OK, so you’ve got your courage up—or been persuaded—to perform your poetry in public. Now, you need to think about where. For a new reader, this decision can make the difference between a good and not-so-good experience. Here are some things you may want to consider.
What is Your Poetry Trying to Achieve?
You may write to communicate human experience of emotions such as love or appreciation of the natural world. You may be a poet more interested in exploring forms such as sonnets and sestina. If this is what you write, a poetry cafè or neighbourhood meeting might be a good place to read.
On the other hand, you may consider that mainstream poetry either in general or in the place that you live has failings, and want to critique these through your own words or style. You may write to comment on social or political issues. For example, Alan Brunton in his 1997 essay “Years Ago Today: Language and Performance: 1969” described the formation in New Zealand of the Cultural Liberation Front and the poetry magazine freedAccording to Brunton, the use of fragmentation and similar techniques in freed were seen as a way to change political conciousness.
If your work is critical of generally-accepted poetic forms in your community, you might not want to choose a poetry society for your first reading. Similarly, you will want to seek out like-minded people if you write hard-hitting poetry about political issues. Experimental and social commentary poetry might play well, for example, at meetings of non-governmental or church organisations. In addition, many colleges and other tertiary institutions hold poetry and performance evenings, and you do not necessarily need to be a student to perform.
The essential message is, you want the audience more or less on your side while you are learning the art of performing.
Why Has the Audience Come to the Performance Venue?
If you have an audience more or less of other poets, they will be curious about what you have written and you may be freer to tackle serious topics, complex ideas or nuances of language. If, however, you are performing in a bar or pub, the audience is there to have a good time. Do not be the poet who announces at the start: “I don’t know if you will like this, because I am a serious poet.” You do not necessarily have to choose funny or rap-style poems (although these are good alternatives if you write them) but your poetry needs to be accessible. Poetry about community characters or short upbeat poems about shared special moments could work well here.
Consider your “playlist” carefully, and have a couple of poems in reserve if the mood of the audience is not what you were expecting. As stage director, drama critic and playwright Charles Marowitz said in his 1999 book The Other Way: An Alternative Approach to Acting and Directing, “art which isn’t fun isn’t art.”
Once you have selected a venue, considered the potential audience and done a first cut of which poems you might read, you are ready to think about the performance itself. A future article will provide some tips on getting organised and how to combat performance anxiety.
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