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Blogs by Ophelia Brown
Delivery 9/7/2010 6:33:05 AM
About performing your poetry. I would dare to call myself a spoken word poet. I like to write for my poetry to be heard. Recently I've had some criticisms of my performance. It comes from my roommates. They say, your poems are great, but your delivery needs help. I ask them, what would you have me do to improve my performance? They say, try another poem. Instead of constructive criticism that I can actually use. Such as...say this word like that or pause here, raise your voice there...I got, "no, pick another poem." If this is the method that will be used this semester in C.H.A.O.S., I will be sorely disappointed. Criticism should be constructive. It should dissect the poem and break it down to its basic elements. I do realize that only I, may know the specific meaning of some of the images I use. Only I may know what was intended. But I think part of the enjoyment of poetry is having one's own interpretation. Repetition is important. Just peforming something once is not practical and giving up on it is even worse. After this unhelpful session with my roomies, I decided to practice reading my poems aloud to myself. Over and Over again! The differences I noticed were that I had much more fluidity, less needless pausing, and more expression. But my over all manner of performing has not really changed much. What am I supposed to do to improve? Yell? Whisper? Come up with a performance voice? Slow down, speed up? I have even recorded myself to hear the differences in tone and style I try. I will continue to practice using repetition and listen to other performing poets to get ideas. I am expecting a good year in C.H.A.O.S. I just hope that people are better able to assist one another in their performances by not attacking the person you are, but by attacking the poem and dissecting it until it bends and sways to the command of your voice! Mold the words into a masterpiece.
