Wham! It's a Poetry Jam: Discovering Performance Poetry
FOREWORD I first met Sara Holbrook without knowing she was a poet We were at a conference She was a friend of a friend Jane Sara Sara Jane Pudding meet Alice And then I read her work Speaking of WHAM Her poems hit me up one side of the head and down the other Then a year or so later I heard her present her poems No no not present That s too tame a word Too weaselly too simple too small She does not speak a poem or say a poem or even perform a poem She sticks her hand down the poem's throat and pulls it inside out She makes you laugh cry feel She makes you want to hear that poem again from the inside out and from the outside in From the skinside inside from the inside outside We decided to work together She sent me a gazillion poems by actual count I had the pleasure of helping her choose which ones to include in this book Helping not demanding No one demands with Sara You make a few suggestions and
Wham Get out of the way So Pudding to Alice Show them all how to go down the rabbit hole of poetry I'll hold your coat I'll watch your moves I'll appreciate advocate congratulate imitate adulate And after a while I will take a deep breath and follow JANE YOLEN
INTRODUCATION WHAM Loud or quiet WHAM's a screaming laughing clapping word riot Don't tie poems to the page let them rage turn em loose Stomp clomp and growl then shake your caboose Be yourself Paul Revere a crazy Mad Hatter a sad Mudville batter A rat or a ratter Add a far out rhyme to a flapping
Zingo Bingo It’s sooner or lat ter a laughing matter Whether true or fictitious acting out poems is both gross and delicious It's OK to keep score to whisper or roar Shaking words off the page is never a bore Choose a poem of your own or by somebody else Your major opponent is always yourself Be a champ word sport don’t just sit on your hands Grab some poems and some friends WHAM it's a poetry
