get the lead out, it’s noting really: poetry readings

by Christine Swint

One of the benefits to living in a big city is that we have an active poetry scene. And thanks to Collin Kelley, who is a board member of Poetry Atlanta, I am able to find out about all the readings in my area.

In addition to the pure enjoyment of listening to poets read their words as they intended them to sound, I also use poetry readings as a learning experience — a way to become a better poet.

Keeping a notebook handy is a must for me. I jot down memorable quotes the different poets share, or ideas for future poems sparked from listening. When Cherryl Floyd-Miller recently read from her latest collection, Exquisite Heats (Salt Publishing, 2008), she read her poem “Darfur.” Floyd-Miller explained to the audience that it was a bop whose refrain was inspired by the song “History,” by Julia Biel.

As soon as I got home I looked up the bop, and found out from Poets.org that it’s a relatively new form, devised by poet Aafa Michael Weaver, at the summer gathering of Cave Canem.

You can read how to write a bop on the Poets.org website. They have a few examples of some wonderful poems that might inspire you. Although it’s a somewhat loose form that varies from poem to poem, what each one has in common is a refrain that’s repeated three times.

In Floyd-Miller’s poem “Darfur,” she begins with an epigraph from the song “History,” and then includes six lines, followed with a two-line refrain. She then has a second stanza of eight lines that expands on the ideas set forth in the first section of the poem, with the refrain slightly altered. The poem is then concluded with six more lines, and a third refrain, again altered.

Floyd-Miller shared several other forms with us during the reading. She said that although she feels it is important for her to know the forms of the past, she also enjoys breaking the rules to allow her own poetic voice to come through. This is a concept I love to hear, because it gives me great pleasure to write in form, but in my own way.

We’d love to hear some memorable quotes or ideas you’ve learned from poetry readings in your area. Have you discovered new poets by attending open mic night at your local poetry gathering spot? Have you attended a workshop that taught you some new aspects of craft? Let us know in the comments section below.