Performance poetry

I learnt a lot about public presentation through time spent as the front man in several bands that toured during the 70s, 80s and 90s (the image left is me playing at a gig sometime in 1982). Later I learnt more about public speaking through my teaching career, and latterly as a professional speaker on the keynote circuit. I managed to clock up tens of thousands of miles a year as an invited speaker at large events around the world, taking in more than 45 countries. 

There are some key things to remember when you speak or present publicly. It's all based on performance to, and connection with your audience. The same principles apply to poetry performance as they do the playing music or public speaking. 

Here are just a few of the things I learnt:

1) Take your time, don't rush, don't speak too quickly. Do some deep breathing before you start. It lowers your voice and steadies it. 

2) Your audience largely wants you to succeed. Most of them are on your side. The ones that aren't don't actually matter.

3) Start with some humour. Get the audience smiling or laughing. It will lighten the atmosphere.

4) Speak clearly - use pauses - and maintain eye contact with your audience. If there are a lot, then you may need to scan around more, but if you do so, each member of that crowd with think you are speaking to them directly.

5) If it goes wrong. Start again. Make a joke out of it. Use the moment to regroup and ... go again.

6) If someone is stupid enough to heckle you, remember.... you have the stage. You may also have the microphone. Which is more that they have. You can either talk over them until they shut up, or you can wait until they say something that actually makes them look foolish. Then, if you are brutal enough... you can turn it against them. 

7) Finally, don't just read blandly your poem. You have an audience! Perform it to them. Use all your emotion and energy to convey the meaning of your poem to them. People will appreciate it. 

I hope these have helped a little for those doing any live performances of their poetry. Remember, the poetry - if it's good enough - will speak for itself. You will merely be the vehicle in which it arrives. 

Poetry Turing Test

If you've read this blog previously you'll know that I'm both a poet and a computer scientist. Recently I have been researching the alleged capability of OpenAI's ChatGPT to write poetry. Some have expressed concerns that AI will soon replace poets, artists, musicians and other creatives. So I thought I would perform a little experiment. Here's a challenge for you: A sort of poetry Turing Test if you will. Can you tell the difference between a computer generated poem and one written by a human being? 

Earlier today I asked ChatGPT to write a Pantoum about love. I also wrote a Pantoum, based on the same rules of the fixed form poem. Both are below. But which one is the AI generated poem... and which is mine? I welcome all of your comments.

1: LOVE ON FIRE

Love, a feeling that never fades,

An eternal flame that burns within,

A bond that lasts through all the shades,

A journey that never has an end.

An eternal flame that burns within,

A warmth that spreads from heart to heart,

A journey that never has an end,

A connection that's never torn apart.

A warmth that spreads from heart to heart,

A spark that ignites a fiery passion,

A connection that's never torn apart,

A love that defies all reason.

A spark that ignites a fiery passion,

A bond that lasts through all the shades,

A love that defies all reason,

Love, a feeling that never fades.

2: LOVE ON FIRE

I dream of love that never fades,

Igniting flames that rage like sin,

A fire that warms when cold invades,

Hot furnace, blazing deep within

Igniting flames that rage like sin,

A spark that leaps from heart to heart,

Hot furnace, blazing deep within,

A conflagration work of art.

A spark that leaps from heart to heart,

With embers that can never die

A conflagration work of art,

A love that reaches to the sky

With embers that can never die,

A fire that warms when cold invades,

A love that reaches to the sky,

I dream of love that never fades

Image licenced under Creative Commons

Nightmare #4

Wandering like vapour clouds through darkened corridors that suck the marrow from the soul and cause the dampened air to cling like mesh.

Plundering the winter shrouds through sparkling open doors that, wide and narrow, makes our goal to praise the pampered lair that stings the flesh.

Pandering to silent crowds those wailing sobbing whores that ply their sallow naked fayre to scourge the sampled air and wring the cash.

Squandering the violence loud, those bobbing foreign shores that buy their shallow dead-head glare to purge the crumpled hair that brings the crash.

Steve Wheeler © 22 February, 2023

Photo by Vaper City on Wikimedia Commons

Poetry - the power of immediacy

Back in the day (and I'm talking mid 80s to early 90s) in the pre-internet, pre-smartphone, pre-social media age, life was simple, but everything took so long to accomplish. As a performance poet, I frequented, and sometimes MC'd live poetry events at festivals. I also appeared in several bands, usually accompanied by my trusty axe (the one in this photo is a Gibson Les Paul - a set in the Big Top at Greenbelt Festival 1983). Under clear blue skies, warmed by the summer sun, we would stand on makeshift wooden stages with nothing more than a microphone and a book of poems, and hold forth to whomever was walking by. Sometimes we would garner audiences of up to a thousand people and on one occasion, I managed to blag a spot on the main stage of a major festival and performed in front of over 24 thousand people. Heady days. I wish oh I wish I could remember the names of my fellow festival fringe poets. 

Poets need feedback. All of the feedback we received for our performances and readings was received by our audience in the form of applause and an occasional comment or two. Sometimes people would write to us. I had a few letters and notes from people through the mail appreciating my poetry, and one notable complaint. One person took umbrage about one of the poems I read, called Vegetarian. She herself, she informed me, was a vegetarian, and then proceeded to berate me for the words I had written. I think if the Vegans had landed on the planet by then, she might well have claimed to be one. She was adamant and militant about her vegetarianism. 

In writing, I replied that she might have misunderstood my poetry. I was not sniping against vegetarians, but rather praising their stance, and bemoaning my lack of discipline in my own dietary practices. She replied by return of post, a huge diatribe including several printed sheets of documents that claimed the health benefits of vegetarianism. She had missed the point. Completely. This went on for a few weeks. Back and forth. Her final mail to me was a small package rather than a letter. Must have cost her a fortune to send it through the mail. At this point, I politely wrote back thanking her for her concerns, and wishing her well. This exchange took place over a couple of months. It served to inform me that some people, passionate or not about their beliefs, can sometimes be seriously wrong, but will go to any length to try to prove their point. 

Today of course, in the age of Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms, anyone can voice their views to anyone else, and regardless of all the drivel, vicious trolling and vacuous spam we receive, there is the power of immediacy. There is nothing quite like live poetry. During my time performing (and I hope I can resurrect that time) I had the pleasure to meet many talented individuals including luminaries such as Stewart Henderson, Steve Turner and the late great Larry Norman - all of whom I consider to be excellent poets leading lights in the poetry world. 

But I spend most of my time now online, either reading live or responding to discussions and comments on Facebook poetry groups such as Pure Poetry and two of my own groups Invisible Poets and Wheelsong Poetry Group. (Join us if you wish.) Some of the content posted is astoundingly good in quality, and I of course join in, sharing my own compositions. The beauty of these groups is that you can gain almost instant feedback on your work. It's often complementary, with an occasional comment about how it can be improved or extended. What would have taken days or even weeks back in the 80s and 90s now takes seconds, and can also be immediate through live chat and messenger systems. Oh how the world of performance poetry has changed!

Steve Wheeler, Plymouth, England