Poetry Slam Rehearsal; Poetry Chapbook Project Workshop & Revision

Rehearsal & Rewriting Workshops

Today, please complete both of the following tasks:

#1. Please get together with your performance slam group and rehearse your slam poem. We will perform these poems FROM MEMORY next class

• each member of your group MUST speak/participate for full credit on this assignment

• poems should have gestures/physical movements (blocking) that enhance the poem

• poems must be memorized

See the rubric for more details about how you will be graded on this performance next week.  Please use period 4 to prepare and rehearse your original group slam poem. See previous posts for details. If you stop rehearsing, please work on the task #2.

#2. 
1. Check your portfolio and google drive for comments by me. Each of you should have a shared folder with copies of each others work in your google drive. The shared file is color coded by your assigned group. 

Group A (RED): Makenna, Emma, Zachariah, Keniah, Seyena 

Group B (ORANGE): Valerie, Melinda, Liz, Lesana, Farhan 

Group C (GREEN): Madison, Michelle, Degraj, Aalaysia, Tia  

Group D (BLUE): Tali, Jonaya, A'layze, Wesley, Bisharo, Amir 

2. Revise your poem drafts (again).
3. Read and follow this general advice about poetry:

• The best poems are life-affirming. While it's sad you are suffering, poetry is about human life, nature, love, and, yes, at times death--but that's not so depressing. Everything will die. It's what life is all about. Cheer up a little. A poem does not have to be something that happened to you. You do not need to be the subject of your poem. You can make characters and situations up and write about subject matter that readers can relate to.

• Abstraction does not make sense. Poetry is very visual. It relies on the poet being able to clearing describe a single moment or common relatable scene in a unique way (usually through comparison--simile, metaphor, symbol,--or imagery). If you can't see, hear, taste, touch, smell or interact with it, it's probably abstract. Love, life, death, and nature are abstract ideas. An awkward first kiss, holding a newborn baby in your arms for the first time, remembering the time your grandfather took you for ice cream and how you dropped it in the sand, the first time you touched the muzzle of a horse or the first time you went sledding are specific human events that are relatable.

• Ask yourself: is my scene or topic relatable to others (not just me)? Am I too abstract or vague? If so, I'll need to fix my poem.

• Ask yourself: Can I be more specific with my word choice? 

• Ask yourself: Have I already made my point? [there is no word limit for a poem, but it shouldn't be longer than it needs to be...everyone gets credit whether you write a short poem or a long one.] If so, cut.

• Ask yourself: Is my poem focused, or do I not really know what I'm writing about? If your poem is "all over the place" you need to focus on one scene or moment. Again, you don't get points for being long and wordy.

• Make sure you proofread and punctuate your poems correctly. 

• Each poem should have a title. If you don't have a title, use the first line of your poem as the title, or write: "Untitled" (and now it's titled!)

• Read the poems from your peers. Add comments to their drafts. You will get points for each poem you spend commenting and giving feedback on for your peer group.

• Identify lines you like in your peers' poem drafts. Comment about what you like about them.

• Try to suggest (kindly) ways to improve the poem. Remember: poems should follow the advice from above (and from what we've been discussing in class!), but art is, well, art.

• Try to help the poet correct grammar errors, misspellings, sentence fragments, punctuation, etc.

• Poets realize that you don't have to take everyone's advice. As the artist, you decide what is best for your poem. However, try to be open-minded about change or improving your work.

HOMEWORK: Complete your revisions and give feedback to your peers in your assigned peer group for this project. Memorize your slam poem. Performances are likely to start Thursday--be ready!