Poetry to be Heard

As I said yesterday, there are two kinds of poetry: that which is meant to be read and that which is meant to be heard. The two are so different from each other that they need to be discussed separately. So, that's what I'm doing.

Poetry that is meant to be heard is more akin to music than it is to the other form of poetry. However, it is still very distinct from music/lyrics (more on that tomorrow). This poetry should be experienced more than studied.

Spoken poetry (as I will now call it) is performance art by its nature. The key qualities are its sounds. The same things that you practice in all writing (ease of pronunciation, soft sounds for calm situations and hard sounds for emphasis, etc.) now become more important than ever. People won't just be hearing your work in their head as they read; they'll be hearing it in their ears as you speak it out loud. Writing must be entertaining and the most entertaining part will be the aural experience, so make sure it is top notch.

As I said earlier, this is poetry, not music. As such, it should still be treated as poetry. It should be dense. It should tell a story or show a scene. You just need to make sure that people will pay attention. Execution is always important and that includes the performing of the poetry. If you really want to make sure that people pay attention to the words and what they mean, you need to speak slowly enough for people to hear and to process them. You also need to force them to listen by using the tools of the trade (speed up, slow down, louder and softer, eye contact, etc.).

Of course, the natural fear of public speaking makes many people speak fast and either very loud or very quiet (usually very quiet). In that case, the best thing to do is get over your fears, but the next best thing to do is write poetry whose words matter less and whose sounds matter more.

That is the main difference between spoken and written poetry. Spoken poetry demands impeccable sounds and word choice but can let the meaning suffer for it. Written poetry demands impeccable meaning, but can let the musical qualities suffer to do so. Aside from that, they are remarkably similar (which is probably why they're both called poetry).