Wham! It's a Poetry Jam: Discovering Performance Poetry
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
He ey you poetry jammer Yes I mean YOU Let me show you some poems that beg you to come out and play with them some rappin tappin finger snappin rhymes for you to perform In a performance poetry jam part of the fun is finding the power of your own voice Part of it is competition Part of it is acting seriously goofy Part of it is never knowing what will happen next But I promise you one thing a poetry jam is never boring Follow me from seat symphonies to solo performances and soon you will want to perform poems you've written yourself And so will your friends And so will your class And that's when WHAM you'll be ready to jam with poetry Make your poetry jump and jive Say it Move it Come alive Follow
Do not commit your poems to pages alone Sing them I pray you Virgil Who in the name of holey sweat socks is Virgil He's a Roman poet who performed his poems to audiences more than two thousand years ago And folks are still talking about him That's some kind of poet
