M M mmemory? Anyone.

[rogesgallery]

I am wondering if any of you have studied the book "The Page a Minute Memory Book"

There is no magic in learning. I understand this. There are in us all area's of the brain left dark and unused. I have always relied upon passion as the main inspiritor of memory. As I write more poetry though, I find it hard to remember this writing off hand. I have always been poor at forced memorization.

I am entering in a local 'Poetry Slam'. (Are there similar competitions in your area?) I understand that there is a national competition. The object is to present your poetry in the most interesting manner. For the life of me I can't quite keep a complete work in my mind well enough to Recite it without considerable pause', which seems to break up the flow.

Can anyone recommend a study or methodology that may help?

[slb2]

Try singing it. I can remember the lyrics to hundreds of songs. Even foreign lyrics, whether I know the language or not. Once you've mastered it in song, then try reciting it.

Do poetry slams require you to memorize your poem? Why do they call it a slam? Can you read serious stuff? I'm curious as all get-out about poetry slams, but I've never propelled myself to observe one.

If you do it, roges, report back. I might do one, too.

[liriodendron]

Could this "presentation in the most interesting manner" include props? Could these props include a cheat sheet that only you can see? For example, could you hold up a mirror and be contemplating your image while you "recite" your poem, when in reality, your poem is taped to your side of the mirror?

I assume a teleprompter is out of the question.

[Jane]

In a graduate English class I took a few years ago, the professor asked us to memorize two poems. I memorized "I Heard a Fly Buzz When I Died" by Emily Dickinson and "Pied Beauty" by Gerard Manley Hopkins. It was far and away the most challenging part of the class! I think that kind of memorization gets harder as one ages (don't know how old you are, Roges, but I'm ancient). It was easy when I was younger. Now, not so much.

Poetry Slam: I think it's sort of like a poetry reading but louder. Like the difference between a classical music concert and rock and roll.

[Tillie]

Yes, good point, Rog. I just realized when trying to remember a poem or song it's a good idea to use one of the actor's tools for remembering lines such as a movement or touch, like the chair one might sit upon, or mic or anything around you, look at a part of the room or someone in the audience at a particular point in the poem, use expression verbally and physically that fits in with your poem, and so on, as an actor would in remembering lines. Of course, rehearse-rehearse ahead of time until everything comes naturally and doesn't take away from your poems. Eventually as you wind down your rehearsals, subtlety would be key so that you don't take away from your poem. If a poem needs more than subtlety, turn the expressions up a tad to what fits with the line(s) of your poem!

I might add, this method makes remembering lines more interesting for the actor.



(modified to add last sentence)

[rogesgallery]

The rules state no props. The local guy who is running this has web space reserved but the site is not up yet. I have not emailed him to ask whether one can read rather than recite. Actually the format sounds as though it is a cross between theater and poetry recital- sans props. The last Slam which was at the caterina winery (the next one is there also) drew an audience of around one hundred people. There were write ups in both the local paper The Spokesman Rewiew (add .com to that and V'uela (sp?)) and the local news, arts and entertainment paper (actually a very good left leaning paper).

Serious or not presentation is going to be the key; here at least. One thing that was mentioned is that they would like to hear peices with a relationship to current culture.

Slam? Uh?... I Eh oh

[rogesgallery]

Thank you Till! That is a lot of good advise in a short paragraph. Now how am i going to remember the words... Oh yeah Practice prectice practise...Right? Just kiddin Thanks

[rogesgallery]

I've seen old footage of Frost. It seems to me that he was always reading rather than reciting his poetry.

[rogesgallery]

Emily sure had a fixation on death didn't she. Scary woman.

[rogesgallery]

AAAAAAAAy jane whadijasay? Yer braggin there a bit aren't you.

[rogesgallery]

I can hardly interpret the words of the songs I hear. Slb

[rogesgallery]

Teleprompter liriomdeario? With my luck the local news channel will have cameras there and I'll spit my upper plate out on the stage. Hey thats an Idea. How can I fit that into a poem...*

[slb2]

rogesgallery said:

I can hardly interpret the words of the songs I hear. Slb

Fabulous! You are listening to KFAI's streaming? www.kfai.org

btw, yes, Tillie had some fantastic hints.

My poetry mentor always made me swoon over his embracing voice and wonderful memory. He's about 15 years my senior so I was doubly impressed with his command of poetry: John Minczeski. He's got about five books of poetry out.

Head's up if Thomas is reading this! John' read on APHC twenty years ago, but bring him back. svp

[gailkate]

Jane and I suffered the same English lit education. I had a prof (mean old son of a witch) who made us memorize a big chunk of the Prologue to Canterbury Tales. Good grief, just making sense of it was hard enough.

Visualizing the words as I memorize helps. Words on a page sort of imprint for me. Other people - like slb - are more aural. Obviously the more rhyme and meter in your piece, the easier to get it down pat, so you might choose what you present with an eye to that.

I haven't acted since high school, so I don't remember my tricks. Of course, then you always have some context of other characters or the weight of events to keep you on track. The bigest thing to remember is that everyone forgets ;-) The very best of the best tell stories about going blank on a line or a lyric.

[doctork]

I had a communications coach who taught me that only 7% of your message is in what you say, while 93% is how you say it - body language, tone, clothing, facial expression, etc. After proving this to myself a couple of times, I took it to heart, and since then have worried much less about public speaking.

As long as the judge doesn't have a copy of your poem to grade you on how accurately you recite it, feel free to fill in impromptu if you forget a line. You can probably leave a line or even a stanza out entirely and no one would notice, unless you act flustered.

I sometimes memorise, or write on a card or my hand, a few key points or clue words that can serve as "cues."

Still, I have always been amazed by how Waddie Mitchell and other cowboy poets will recite for 10 -15 minutes with no (apparent) difficulty.

[doctork]

My high school chemistry teacher made us memorize chemical formulas to the tune of stupid little songs. Irritating but effective. Sing your poem, or at least memorize it that way.

[hartlikeawheel]

Tsk, tsk, roges. If you hadn't kept jumping off of cliffs you could still possibly be younger than Jane.

So the mind has cliffs of steep and deep. Hold them cheap may who ne'er hung there. Thanks GM Hopkins. Not sure yet now I've even got it right. Thanks, What's-yer-name.

Ah. But the cliff one hangs on when they speak in front of a group is the #1 fear of Americans.

Mnemonics. That's what your advisors are talking about. (Though I thought lirio's idea was slyly clever.) Got me through a lot of classes - not the mirror but the Every Good Boy Does Fine sort of stuff.

A check at Wikipedia offers several ways to use this trick of the mind which I hadn't thought of though others here did. It may be useful.

Some are most comfortable engaging their audiences with eye contact and others with finding that meaningless blank spot at the back of the room.

I would guess that cliff-jumpers would be more comfortable with the blank spot technique but unless your poems are about alienation it may not win many points.

Have you got your pacing and gangsta signs down?

Let us know how it goes? And bueno suerte. Wish I could be there.

And don't say mnemonics in front of anyone or they will think you are speaking Swahili.

[joew]

slb2 said:

Try singing it. I can remember the lyrics to hundreds of songs. …

Did you ever notice that "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" fits the tune of "The Wreck on the C&O," with repeats of a line of the melody where necessary to accommodate stanzas with extra lines? You can even throw in "Well" from time to time — e.g., start out singing, "Well it is an ancient mariner and he stoppeth one in three," doing "Well it" both on the first note. It is also fun to adopt a phony southern accent — "Wawter, wawter everwhar, and awl the boards did shrank, wawter wawter everwhar, nar inny drop to drank."

[Jane]

And "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" can be easily memorized to the tune of "Hernando's Hideaway."

[Tillie]

Rog, another thought in reciting your poetry, connect to your original emotions which brought forth the lines in your poetry.

[rogesgallery]

I have mulled over and seriously considered all of your wonderful ideas and in agonizing over that ages old-- nay, old as humankind itself, perhaps older if one is to; for ones own self esteem, consider man; an innocent soul, made foul and led astray by forces far far more powerful than he, not culpable for his actions-- question of honesty in the course of competitive endeavor (Yes, has not man already escaped the ‘Bonds’ of the limitations of his own physical capabilities in record, if not yet history.)

Could it be that the tiny spider-- older than man by far in familial genetics; no larger than the breadth of a #2 pencil lead-- which has just now popped onto the cuticle of my left index finger from between the keys on which I pound, would wish to point out the futility of my honesty in this endeavor.

I consider the spider and his message-- for message it must be if; in my palltry mental machinations, he does convey such-- as I watch him carefully time his dash back into the perilous world beneath my fingers. Will not other mindful muses bring their own conspiritorial cheerleaders to bolster their esteem and thus taint the judging? Would it not be contemporarily capitalistic to bend the ‘Bonds’ of classic competitive morés.

’Sharpies! Would not the notes of the poet; color coded and brightly so, be an inconspicuous prompteur if painted indelibly on the extremities in the manner of a slowly diminishing tatoo. Ahhh and will the audience notice the careful if conspicuous contortion of my glance... at the note... which ended on my left tricep?

[gailkate]

Will not other mindful muses bring their own conspiritorial cheerleaders to bolster their esteem and thus taint the judging? Would it not be contemporarily capitalistic to bend the ‘Bonds’ of classic competitive morés.
In other, far less elegant, words: "everybody does it."

slowly diminishing tattoo
Fiendish. Brilliant. It'll work.

[Tillie]

O'Spinner, Dear Spinner, Take a sip of mulled wine for your mind,
#2B, or not #2B: that is the quotion, quation, question!
Funny, sillie, Roguey!

[rogesgallery]

More info on poetry slam

Daniel Harrington of Spokane organizes monthly poetry slams and hopes to take a team to national competitions. (Dan Pelle The Spokesman-Review )

But at least one group is trying to change that – Spokane Poetry Slam.

Over the course of a few months, the collective of competitive poets has been making a name for itself locally by holding slams at venues around town.

The next one takes place Wednesday at Caterina Winery.

Spokane Poetry Slam has been drawing people to various venues for monthly slams since fall, and attendance has been steadily growing, but the group is still looking for more slammers to represent a Spokane team in regional and national competitions.

Daniel Harrington holds the title of slam master for Spokane Poetry Slam, but he said it's not as glamorous as it sounds.

"It has nothing to do with skill; it means I handle the paperwork," said Harrington, 23.

7 Web Extra: Join Isamu's blog at spokane7.com/soundwave


Harrington participated in competitive slams in Oregon before he moved to Spokane and helped launch Spokane Poetry Slam.

"Love the performance of it. Seeing a slam live is invigorating; I was instantly converted upon hearing it," he said.

"I tried the open mike scene here, and it wasn't working. The crowd wasn't as receptive as it could've been. … A lot of people don't know what slam poetry is.

"Once the crowd gets more knowledgeable about it, they start showing more love and that they are appreciating it."

Affiliated with Poetry Slam Inc. – a nonprofit organization that oversees an international coalition of poetry slams – Spokane Poetry Slam has been trying to decide on a team and individual to represent Spokane in regional and national competitions.

The general rules of slams are pretty straightforward.

There's not much in the way of censorship. Poets are generally allowed three minutes per round to recite original material. Costumes, props and musical instruments are not allowed.

The event organizer solicits volunteer judges from the audience to pick a winner. The most common subjects are sexuality, politics, diversity and race, according to Harrington.

[rogesgallery]

Didn't get all the juice I wanted heres the pulp

"It's about pro-action and pro-movement. We're concerned with the reality that is around us right now," he said.

The Spokane poetry slams are highlighted by featured touring poets and open-mike portions.

"Beyond getting people out of the woodwork and creating avenues for writers and poets to express themselves, we want to bring in out-of-town poets to the downtown evening scene," Harrington said. "We just want to send out the siren that we're looking for more storytellers and poets."

Express ya self at the Spokane Poetry Slam on Wednesday at Caterina Winery, 905 N. Washington St. Sign up at 6:30 p.m. Showtime is 7. Admission is $5.

The cash prize for first place is $40. Bring a coat or sleeping bag to donate to the House of Charity to knock a couple of bucks off the price of admission.

For more information, call [phone] or visit www.myspace.com/spslam.

[slb2]

Yeah, but I still am not clear about what EXACTLY the type of poetry is that is performed. I'm imagining stuff that sounds hip hop and jazzy and not at all what I write. Well, maybe The Bike Man.

[rogesgallery]

Sounds almost more theater than poetry doesn't it..

[slb2]

I guess I'll just have to go to one, do one, and let y'all know. Are you going, roges?

[rogesgallery]

I'm going to try Sue but I keep on forgetting to practice.

[Trusty]

Poetry Slam