Take the Mic: The Art of Performance Poetry, Slam, and the Spoken Word (A Poetry Speaks Experience) - Softcover

Smith, Marc; Kraynak, Joe

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1402218990 ISBN 13: 9781402218996

Publisher: Sourcebooks MediaFusion, 2009

Synopsis

Get on Stage and Perfect Your Performance

Have you ever enjoyed a slam or two and thought, "I could do this," but felt apprehensive staring at that empty mic—or worse, you climbed up on stage and struggled?

Let Marc Kelly Smith, the founder of Slam Poetry, teach you everything you need to be a confident performer, from writing a powerful poem, to stage techniques, to going on tour (if that's where your muse leads you).

Take the Mic is filled with insider tips, backstage advice, and tons of examples of slam poems that wake up an audience. With this book, you'll also be able to link to the PoetrySpeaks.com community to listen to samples, meet poets, and unearth inspirations for your next performance.

The Ultimate Guide to Writing and Performing with Power

Take the Mic is an essential guide for lifting your poetry from the page to the stage. Marc Kelly Smith (So What!), grand founder of the Slam movement, serves as you personal coach, showing you how to craft stage-worthy verse and deliver a poetry performance that shakes the rafters and sparks thunderous applause. In Take the Mic, you discover how to...

• Pen poetry that's conducive to on-stage performance
• Overcome stage fright
• Practice powerful performance techniques
• Rehearse like a pro
• Shape a loose collection of poems into a killer set
• Connect with your audience — heart and soul
• Master the art of self-promotion
• Schedule your own slam poetry tour
• Transform your hobby into paying gigs
• Act professional to establish a solid reputation in the Slam community

Take the Mic is packed with practical exercises you can do alone or in class to hone your skills and transform your body, mind, voice, verse, and spirit into an engaging stage presence.

You'll also find a brief history of slam, the rules and regulations that govern official slam competitions, and a list of PSI (Poetry Slam, Inc.) Certified Slams, so no matter where you are, you always have a place to Take the Mic!

About this title

About the Author

Marc Smith began the poetry slam over twenty years ago at the Green Mill in Chicago. He is the co-editor of The Spoken Word Revolution and The Spoken Word Revolution Redux. Joe Kraynak has written or co-written dozens of books ranging from computer basics to poetry.

Joe Kraynak has written or co-written dozens of books ranging from computer basics to poetry.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Excerpt from Chapter 1: What You Think You Know May NOT BE SLAM

"Competitive poetry.
That's what slam is.
I looked it up on Wikipedia."

When the uninitiated hear the term "slam poetry," they say "slam what?" or serve up the quick and easy answer quoted above or the equally facile interpretation that slam is "rap without music—what Eminem did in 8 Mile or what that singer Grande Corde Malade does in France." Chances are they got a taste of slam at the French Nationals or at the Starry Plough in Berkeley, but it was only a taste. A deeper drink would tell them more. And here's that drink, served up by the Slampapi himself:

Slams are captivating poetry events that focus a live audience's attention on the presentation of poetry that's been composed, polished, and rehearsed for the purpose of being performed—very often in a competitive arena, but not always. It's a carnival, a pageant, an interactive classroom, a town hall meeting, a con game, a versified boxing match, and a churchlike revival that electrifies and animates the people listening to and watching it.

Competitive slam poets battle against one another like wrestlers vying for a championship belt. Each poet takes his or her turn onstage to play at proving their superiority as both poet and performer. The audience is prompted to get involved, and it does! Crowds have been known to roar approval or stomp their boots in scorn for the poetics they love or pretend to hate.

As you'll learn, competition is not the solitary heartbeat at the core of the poetry slam, but it has been an important catalyst for stimulating poet-performers and audiences around the world to bring back the passion and vitality of words spoken aloud.

In this chapter, we look at what slam is and what it's not. We'll revisit a bit of its history, highlight some of the guidelines and principles responsible for its growth, talk about the unimportance (and importance) of the rules, and introduce you to the spirit that propels most slammers.

About this edition

• Publisher: Sourcebooks MediaFusion
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 1402218990
• ISBN 13: 9781402218996
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 320