POET STALEY’S 5 PILLARS OF POETRY PERFORMANCE

  • 1) WHY PERFORM, WHAT TO PERFORM & HOW TO LISTEN
    • why perform?
      • “life begins at the end of your comfort zone” – Neil David Walsh
      • to connect with audience on deeper level with eye contact
      • to combat Poetry Reading Fatigue and jar your audience out of inattention
      • to honor poetry’s vital element of surprise
      • to help with revision and market research
      • to boost confidence and improve circulation
      • to increase your chances of entertaining, inspiring or making someone feel something
    • what to perform?
      • images with good verbs, images that move and sweep (Sheila Black poems for example)
      • poem with dialog (concrete and accessible) or songs (familiar)
      • humor (little goes a long way)
      • share what’s thematically, geographically or in some other way inline with others’ poems
    • how to listen
      • be mindful of pre-public-speaking jitters and post-performance adrenaline
      • focus (close eyes?) but if mind wanders because you don’t understand something, or you get lost in a memory, listen for the “on ramp”
  • 2) MEMORY TIPS
    • PASSENGER SEAT METHOD
      • in car on commute/ while walking/ while bathing/ while exercising
    • notice what memorizing is telling you about the poem (phrasing, ordering, deletion)
    • set aside time (a week per poem)
    • get-someone-to-poke-at-you method
    • mirror practice
    • audio recording method
    • PARTIAL MEMORY at least memorize the end or a dramatic highlight
    • highlight the keywords or cruxes of every line – the words you must hit for the audience to know what’s going on
    • don’t over do it on performance day
    • (while performing) if you forget the next line:
      • repeat last line method
      • remember no one has the script
      • don’t bring attention to your mistake
      • no one if rooting against you
  • 3) STRETCHES & DRILLS
    • Spoken Word Warm-Up Riffs
    • jaw shake
    • soul shakedown party
    • bend down, bend up (with breath variation: head shoulders torso)
      • why are you speaking
      • why are you not speaking
      • why are you moving
      • why are you not moving
  • 4) PERFORMANCE MICROMOVES
    • Breathe deep before you start – let that first wave of adrenaline pass
      • “go slow” said Connie Voisine 
    • Sneaky Start
    • “come in for a landing” at end
    • leave the microphone/podium to enter space of audience
    • steal octopusial dance moves from the late Robert Bly
    • Li Young Lee knows how to pause
      • the empty space draws your audience closer to the edge of their seat
      • “it’s not the notes you play, it’s the notes you don’t play” – Miles Davis
  • 5) Literary Reading Karma 
    • audiences at academic poetry readings are expecting NO elements of performance, so any effort you put toward your performances will improve everybody’s attentiveness to the moment
    • have poem ready (phone or paper) to read from or as “back up”
    • ALWAYS take less time (practice with stopwatch) than you are given to avoid holding your audience “poetry hostage”
    • Best to stay the whole event
    • showing up not just for yourself
      • how do you amplify, buy, read, support and ponder the writing by the writers in your community the way you want them to amplify, buy, read, support and ponder your writing?