Recently, I facilitated the WordShop at the Bowery Poetry Club in NYC, and I posited this question.

Topic: What does it mean to be famous in poetry, poetry slam, and spoken word?

Write about what you think of fame in these genres of art.

• Who is truly famous in these areas?
• How does one achieve fame in these areas?
• What are the benefits and detriments to being a famous poet?

Hi all --

Anyone out there interested in posing a question for us to talk about?

Here's one to get us started: I'm getting ready for a short tour in April. Trucking along with me is a musician who's never done anything like this before, and I've never traveled with a road partner on a solo tour like this.

Anyone with advice for the two person, one poet tour?

(PS: I'm really just doing this to get things started again -- so if anyone's got a better question, dive in!)

A Story

A new friend told me a story that got me thinking about performance poetry, and people making a living from it.

When he heard that I was a slammer, he sounded knowledgeable on it. It turned out he had been to one open mic and one slam (though didn't know enough to know the difference... lol).

I told him I was impressed because most friends don't go to slams unless I drag them, and asked if he was dragged. So he told me the story of how he was introduced to this.


He was at some festival fundraiser, where there were talents of many different mediums, and he described how a very cute brunette with a lot of energy got up on stage (who happens to be a big local slam star) and did this thing.... he had no idea what she was doing. He explained the feeling when he realized that it rhymed, sorta, and it suddenly dawned on him that she was doing a poem. He thought it was pretty neat, and spurned by the coolness factor and how cute she was, asked her where he could hear more.


A Challenge

I think one of the challenges that touring poets face is that mostly we do poetry for other poets, because it's poets who know it and get it. And their friends, because likely the friends have been dragged out some time and then decide that they like it and will keep coming back. Like Mike described in the first post, it's hard to get audience out to these things. There needs to be a lot of marketing, more so than when we feature at a poetry show.

Like, if he were a musician coming to town, the buzz would be greater, or people would just think, cool, music, and it's free. I should go.

So part of the challenge is educating people on what we do.

So far mostly their sources of information are the movies "8 Mile" and "So I Married An Axe Murderer" (I won't tell you how many times I've been asked if what I do is like those movies, *especially* the latter :P ) and in the U.S. you've got Def Poetry Jam on TV. (We should totally have something like that in Canada. But I digress.)


A Question

For the touring poets who want to feature at spots outside of poetry shows, where people may not know what performance poetry is, how can they educate audiences within the marketing? (Short of having a budget to create a film. :P ) Or should they even need to?

When I first started competing in poetry slams and open mics, I would ask the rare touring poet what it was like to make a living on the road and their response fit somewhere in the range of, "I wouldn't know, I'm on a two week vacation from work." Things have changed quite a bit since then, but so have the venues, events and poetry slams that these performers frequent and depend on for touring.

However, my issue also falls into the realm of excess. I truly despise excess in most forms. I am well aware that being overweight is a result of excess, which is the one aspect of fatness that has always bothered me. I am working on it as I go.

I've been touring for three and half years, and lately I've been performing at colleges and the turnout has been low. For a college to pay a performer well and then not promote their purchase is excessive. It doesn't compare in any way to $400 shoes, $1000 purses/handbags, and especially, and very specifically Hummer/SUV limousines, but the lack of students in attendance does not fall into the lack of interest -- the kids have shown me this -- it is a lack of awareness. The shows are free to the students, and usually anyone walking by the venue, so the issue seems to rest in the hands of those in charge of the events in the first place, and the amount of people involved and aware in putting on the show is either too many or not enough.

I don't think poets should have lofty goals of being paid millions for a performance of a three minute poem. We have to consider what we're doing logically. We have to ask the questions, no matter how ugly or blunt:

• Does the performance of poetry make a discernable impact in the lives of the audience?
• Does performance poetry deserve a regional, national or international audience?
• Does performance poetry deserve to be featured regularly on television? If so, which poets should be on television on a semi-regular or regular basis and why?
• Can performance poetry succeed in broadcasting (radio, satelite, internet)?
• Is performance poetry marketable? Can it become an industry, or succumb to one?
• Can a poet make a gold or platinum record? Does a poet need too?
• Can a poet make the Billboard charts without music backing the track?
• Can a poet become an overnight sensation through Myspace, email, or other online service?
• Can a poet become a household name within their lifetime?
• Can a poet make notable history?
• Does society need performance poetry?
  

This is a lot to ask and answer, but I feel like my craft is one that deserves to be seen and heard. This calls for others to be doing the same thing I am so that a standard is set. (EDIT: Not exactly what I'm doing, but similar, because I feel I'm doing something right) But the WWWWW&H to get that standard going are huge questions, issues and responsibilities.

Feel free to add your own questions and answers. Give us your story: Are you in any way making a living “talking” or writing? If not, what do you hope to achieve in your lifetime and what are you doing to achieve this?

EDIT: Welcome. This is an open forum, so be open. Post your shit.
EDIT: PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE be sure to quote the line(s) you're responding to. Without doing so can make for very difficult reading.

Thanks to Mike for starting it!