vogon poetry

went to yet another poetry night last nigh, was disappointed again and on the way back decided - had an actual conversation with myself I do sometimes, especially at night and it's a good uneventful 40 minutes ride from new cross - I was going to give up on poetry for a lil while. not all of it and not without exceptions (a bit like quitting smoking or anything else far as I'm concerned, if you suddenly feel like having one or change your mind the next day so what?), but I feel if I don't stop seeing bad or unengaging poetry, especially live, I will lose even more heart for it and I don't want to. 

I've recently been to a couple of what they seem to insist on calling poetry slams round here though why they insist on calling them poetry slams round here is unclear. there's judging and scores and winners so I guess it's a kinda competition so why not call it a competition? thugh frankly what the judging and scoring and winnig is meant to be in aid of is equally unclear. so you can say you won a slam I guess. judged by random people you've managed to convince to judge. am I ranting? I am ranting arent I? it's coz it pisses me off, can't help it, seems so pointless and forced and unnecessary. and it doesn't even matter that very often the winners are shit as far as I'm concerned. I don't care too much about people's taste. or rather I find it interesting rather than annoying. a little sad maybe sometimes but this is not somethig can be instantly helped. neither is the lack of criticism and the back-patting I guess, but the 'slam' thing is really unnecessary I find. guess it's meant to be entertaining somehow. one is not entertained.

the night I went to tonight was different though, it was a performance by a group of tallented American poets some of whom I had seen (on youtube) perform poems that impressed me so I expected to be impressed tonight. I wasn't much. well, it took me an hour to find the bloody place - seriously a proper 'beware of the leopard' box at the back of a closet - and it only lasted two hours so to be fair I saw only the second half. the second half did not impress me much. most of it was about suffering dontchano...

it so often is isn't it (often to do with racism). and this subject mostly bores me. partly because it's so ubiquitous but mainly because more often than not I don't buy it. people who really suffer and talk honestly about it - whether it's a poem or a chat in the street - don't use genaralisations slogans and clishes. they talk real situations and vivid images. I have heard rally amazing poems on the subject of suffering, discrimination, hard times etc just like I have had honest and humbling conversations about it but ususally what I hear is this package of cliches these 'poets' seem to be building their identities around. and the more cliche, hysterical and humourless it is the more audiences seem to applaud the more ppl choose it as a subject and so on.

...anyways anyways tonight. most of it was about suffering and very personal which is my least favourite kind as a whole. I often find it hard to figure out why this person wants me to know intimately their particular feelings, emotions, physical states etc, how they expect me to relate.
and the delivery was mostly hysterical.

the way I see it there are three aspects to performative poetry. the subject matter, the way you phrase it and the way you deliver it. the subject matter doesn't determine whether the piece will be effective or not. you can write and deliver an engaging poem about a can of tuna, I'm pretty sure (without mentioning the tuna's suffering before it got inside the can. serio). the actual words you use ARE the poetry. this is what makes a poem a poem. makes it good or not, effective or not, brings out emotions or not, makes people relate or not. the delivery is important too, your poem may be really good but if you can't make people hear it they won't know and if you sound false - they won't believe you.

a lot of poetry I hear is missing the second most important element and overdoes the other two - what many people seem to be going for is a strong/potentially controversial/shocking subject matter and a strong hysterical performance. not enough attention to the actual words and phrases, to the language being inventive and surprising, the story engaging and transcendent of one individual's feelings and experience.

not only should all the three elements be there - they have to work together too. emotional delivery will not make a poem powerful and some things are way more effective when said calmly and with humour.

another thing I find is plaguing the poetry world is the lack of editing - some poets clearly don't like cutting stuff out - I actually heard two say this the other day -  and seem to think the more they say the better. the result is a kind of emotional vomit. when I hear a poet say I wrote this today my expectations tend to be low.


end rant

I've actually been to something cool and promissng that involved spoken word the other day - James Massiah's new lil venture's launch - but won't elaborate on that in this post as this post is not abut cool n promissing lil vetures or individuals. hope I will in one of the next ones but you know how it goes, I rarely do elaborate on things I promise to elaborate on. posibly never come to think (too little to be sure) of it. barely never ever, thats the one. which is why I'm mentioning it so you know.

for this same reason I won't write about but will mention this kid called Donte Collins that I've been being impresed with a lot since I dicovered him a while ago.