Performance Poetry New Languages and New Literary Circuits?

Cornelia Gräbner

erformance poetry in the Western world festival hall. A poem will be performed differently is a complex field—a diverse art form that if, for example, the poet knows the audience or has developed out of many different tradi- is familiar with their context. Finally, the use of Ptions. Even the term performance poetry can easily public spaces for the poetry performance makes a become misleading and, to some extent, creates strong case for poetry being a public affair. confusion. Anther term that is often applied to A third characteristic is the use of vernacu- such poetic practices is spoken-word poetry. At lars, dialects, and accents. Usually speech that is times, they are included in categories that have marked by any of the three situates the poet within a much wider scope: oral poetry, for example, or, a particular community. Oftentimes, these are in the Spanish-speaking world, polipoesía. In the marginalized communities. By using the accent in following pages, I shall stick with the term perfor- the performance, the poet reaffirms and encour- mance poetry and briefly outline some of its major ages the use of this accent and therefore, of the characteristics. group that uses it. One of the most obvious features of perfor- Finally, performance poems use elements that mance poetry is the poet’s presence on the site of appeal to the oral and the aural, and not exclu- the performance. It is controversial because the sively to the visual. This includes music, rhythm, poet, by enunciating his poem before the very recordings or imitations of nonverbal sounds, eyes of his audience, claims authorship and takes smells, and other perceptions of the senses, often- responsibility for it. Some critics experience this as times performed simultaneously with other ele- disempowering for the audience, an argument that ments of signification. In order to account for is frequently made by taking recourse to theories the simultaneity of the performance of different of the “death of the reader” (Barthes). Other critics elements of signification, I will use the terms sonic and audiences experience the poet’s presence as layering and layers of signification. empowering. They argue that the personal pres- The latter two elements have been particu- ence explodes the traditional conception of the larly useful for performances that integrate the poet as being above his community; he is now a sounds and languages of different cultures and member of it, and his authority can be addressed, of different places, or for performances in urban questioned, and redefined (Keane). settings in which several things take place at the Another important characteristic of the poetry same time. Conversely, one can say that the per- performance is the importance of the site of the formance of poetry has been developed in such performance. A community center will encourage contexts because traditional poetic language was a different dynamic between poet and audience considered to be inappropriate for the representa- than a theater, or a political rally, or a school, or a tion or performance of life in multicultural urban settings.

 A much earlier, slightly different definition of these characteristics can be found in Beasley, “Vive la différance!”

January – February 2008 performance poetry

A Lack of Language Poets like Gil Scott Heron or The Last Poets, If I rephrase the last sentence of the above section among others, developed their poetics out of such I might say that those who lived in marginalized, an impetus. Such poems as Scott Heron’s “The multicultural urban communities found them- Revolution will not be televised” or “Whitey on selves without a language. At the same time, a lack the Moon” intend to make listeners aware of their of language actually encourages reflection on lan- social and political situation, and persuade and guage. Why does the language we have at our pro- convince them of the necessity of revolutionary posal not correspond with our experience? Who change. The rhythms of their poems reaffirm these introduced this language? How can we develop convictions: they are pronounced and captivat- an alternative? Such questions are conducive to ing but repetitive, thus giving space to the words the writing of poetry as an experimentation of and while at the same time maintaining the fast speed inquiry into language as it is and into its possibili- of the recital. In live performance, the repetitive- ties. In this section I want to briefly address two ness of the rhythm allows for improvisation and such projects from the United States. The first is possible interjections from the audience, which the the Black Arts Movement. The second is the work percussionist could incorporate easily, then lead- of the Nuyorican poet Willie Perdomo. ing back to the rhythm of the poem. The emphasis In the words of Amiri Baraka, the Black Arts on the voice encourages the listener to focus on Movement was looking to enable the expression the voice’s tone, intonation, inflection, timbre and of experiences of African Americans, which could tonality. not be expressed through the language available at The influence of the likes of Baraka, Scott the time. Baraka writes: Heron and The Last Poets is clearly noticeable in much of contemporary performance poetry. What We had evolved through our practice a has changed, however, is the quest. The poetry growing rationale for what we felt and of Willie Perdomo is a case in point. Perdomo, did. We wanted Black Art. We felt it who grew up in Spanish Harlem, writes about the could move our people, the Afro Ameri- young men who live in this neighborhood. While can people, to revolutionary positions. he searches for and develops a language that cor- . . . We wanted Black Art that was (1) responds with their experience, he does not seem Identifiably Afro American. As Black as to share a belief in the social and political efficacy Bessie Smith or Billie Holiday or Duke of language and art that was so characteristic of Ellington or John Coltrane. That is, we the sympathizers and adherents of the Black Arts wanted it to express our lives and his- Movement. Personal expression is disconnected tory, our needs and desires. Our will and from concrete political, cultural or social demands, our passion. Our self determination, self and precisely because of this disconnection, poetry respect and self defense. (2) We wanted seems to offer some respite and consolation from a it to be a Mass Art. . . . We wanted a mass difficult situation. popular art, distinct from the tedious I do not mean to judge this perception. Rath- abstractions our oppressors and their er, I point it out as an important development that negroes bamboozled the “few” as Art. especially theorists, cultural analysts, and literary (502) scholars should pay close attention to. My obser- vation also demonstrates the responsiveness of performance poetry to the social and the political spheres, and its expressiveness of the impact (or lack thereof) that art has on the social and political  For a more detailed analysis of poetry recitals in the Black Arts Movement, see Thomas, “Neon Griot.” spheres.

World Literature Today online Alternative Literary Values, form that is accepted into a literary circuit can only Alternative Literary Circuits? with difficulty call for the radical reconsideration I want to look at this development from a different of the norms and values of this circuit. analytical angle. In the previous section I focused What I have just said is applicable to the on performed poems as texts. Now I briefly want Anglo-Saxon world and to parts of Europe. In to turn to the context in which these poems are other parts of the world, performance poetry is performed: the literary circuits of performance taking a different turn. One example is the Mexi- poetry. can Internet-based collective publishing site La When performance poetry started to become Tortillería. The site works with creative commons popular in the 1960s and 1970s, performances licenses. This means that all members of the site mainly took place in cafés or other small, alterna- can download, print and record the work of any tive venues. At the time most publishing houses other member into the booklets that are made would not have published an art form that was available on the site. They do have to acknowledge often times considered scandalous or simply not the author. art. Also, poets felt connected to communities The creators of La Tortillería pursue their that did not have large, well-established venues own cultural politics with the project. They out- or publishing houses at their disposal. Finally, a line them in the programmatic part of the page, poem that mobilizes different layers of significa- entitled “Why can your mom publish in La Torti- tion simultaneously cannot be contained by the llería?” In this text they differentiate between pro- page, especially not if music and other sonic ele- fessional and amateur literature, and clearly align ments are involved. As performance poetry has themselves with the latter: become more accepted, this situation is slowly changing. Accidental or amateur literature does not Poetry slams have played an important role need many copies, but many titles. It is in creating venues for performance poetry, mainly not concerned with the best work getting in bars and clubs, and sometimes in community to the people, but it wants many works to centers. In recent years more traditional venues exist, works that reach a small public, for like universities, literary festivals, small theaters, which the work is of great value. Also, and small concert halls have opened up to poetry since the work is available, the possibility performances. Some publishing companies have exists that some works might be selected started to publish performance poets. Some of and professionalized. (www.tortilleria. them recognize the importance of the sonic ele- vientos.info) ment of the poetry performance and are publish- ing books that are accompanied by CDs. Also, a The editors of La Tortillería see the Internet as few publishing companies and record labels have the ideal tool to cope with the mass of the “many been funded with the aim to publish performance works”: poetry. These developments have opened up more For this reason, Tortillería Publishing spaces for poetry performers. Therefore, it has since its very beginnings has used a large become somewhat easier at least for some of them part of its resources for the development to live off of and concentrate on their art. How- of technologies that allow to turn “the ever, the introduction of performance poetry into said into the done,” that is to say, vir- the traditional literary circuits also threatens to tual reality into “real reality,” electronic take the edge off some of its more controversial publications into books. (www.tortilleria. performances and more radical demands; an art vientos.info)

January – February 2008 performance poetry

The makers of La Tortillería conceive of the this very brief essay I have been able to illuminate Internet as a way to make works of nonprofessional some issues that are controversial at this moment literature available to the wider public. Important- in time, or that might become controversial, and ly, the Internet does not have any effects by itself: that I have given readers some incentives to listen people have to use it. In the case of La Tortillería, to—and to interact with—poetry on the different the editors do this by developing software, the aim levels of engagement that the art form solicits and of which is the transcendence of virtual reality. inspires. This is an important point because it contradicts analytical approaches that argue that the Internet Lancaster University by itself has a subversive character. La Tortillería do not replace “real” reality with virtual reality; works cited rather, they encourage their members to make use Baraka, Amiri. “The Black Arts Movement.” In The of the possibilities of digital media and technology LeRoi Jones / Amiri Baraka Reader. Ed. William in order to impact on the “real” reality. J. Harris. New York: Thunder’s Mouth Press, La Tortillería explore the potential of the Inter- 2000. 495–505. net for the creation of an alternative, not-for-profit Barthes, Roland. Image, Music, Text. London: Fon- and anticapitalist “publishing industry.” The per- tana Press, 1977. formance of poetry in this case does not only cre- Beasley, Paul. “Vive la différance!” Critical Inquiry ate texts in which power relations are renegotiated 38:4 (1996), 28–38. and new expressions are to be found. Performance Keane, Jayne Fenton. “Poetry Beyond the Page: poetry is in this case linked up with the construc- A Stroll through Noticing.” Philament, August tion of an alternative literary circuit. The question 2004 (4), www.arts.usyd.edu.au/publications/ that still remains to be answered is what will hap- philament. pen if “some works might be selected and profes- Thomas, Lorenzo. “Neon Griot: The Functional sionalized.” Role of Poetry Readings in the Black Arts Move- ment.” In Close Listening: Poetry and the Performed Conclusion Word. Ed. Charles Bernstein. New York: Oxford Performance poetry is a rich and complex art University Press, 1998. 300–323. form, precisely because many of its creators have always positioned themselves at the intersection Cornelia Gräbner teaches in the Depart- of social, political, and literary spheres. The art ment of European Languages & Cultures form is also at a crossroads, possibly because the at Lancaster University. Her research inter- concepts of the political and of identity that perfor- ests include performance poetry (polipoesía), mance poets used to rely on have changed in such cultural production and globalization, and a dramatic way since the early 1990s. I hope that in urban culture.

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