I've written a few tirades. I usually bend or remove the bulk of the curse words so that the ones that remain are stark enough to retain emphasis. Just a couple weeks ago I posted an incredibly vitriolic poem called "Medusa, My Mother" on my blog. Got a bit of attention. I deleted it from the blog though, as I really don't want to be known for that. The best part was actually the Rubens painting I posted with it.

I hate slam. I'd sooner go to a rap concert . . . Though there's too often no discernable difference. I guess rage is too commonplace for me to appreciate it. I want to hear about how people SOLVE their problems, not listen to them wallow in them and deflect the blame on everyone but themselves. Best performance poem I recall offhand is a piece about smoking cessation by a Chicago poet named Cyn something. Lovely girl, too. Mark Smith did Sandberg's "Right to Grief" the one time I went to the Green Mill. That was powerful! Though I can't stand to listen to Sandberg read his own work. There are a lot of really great poetry recordings out there. That one Poetry Speaks, introduced by Osgood is my favorite. It's a toss up as to my favorite. Either Plath reading "Daddy" or Tolson's "Ex-Judge at the Bar". Robert Frost is entertaining. Dylan Thomas drives me nuts - sounds like Bela LaGossi reading. And Cummings reads too slow by far. Gwendollyn Brooks did a great job of reading poetry; I saw her the year before she died, and she was still a fiery, well-spoken little firecracker of a woman. Heard Billy Collins in Aurora back in 05 or so; he's very entertaining as well.

Overall, open-mics are great until you're far and away the best at the event. Then it's kind of like playing Trivial Pursuit with ten-year-olds. It is, however, the greatest practice I know for public speaking. You're off the hook after five minutes . . .

Nicholas said...
Over a decade ago, when I was a young man living in Phoenix, I competed in a few poetry slams. Here's one I'll never forget: there was this weekly slam at a coffeehouse that I attended for the first time. A young man was sort of the reigning champion for a few weeks running. He was a "goth-rebel" whose poems consisted of dropping lots of "f***" this and "f***" that, often directed at girls who had emotionally wounded him. The whole swaggering act struck me as a stereotypical, uncreative display that got high scores based solely on his ability to project angry passion. So, when I went up following him, I dropped the poem I was going to read and "composed" one on the spot that was a parody of his, delivering it in the same fashion. I de-throned him that night.

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