Wham! It's a Poetry Jam: Discovering Performance 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
TWIST AND SHOUTGET YOUR POETRY OUT Toot Your Own Horn Tune up your voice instrument with the poem below Notice it has a repeating line also known as a refrain and can be performed right from the safety of your desk Hang onto your hats and eyeballs the ride's about to begin Choose one two or eight jammers to read the verses of this poem and have the entire class jam on the refrain Don't hold back now Let's hear you loud and clear DOG DAZE You think the sun spots are more bright The leashes are less tight Over the fence and down the
You think there's not a single chore That nothing is a bore Over the fence and down the street I'm tired of my backyard I'm two paws up and thinking hard Adventure sure smells sweet Over the fence and down the street You call that loud Let's try it
