Ah, Tim, Desmond's a sweetie really. Now what do you do when you have screws
claiming to be poets (read on, the mentioned HMP Leicester is within sight
of my window. People I know who have been guests there speak highly of the
sensitive souls of the concierges)
Called 'Sureshot' as well, man!
*Spoken word artist Michael Brome aka Sureshot muses on the power of
performance and the human voice.*
**
I WAS ONCE TOLD
“IF YOU’RE NOT READING THEN YOU’RE NOT WRITING”
At the time I didn’t agree, I wasn’t the best read person in the field of
literature and I suppose I drew information from other sources.
I have always been fascinated with the different ways the minds of people
work and how we digest information.
For me music has been such an integral part of my life, sound seems to fill
me full of words.
I was born into the hip Hop Culture and before I was old enough to step foot
out of my house and buy my own records I was surrounded by reggae and
Calypso.
These genres of music bless many stages and with that influence my form of
literature feels at home on the stage.
In regards to spoken word, when you hear the words Poetry or Jazz people
tend to run a mile. Even at school poetry has always been met with a sigh.
Unless the outsider gets to see a performer use words and body in unison and
bring a page to life, then poetry all of a sudden becomes more palatable.
The outsider simply didn’t know you could do it like that.
Regardless of being a page or stage poet, the written word has got to be
strong if you want to be recognised with the heavy hitters. And I feel every
performer’s goal should be to have their work stand on the page and stand on
the stage.
However I do believe there are differences in the writing process when
specifically writing to be performed and writing to be read.
THE LOVE AND USE OF LANGUAGE FROM PAGE POETS SHINES THROUGH THE PAPER AND
CAN INSPIRE OTHER ARTISTS TO BRING IT TO THE STAGE.
The author may not be comfortable as that type of artist but his/her words
might be.
Page poets have a command of language that highly decorates the paper, but I
still maintain, if your mind is not one that takes to reading then an author
could have the skills of Shakespeare, it won’t make a difference.
Stage poets take those beautiful words and craft a one man /woman movie that
will engage the viewer on different levels.
I believe there to be a power in live literature that attacks most of the
senses and provides a different angle to poetry that captures the passer by
who has been lost in the stereotype.
I feel the goal of any artist in which ever field, is to grow, in hind sight
I was a fool to think I don’t need to read.
It could only make me a better performer providing I maintain my own
identity.
IT’S ALL ABOUT YOUR VOICE, PAGE OR STAGE
PEOPLE ARE LISTENING TO YOUR VOICE.
Nominate your favourite poetry <http://literaturenetwork.org/?p=1352> for
the Lyric Lounge
Michael Leonardo Brome (aka SureShot) Michael Brome is a prison officer at
HMP Leicester. His performance alter ego is: Sureshot - a poet and comedian
who commands the audience’s attention with intense stage presence. He
performed as part of the Freedom Showcase and has won national commissions.
2009/6/23 Tim Allen <[log in to unmask]>
> The negativity I associate with the word craft is connected to what I said
> in an earlier post about the way the word was bandied about back in the 80's
> - a huge part of the 'poetry workshop' mentality, something which put
> artificial limits on what a poem could and couldn't do etc.
>
> As for 'learning/using both', well, if someone has in their head an notion
> of what they are, even provisionally, fair enough.
> Tim A.
>
>
> On 23 Jun 2009, at 15:48, Douglas Barbour wrote:
>
> Hmmnn, but it seems we do, care that is.
>>
>> I tend to join you in thinking that each of us chooses how 'we' hear each
>> term & judge it. I'm not sure 'craft' is negative, though; it certainly is
>> not, to me. Nut, then, neither is 'technique'. Since I would want to argue,
>> in any art, that one needs to learn/use both.
>>
>> Doug
>> On 23-Jun-09, at 5:39 AM, Tim Allen wrote:
>>
>> Come on, we're poets, we should know how undependable words can be. I
>>> really don't care, especially about the word 'craft' - its connotations are
>>> nearly always negative because of the ideological way the concept gets used.
>>>
>>
>> Douglas Barbour
>> [log in to unmask]
>>
>> http://www.ualberta.ca/~dbarbour/
>>
>> Latest books:
>> Continuations (with Sheila E Murphy)
>> http://www.uap.ualberta.ca/UAP.asp?LID=41&bookID=664
>> Wednesdays'
>>
>> http://abovegroundpress.blogspot.com/2008/03/new-from-aboveground-press_10.html
>>
>> The abandoned world offers its wild particulars,
>> leaves in the air, a single leaf on water.
>> ............
>> The rain falls like rain.
>>
>> David Helwig
>>
>
--
David Bircumshaw
"Nothing can be done in the face
of ordinary unhappiness" - PP
Website and A Chide's Alphabet
http://www.staplednapkin.org.uk
The Animal Subsides http://www.arrowheadpress.co.uk/books/animal.html
Leicester Poetry Society: http://www.poetryleicester.co.uk
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