Apologies to all, but time got ahead of us and before we realised it, we'd lost a week! There are 6 submissions to this workshop which would love your thoughts and critique! [link]

Results will be out on Saturday!




Folder is now open for submissions for this workshop! Please don't forget our chat event on Wednesday and also feel free to discuss the subject on this journal!


What is Spoken Word?


Spoken word is a performance art that relies on natural speaking of the piece alongside the writing (if piece is written at all, often some performance artists memorise the piece, but we’ll leave that to the professionals!). It can be written and performed as prose or poetry. In this workshop, we are focusing on poetry.


The true art of Spoken Word is about the use of voice and sounds in the performance. When writing, you need to think about the vocal execution of that piece- the intention of the piece is not to be read in the mind, but to be said out aloud. The words need to work together differently to how they might with just writing them down. Uses of pace, alliteration, rhythm, expressions, stresses and emotion all feature in the construction even more so than traditional written poetry.


The key aspect to any kind of performance writing is to think about how as the writer you want your work to be read aloud. You may not be the person reading it, or even involved in the direction, but there will be elements to your piece that you want performed in a particular way, a way which communicates effectively to the audience. If those elements are missing, the point and intention of your piece will also fall aside.

  

What is Spoken Word not?

It is not rapping
It is not an audio book
It is not a poetry reading.
It is not to be confused with poems just written in the first person. (They can be written in the first person, but remember Spoken Word is about the intention of being read to an audience)
Although essay styles of writing can be used in Spoken Word, like essays, the form is not a rant or journal extract.


A Poetry Slam


Poetry Slams originated in the 1980s and are when poets perform and compete in front of an audience to win their approval. They are not poetry readings and often the slams are lively and entertaining.


Spoken Word can also be performed at poetry readings and open mic nights- the latter has grown in popularity over the last two decades. Coffee shops, libraries, book stores and even open spaces have been used for such performances, and Spoken Word now predominately features at the annual Edinburgh arts festival.


The best way to find out about poetry slams and performances is actually to attend one or watch them online.

Some YouTube examples: [link] [link] [link]

Some written examples from the web/dA: [link]

THREE DAYS FROM NOW for Daniela Jara's 20th birthday on 6.21.04

three days from now
she will rise up to the playground of angels
fighter jets and zeppelins
burst open the door
translate her body into an equation
of one–hundred twenty pounds moving
nine–point–eight meters per second per second
and tumble from heaven
because she wants to taste the sky
on her birthday

this is the part of the poem
where I should drop metaphors
about falling in love with her
or how she's already fallen from heaven once
or something about shooting stars
or glass ceilings
but this isn't a love poem

I said I would fall alongside her
stretch out fingers to find her
fa Destroy This Poem Destroy This Poem

To the person grading this poem
To the kind, patient woman hovering over this with a pen
Waiting to say kind, patient words in response, do me a favor:
Stop it.
Don’t Patronize me.
I did not slave over this with hammer and anvil
Shaping it into a masterpiece.
I didn’t paint it onto the ceiling of some church,
Going blind from the pain and the stress.
I didn’t even turn this in on time.

And while I’m writing this in my fifth-period economy class,
You can bet I’m not concerned with iambs and troches and Italian terza rima.
No, I’m concerned with how much water is left in my water bott kwarto In my bedroom, I want to bring a man with old boxers
and new ideas about: spirits above the bus roof, anteaters which used to walk Palawan.
I want to bring him in and his childhood nostalgia, his favorite stuffed toy
which he rubbed on the ear for him to fall asleep. I want to bring him in:
down on my skin, smelling the anxiety, the saltiness, the beauty, the lies and
the scent of sweat like vapor of something lost and redeemed.
He'd be surprised of how I managed to keep old snail mails, a few cobwebs,
smell of wine on the pillow and some crumbs of slumber on my nape.
In my bedroom, I want to stand beside the wide-open windows with
  

Writing a piece of Spoken Word


The themes associated with this form are not limited, but often the intention is to share life experience, current topics, politics and an expression of viewpoint. That isn’t to say that any kind of subject matter is inappropriate, but it needs to be something that would connect to an audience. Spoken Word can be light-hearted though; in fact comedy is very effective in poetry slams, as is the use of emotion.


There are no structural rules to writing a spoken word piece and they are usually written open form. You do need watch out for the structural styling in a performance piece- does the enjambment help or hinder a performance?


The Workshop Task

Your task is to create your own Spoken Word poem. The poem needs to be at least a minute long spoken (pieces that are too short will not be as effective in this exercise)

As part of this workshop, we need to hear the words in action! As such, we will also be uploading the audio of the poems online for people to listen to and critique.

If you can record your own audio, send the file to `Halatia to halatia@volunteers.deviantart.com.  
If you cannot record your own audio, we'll be hiring voice actors to do the reading so that everyone has the chance to have their poem heard. Please let us know if you need a voice actor (and preferable any preferences of the voice actor).



Chat event

Following the success of the previous chat event, we are having one for this workshop also. This will be discussing the concept behind this workshop and sharing your ideas and thoughts. We welcome everyone to come join us.

The event will be held on Wednesday 16th Feb in  CRLiterature at 9pm GMT.


Good luck!