time, the late Margaret A. Griffiths. This is a piece that, in the hands of an inspired performer, works much better on the stage than the page. (Its counterpart, "Beans", may be too difficult for anyone but a seasoned actress.) Given the lack of competition, if you can nail this you could make history.

      A final tip: One of the very few editors who appreciates the performance aspect of poetry is John Amen of Pedestal Magazine.

This is the closest we can come to an example of performance, which is evident even if we don't speak Spanish:

THE GORING AND THE DEATH

At five in the afternoon.
It was just five in the afternoon.
A boy brought the white sheet
at five in the afternoon.
A basket of lime made ready
at five in the afternoon.
The rest was death and only death
at five in the afternoon.

The wind blew the cotton wool away
at five in the afternoon.
And oxide scattered nickel and glass
at five in the afternoon.
Now the dove and the leopard fight
at five in the afternoon.
And a thigh with a desolate horn
at five in the afternoon.
The bass-pipe sound began
at five in the afternoon.
The bells of arsenic, the smoke
at five in the afternoon.
Silent crowds on corners
at five in the afternoon.
And only the bull with risen heart!
at five in the afternoon.
When the snow-sweat appeared
at five in the afternoon.
when the arena was splashed with iodine
at five in the afternoon.
death laid its eggs in the wound
at five in the afternoon.
At five in the afternoon.
At just five in the afternoon.

A coffin on wheels for his bed
at five in the afternoon.
Bones and flutes sound in his ear
at five in the afternoon.
Now the bull bellows on his brow
at five in the afternoon.
The room glows with agony
at five in the afternoon.
Now out of distance gangrene comes
at five in the afternoon.
Trumpets of lilies for the green groin
at five in the afternoon.
Wounds burning like suns
at five in the afternoon,
and the people smashing windows
at five in the afternoon.
At five in the afternoon.
Ay, what a fearful five in the afternoon!
It was five on every clock!
It was five of a dark afternoon!

Learning Poetry - 4. Performance (in three minutes)

Thursday, October 17, 2019

Can Poetry Revive?

Seen on Facebook:

"Even today, native languages in Africa are comprised of more than 100 sounds ("phonemes"), many of them originally fashioned from noises in nature ("onomatopoeia"). As humankind migrated outwards many of these were lost and not replaced. Mandarin has 67 such phonemes, English has 44, Proto-Algonquin 23, Hawaian only 13.

"Thus, when you and I speak we use the sounds of African wildlife species, some of which may have been extinct for eons."

Aside from communication, the purpose of language [as a whole] is preservation. The purpose of poetry is to preserve [specific] language. Hence, poetry distinguishes itself from prose in that it is verbatim or, if you prefer, memorable speech. Not writing. Speech. Shakespeare's plays weren't recorded for posterity on behalf of English professors; they were committed to paper from memory as scripts for the benefit of other actors and producers.

The expression "poetry book" or "poetry magazine" is something of an oxymoron. Yes, both have existed even before the printing press but, unlike today, they had readers, not just writers hoping to see their names in indices, and those readers were interested in importing that language into their speech. Yes, archiving poetry as literature is vital but not if it has no appeal to audiences, contemporary or future. Not readers. Audiences.

Flash forward four centuries and the most widely quoted poet is Leonard Cohen. This is a man who authored three "best-selling" volumes of poetry before picking up a guitar, but more than 99% of the time he is quoted from memory it involves one of his lyrics, not his books. Thus, poetry already survives, but only in song. Most people know thousands of lyrics but can't recite eight consecutive lines of a poem written during their lifetimes.

Thus, if we understand what poetry is--verbatim speech--we understand how to revive it. Speak it! To be clear, insofar as modern work is concerned, it isn't the presence of poetry writing [or the concomitant lack of reading] that has killed the art form; it is the absence of poetry performance.

Ergo, reviving poetry is a simple matter of encouraging people to perform it, most conveniently and economically on social media. Offer prizes for the best videos of selected stageworthy masterpieces (after obtaining the necessary permissions) et voilà! Problem solved.

Tuesday, July 12, 2016

Information Logistics

     Have you ever wanted to perform a speech, poem or presentation in a natural, authentic and engaging voice and manner? What is the fastest way to master this passage? In one form or another, Information Logistics is becoming a key concern everywhere from stages to politics to board rooms--anywhere that values precise verbage and public performance.

     Please take a moment to listen to this song a time or two (and, yes, there will be a test later):

     Squirrels don't have very good memories. This, paradoxically, explains our fascination with poems--things that facilitate something we can do only with great difficulty.

     Information Logistics or "InfoLoge" (pronounced "Info Lodge") involves putting precise, context sensitive data into our hands in a timely, compact and unobtrusive manner without our having to request it. Instant mnemonics, if you will. The goal is to make a performer seem comfortable with imparting information. Think of an advisor to Julia Louis-Dreyfus in "Veep" or Téa Leoni in Madam Secretary" whispering (lest the visiting dignitary be affronted by her need for such a reminder) into her ear the names and quirks of the people she's meeting at a party or welcoming line. Poorer examples might include:

1. A web search engine, as in a cell phone or tablet. No time for queries!

2. A teleprompter. We need precise snippets, not the whole spiel.

3. A word cloud, flash cards or point form notes. We're getting closer, but we need to find a raindrop rather than an unorganized cluster. We need to coordinate and personalize that cluster. Indeed, we need to choreograph and stage it.

     Among the simplest applications would be a poetry recital, perhaps followed by a Q and A about those particular poems and poets. Unless our intention is to look as dorky as possible and make the materiel seem unworthy of absorption and recitation, we want to avoid following a script in front of us. A teleprompter would help but is likely to fix our gaze in one place, reading text. A set of teleprompters, if affordable and practical, would allow us to shift from one to another but we'd still be reading, our pace and focus always controlled by the scrolling. In addition, we're not looking for a one-size-fits-all solution; info logistics have to be tailored to the individual and circumstance.

     The error is in using an algorithmic solution to solve a heuristic problem. We're not reading text for the first time. We're quite familiar with the narrative, we just need to be prodded at the start of each section/paragraph/stanza and, perhaps, each sentence or line. We're not trying to remember lines, we're trying to re-member them, piecing them together by prepending the beginnings of verses to prompt their endings.

How Elliptic Are You?

Earl the Squirrel's Rule #191

     Russians say "Kto skazal 'A'...", meaning "Once you've said 'A'...[you must say 'B']."

     We often use elliptical language, relying on the listener to complete a truism.

     "Don't count your chickens..."

     "If at first you don't succeed..."

     "When in Rome..."

      Of course, this demands that both the endings and their implications be understood. Such constructions are so common that, in some cases, even the ellipses themselves are implicit:

     "Do this or else."

      Now for that test we promised you. From memory, how many of the lines from "The Rose Above the Sky" can you complete?

Something jewelled ----- ----
Round the next ---- ---- - -----
Laughing at the hands - ---- ---
Only air ------ ----- -----
All you can do is praise --- -----
For the fineness -- --- -----.

Gutless arrogance --- ----
Burn apart the best -- -----
You carry the weight -- --------- ------
From your first day ---- --- ---
Toward that hilltop ----- --- ----
Forever becomes one ---- --- ---

Ozone on --- -------- ----
Got me thinking of --- ---
And the mercies of the -------- ---- -------
Me to you --- --- -- --
And in the silence -- --- ----- -- ------
Where all true meetings ---- -- --

       It might help to sing it to yourself. The beat, rhymes and meter can be very helpful.

      (Incidentally, did you find it easier to reconstruct the first three lines or the last three lines in each stanza?)

Reading the Audience

Earl the Squirrel's Rule #36

      Info logistics involves supporting the performer with just enough of a prompt to instantly reconstruct the text, not so much as to adversely affect the performance or to make the speaker's brain get lazy and dependent on the text. It isn't like minimalism; it is minimalism.

      One of my favorite human beings lost most of his memory in a fever when he was in his late teens. Imagine my amazement at seeing him, in his fifties, wowing an audience at a slam! He carried no notes, had no teleprompter or earpiece. Like any good performer, he was in complete control of his speech and never lost sight of the audience.

      I asked him how he did it. He pointed at four posters along the back wall. They looked like word clouds: terms and phrases haphazardly printed in various hues and sizes on bristleboard. I had assumed they were intended as art. On closer examination, I saw that it was the text of his poem, scattered across the four posters. How did he stitch it together, when the parts of each line might appear on any part of the next page?

Earl the Squirrel's Rule #122

Sizes, fonts and colors. The beginning of each verse was in larger print, tailing off into smaller letters as the line progressed. This tiny text gravitated toward the center of the sheet, creating a spiralling effect. The verses themselves were aligned on the color wheel: line one was in red, the next ones purplish, leading to stanza two in blue turning into green and, finally, stanza three was in yellow becoming in orange. Against the grey background, black text listed factoids relating to the intro and white words related to the poem/poet. (At this particular slam, winners were often interviewed after the event.) Each stanza had its own character face: Times Roman, Courier, Helvetica, et cetera. This created a visual effect in the brain, dramatically reducing the learning curve. The small lettering soon becomes unnecessary and, after flitting from poster to poster landing on larger print, the crutches could be tossed aside.

Earl the Squirrel's Rule #192

It also enhanced performance. Have you noticed that the "Back" button on modern browsers don't just bring us to a certain web page but to the exact spot we were on? Similarly, speakers could leave the text to look attendees in the eye--which is the whole point of the exercise--confident of finding their place via the color, style and size of the letters.

My eyesight being what it is, I couldn't see the back of the room when I tried this. Rather, I had to place the posters from the left to the right edge of the stage, facing me, like feedback speakers at a concert. It worked perfectly. My attention remained on or near the audience, my head turning to address everyone, and I couldn't fall into the trap of lingering on the text. I was, almost literally, reading the audience.

Crude Facsimile: Poster #1 (positioned on the left)

Crude Facsimile: Poster #2 (center left, with album details)

Crude Facsimile: Poster #3 (center right, with bio details)

Crude Facsimile: Poster #4 (positioned on the right)

The Rose Above The Sky - by Bruce Cockburn

Something jewelled slips away
Round the next bend with a splash
Laughing at the hands I hold out
Only air within their grasp
All you can do is praise the razor
For the fineness of the slash

'Til the Rose above the sky
Opens
And the light behind the sun
Takes all

Gutless arrogance and rage
Burn apart the best of tries
You carry the weight of inherited sorrow
From your first day till you die
Toward that hilltop where the road
Forever becomes one with the sky

'Til the Rose above the sky
Opens
And the light behind the sun
Takes all

Ozone on the midnight wind
Got me thinking of the sea
And the mercies of the currents that brought
Me to you and you to me
And in the silence at the heart of things
Where all true meetings come to be

'Til the Rose above the sky
Opens
And the light behind the sun
Takes all

Sunday, July 6, 2014

Public Performance

Typical non-poet, apparently.

Think of the reaction PoBiz types have to these two words: "public" and "performance". Any mention of the public makes some poets think of diseased primates two or three rungs below us on the evolutionary scale. Apparently, their world view encompasses leprous CroMagnons and poets. Nothing in between.

A similar extremism arises at the mention of poetry performance, as this Facebook exchange illustrates:

Commenter: "...every poet intent on giving public readings should have a few lessons from a drama coach or speech coach. Delivery counts!"

Responder: "Honestly, the really polished slam-type presentation can turn me off, too. Anything that calls attention to the poet takes away from the poem, IMO."

S.F. 49er Head Coach Bill Walsh (1931 to 2007)

     Again, we see the assumption that if reciters are not droning mesmerists they must be self-absorbed emo screamers. Nothing in between. We can laugh at the notion that slammers, few of whom would know a drama coach from Bill Walsh, are "really polished". Nevertheless, there is a grain of truth to this stereotyping. Aside from professional (usually Shakespearean) actors, it is difficult to name many competent poetry performers, let alone any proficient ones.

     On one extreme we see Shane Koyzan's carnival barking delivery of a beer commercial ripoff, "We Are More", written for the 2010 Olymic ceremonies. The truly disturbing fact is that most "slam-type presentation" is worse, and by a significant margin.

     Poetry had two other opportunities to impress the world, both of which came from the soporific end of the spectrum. While insomniacs may disagree, both yielded disastrous results. As we compare the two Obama inauguration poems, we add a new dimension to the debate about performing first or second.

The prevailing wisdom is that going second gives one an advantage. In baseball, for example, batting last comes with the knowledge of how many runs we need to score. In court, the defense gets to speak last in order to answer any and all assertions by the prosecution. Slam poets mention "score creep", where judges get progressively more generous (and drunk?) as the evening progresses.

Earl the Squirrel's Rule #24

     Suppose we extend the gap between performances by four years. Does the advantage of going last remain? Does it hold true for Richard Blanco's 2012 "One Today" versus Elizabeth Alexander's 2008 reading of "Praise Song for the Day"?

     Sort of. The wrinkle comes in the fact that lawyers, baseball teams, and slam competitors are trying to make a positive impression. It is hard to imagine that these two speakers formed any such intent or effort. Neither bothered to learn their lines--literally, their lines--or write something that anyone, least of all a poetry lover, would admire. Both could have used "a few lessons from a drama coach or speech coach" relating to poetry performance.

     While robotic, Blanco's reading voice was ~~more natural~~--sorry, less unnatural than Ms. Alexander's. It was a solipsistic if not megalomaniacal list of desultory objects with little or nothing to do with each other, the country, President or occasion.

     In terms of technique, "One Today" starts out rather well sonically, with considerable sibilance and the assonance of "uh", "oh", and then "ai" sounds.

One sun rose on us today, kindled over our shores,
peeking over the Smokies, greeting the faces
of the Great Lakes,

     These repetitions pop up later, albeit sporatically, without any apparent purpose and against an utterly arrhythmic backdrop (making it sound as clumsy as rhyme without meter). The language is flat and rambling--too much so for interesting prose, let alone poetry. Instead of "twenty absent children" he bludgeons the audience with "twenty children marked absent today, and forever."

    Elizabeth Alexander's piece alternates between tedium and schmaltz, as evidenced by this cringefest:

Some live by love thy neighbor as thyself,
others by first do no harm or take no more
than you need. What if the mightiest word is love?

    Ms. Alexander pays the same passing tributes to rhythm that Mr. Blanco pays to sonics.

    In the end, we have two high school graduation speeches. Valedictorians, not poets. Which one is worse, though? What is proven here?

    Because she cleared a crowd of people who, having faced freezing temperatures for more than an hour and 40 minutes, could not withstand 4 minutes of her "work", we have to give the nod to Elizabeth. Her shoddy display paved the way for Richard's.

   This demonstrates a fundamental but obscure principle of scheduling:

Earl the Squirrel's Rule #112

Footnotes:

¹ - Before one of my fellow pedants mentions Robert Frost preparing to read "Dedication" at John F. Kennedy's 1961 inauguration, he had just written it and could not trust his failing memory. Poor weather conditions forced him to fall back on "The Gift Outright", largely because he could still do so by rote. One wonders if Ms. Alexander, Richard Blanco or any of their fans (if such people exist) have ever bothered to memorize anything they've written.

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Earl Gray, Esquirrel