Symphonic Synchronizing Sounds
Slam poetry often takes a poet's words at face value, and the identity a poet expresses in a performance is taken as the performer's identity in life. At these events, many audience members are evaluating not only the writing and performance of a poem, but also the scripting and performance of identity through presentation and sound. In creating a group poem for performance, students will first have a basis in poetry; then they will be given the opportunity to practice using literary tools such as tone, rhythm, repetition, alliteration, narrative, and performance vocalization. Students will learn that poetry is an art written for the individual as well as the audience. In this way however, poetry is brought to life off the printed page and onto the stage — vocalized for performing..
Slam poetry has much in common with its theatrical cousins, performance art and dramatic/comedic monologue, because it engages the very same politics of identity that can govern and arise from those expressions.3 Poets who maximize authenticity and sincerity at slam poetry performances highlight the first-person voice, through the poem's sense of personality. The poet's conveying of identity comes across from the stage and not the page. Poets can also maximize on performance pieces discussing gender, race, and social commentary. These performance selections are often celebrated and honored by the audience, especially those at the high school level. Audience, as a part of their presentation, will be considered by students when creating poems for choral performance to bring the poets' experiences to life. The inner self is opened to the elements, and a mixture of figurative language is unleashed.
The slam poem's composition is quite original in lexicon and performance, yet its nature can be extremely lyrical, no matter the theme or sometimes radical nature of the poet's delivery. Even though a poet might express a sense of his or her own personal experiences, the poet usually illustrates a sense of shared collectiveness and historical reference. The language of the slam poem is emphatic metaphors made clear with forceful and direct diction, imagery, repetition and often rhymes.
The arrangement of words on paper will enable an orchestral tone of varied voices to be chosen for specific groups in performance modes of address for variation (see Classroom Activity III). These works will be used expressively to showcase student work on the stage in the form of a "Slam." Students will find the spoken word poet is not merely spoken; it is delivered with a direct cadence, rhythm, or chant-like pulse. Poets do not simply deliver their poems; they vocalize their poems, dramatizing them with movement, and at points placing emphasis on parts of their message. Poets sometimes flow from the word to a definite singing of the words in a pitch-like chant. However tone can affect the manner of the constructed writer's relationship with speakers as it is "entangled in the words and fastened to the page." Audiences can become spiritually intoxicated with the sounds and begin to participate in the performance in a call and response manner.
Prior to getting to this intensity of performance, I begin by helping students to practice with other voices by using poems such as "Junk" by Richard Wilbur, "Come in Go Out" by May Swenson, and "Poetry" by Marianne Moore. I will break classes up into groups that will be assigned to decide among themselves how their entire group will create the poem through their own voices. I will circle the room to create an open space for questions and answers; in each poem we will discuss word distinction, pronunciation, rhyming, and silent spaces written in the poem.
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