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A school talent contest is coming up and I've been planning to do some performance poetry, but can't find any good examples to help me put together my own performance (I'm using my own poems) - does anyone have any suggestions/know of any websites?
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Puppylet, before I make any assumptions (!) please explain what performance poetry is.
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The kind I'm thinking of is a bit like a cross between a piece of stand-up comedy and a poetry reading - in that the poems are usually short, humorous and 'performed' (well, recited with a bit more feeling than one might get at some poetry readings). UKns may have heard similar things on BBC Radio3 and Radio4 such as The Heard and One Night Stanza.
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OK, I'm getting there. Help this old lady out a little more: would it be like spoken opera, say? Or like beat poetry?
(I bet Whitman, Wordwind or Fiberbabe will be able to help you...)
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You mean beat poetry as in stuff like rap, right? No, it's not like that, the poems are spoken - I'm not sure about spoken opera - wouldn't that be just like a play? I think stand-up comedy with poetry may be the best description for it, and it usually involves one person. (though occasionally you get more.)
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Beat poets preceded rappers by about two generations. But anyway, I have a grasp now on what you want and will be thinking on it while we wait for our resident experts to opine. 
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The first name that pops to my mind (such as it is) is Allan Ginsburg. http://homepage.svendborg-gym.dk/ot/AllanGinsburg/Dig around, you might find some sound files.
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maybe do a search for SLAM poetry. that's what that kind of event is known as, 'round here, anyways. a Poetry Slam. pretty fun, and can be very exciting.
formerly known as etaoin...
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In the secondary schools here in the US, this type of performance could be found in forensics, although from the description given here: http://www.seal-pa.org/admin/sasd/forensics/index.htmlit appears that the poetry section is simulated reading. At any rate, the Slam poetry competitions probably are most like what you have in mind. Thanks to Stone Circle, a daughter who excelled in forensics, and her friends who are Slam poets, this old(er) lady knows exactly what you have in mind! 
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Dear bonzaialsatian: here's the URl to a poem many a schoolboy had to recite a hundred years ago: http://endtimepilgrim.org/boystood.htmSo jmany in fact, that I first encountered it in a parody.
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Thanks everyone, and some really interesting links (I haven't had a chance to look through all of them yet). I've more-or-less managed to put a piece together and hopefully it'll go down well - it's going to be kind of in the style of John Hegley (not sure if any non-UKns have heard of him) Particular thanks for the tip on Slam Poetry.
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You know what is really funny, AnnaS? I KNEW immediately what you meant by "beat poetry".......prolly 'cause you and I are a bit older than our young friend bonzai! His age only affords him Rap as a point of reference, so that was his first thought, naturally.
This just amused me.......I love seeing evidence of generation gaps at hand. Not because of any riffs it may cause, but because it fascinates me to see how our points of reference stay the same, even as we age!
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So apart from the generation gap, what's the difference between beat poetry and rap poetry?
By the way, anyone heard of Benjamin Zephania? Would you call what he does rap poetry?
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In reply to:
Jessica Tandy and Hume Cronyn did performance poetry - really good -
~FF
...anything on video?
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...anything on video?
No idea. I saw them many years ago - before, I think, videos had become ubiquitous.
k
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Yes please, can anyone give a link to a comprehensive (insomuch 'comprehensive' as anything abt poetry/literature can be) link to beat poetry/literature? I've tried googling, but not found a satisfactory explanation (they're either too vague, or too abbreviated or both.)
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journeyman
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I'm just beginning to explore the first of those links... and it promises to be a treasure.
Many thanks, etaoin.
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