I got both Dave, but this addition pushes the argument further.
It may be a question of taste (I tend to prefer what youre calling 'page poetry' here. But also have learned much & enjoyed readers who know how to take the words from the page to the stage so to speak: they may 'read' their poems but they also 'perform' them.
I know I judge all performances at least partly on the power of the language, as well as the wit, the rhythm, & a lot of those other things critics tend to talk about when talking about 'poetry.'
Which I can hear, as well as, when reading the page myself, see....
Doug
On 2011-10-21, at 6:08 AM, David Bircumshaw wrote:
> (I posted this material earlier under a re Poetry Etc Digest header and
> thought it might help if it were under its original title. In the meantime
> though too I've caught a number of short videos on SkyArts 2 of the 'SkyArts
> Tour 2010' which featured a number of performance poets and their backers.
> It was noticeable that the terms 'performance poetry' and 'spoken word' were
> used as equivalent and interchangeably, while at the same time claims were
> made for this being 'other' than 'page poetry' while yet representing the
> 'best of contemporary poetry in Britain'. Much emphasis was made of this
> 'spoken word' also including 'music' and of its performers being 'energetic'
> (interesting word).)
>
> The rest as before:
>
> "I've been following with interest the discussion that followed from
> Deborah's post and I am still balked at her initial question of how do you
> 'quantify quality' in 'spoken word'. I have visions of point-scoring, as in
> ski-jumping, high board diving. Or ice-skating. While, too, if I assume that
> 'spoken word artists' and 'performance poets' are, for the purposes of*poetry
> *, the same thing, what comes to mind is that in the best the poetry is only
> part of the act, it is really 'acts' we are talking about, so I don't see
> how the act can be evaluated or 'quantified' for 'quality' ('7.5? No, 6.0')
> without accepting that poetry is a part but not all of the material.
>
> My own experience has been that the best spoken word artists have really
> been comic acts that use poetry as a hinge. As such, the most useful way to
> see them is in comparison with other acts, with poetry or not. If, though,
> one insists that they be 'judged' or, better word, 'rated' by their poetry,
> then surely the claim is that they are 'poetry', not 'spoken word', and must
> be treated as such, so that comparisons are invited with other 'poems'.
>
> It isn't, of course, that there is anywhere an agreed standard on this
> invidious, noise-screening necessity, though there tends to be a (simmering)
> consensus (kind of) about poets who have had the good manners to be dead for
> a while, partly because the factions and alliances they fought among have
> also gone (permanently) underground.
>
> Where I do get difficulty is when I find performance poetry or spoken word
> being simultaneously presented as a) something that cannot be judged by the
> standards of 'page poetry' while being b) somehow superior to the aforesaid
> and c) worthy of being given the cultural role of the latter now considered
> predeceased and living dead."
>
> best
>
> Dave
>
> On 18 October 2011 02:12, Kasper Salonen <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>> I've just written my first spoken word poem after about ten years of
>> writing
>> poetry, so these ideas are already kind of floating (almost typo'd
>> "gloating") in my head. I'll try to make time for some brainfarts
>> concerning
>> this soon!
>>
>> KS
>>
>> On 17 October 2011 21:34, Deborah Stevenson <
>> [log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>
>>> Good Evening Everyone,
>>>
>>> I am currently studying an MA in creative writing, but am also a
>> practicing
>>> Spoken Word artist. And am currently looking to explore what constitutes
>>> and
>>> quantifies quality in Spoken Word and Live Literature. Which kicks off
>> with
>>> a debate on BBC Radio 3's the Verb (in which I am also performing one of
>> my
>>> pieces 33 minutes in). Here is the link...
>>>
>>>
>>>
>> http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b015nhzq/The_Verb_Verb_New_Voices_Philip_Langeskov_Professor_Karmadillo_Evaluating_Spoken_Word_Poetry/
>>>
>>> It would be great to know what you make of the debate and also of my
>> poem.
>>>
>>> Warmest Regards,
>>> Deborah Stevenson
>>>
>>
>
>
>
> --
> David Joseph Bircumshaw
> "The surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is
> that none of it has tried to contact us."
> - Calvin & Hobbes
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>
Douglas Barbour
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Why poetry? And why not, I asked,
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Phyllis Webb
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