Read on Twitter
Great discussion beginning at the @ApplesAndSnakes Gathering for Women in Spoken Word and Performance Poetry.
I'll try to tweet out some ideas & highlights...
I'll try to tweet out some ideas & highlights...
@ZenaEdwards: audiences often look to performance poets as therapists, as social commentators, as speakers for the unheard. This can be particularly true for female poets.
(100% agree!)
(100% agree!)
. @ZenaEdwards shared an incident in which a white male poet told her she wasn’t a real poet because she incorporates singing into her practice. We’re discussing what grounds such comments and why some people feel it’s OK to say that.
That comment is deeply ignorant of cultural traditions outside of page-bound work in (many) white Western cultures. Obviously there are so many cultures where the two go hand in hand - where even ‘poetry’ and ‘song’ are the same word!
We're now discussing imposter syndrome in female performance poets.
When @IAmLoudPro started putting on slams, ppl told us ‘oh, you won’t get women signing up, they’re not confident or competitive enough.’ Happily our slam sign-ups have continually proven that wrong…
When @IAmLoudPro started putting on slams, ppl told us ‘oh, you won’t get women signing up, they’re not confident or competitive enough.’ Happily our slam sign-ups have continually proven that wrong…
Wonderful memory from @Thegirldreams: ‘when I started writing I just woke up with a poem in my mouth’
Khadija Ibrahiim is sharing how important her grandmother was in her life. She emphasised the centrality of education and the need to earn respect.
We're discussing how pivotal it can be to have strong, supportive women behind us, around us, encouraging us.
We're discussing how pivotal it can be to have strong, supportive women behind us, around us, encouraging us.
Khadija Ibrahiim discusses 'My Body is a Protest for Change':
'Protest is not just about how loud you can hear my voice. It's also about that space between the sound and silence, where that silence becomes so powerful.'
'Protest is not just about how loud you can hear my voice. It's also about that space between the sound and silence, where that silence becomes so powerful.'
The amazing @katefoxwriter has brought an octopus candle holder as a provocation!
'Octopuses are an out-of-place creature. We performance poets are out of place or marginalised and yet I found my community.'
'Octopuses are an out-of-place creature. We performance poets are out of place or marginalised and yet I found my community.'
Thorny, important questions from @katefoxwriter:
'Where can performance poetry and spoken word take us?
Poetry’s always been really good at collective trauma. But it’s been taking us into advertising, the establishment. Its tentacles are spreading. Are we happy to go there?'
'Where can performance poetry and spoken word take us?
Poetry’s always been really good at collective trauma. But it’s been taking us into advertising, the establishment. Its tentacles are spreading. Are we happy to go there?'
. @JTaylorTrash offers some powerful testimony on these questions:
'We [the spoken word scene] are learning another man’s language. Another colonisation is taking place. But we can’t fully go mainstream. Elements will always be taken out, elevated - parts will go mainstream ...
'We [the spoken word scene] are learning another man’s language. Another colonisation is taking place. But we can’t fully go mainstream. Elements will always be taken out, elevated - parts will go mainstream ...
. @JTaylorTrash cont'd:
'... but the live scene requires us to be off piste, to always not get it right, to be imperfect, to be human, to connect. Because there's another thing that happens beyond the poem, beyond the listening, and that's what that energy creates in that room.'
'... but the live scene requires us to be off piste, to always not get it right, to be imperfect, to be human, to connect. Because there's another thing that happens beyond the poem, beyond the listening, and that's what that energy creates in that room.'
The conversation is SO GOOD I've been sucked in and paused live-tweeting for a bit - will update this thread afterwards!
