ALL THE WORLD’S A (POETRY) STAGE: An article by Christina Patterson in the 12/29/05 The Independent (online edition) carries the headline "How poetry is losing its elitist image." Patterson contends that public slams and jams, a country-wide poetry read-off (with a prize of 10,000 pounds), and interactive web sites are making poetry more accessible. While the article focuses on England, it reflects U.S. trends. Patterson writes some great lines about the “long-standing distinction between poetry in performance and performance poetry.” She continues: “For many poets, the very word performance conjures up chilling images of being forced to prance about a stage while some grim-faced Arts Council lackey sits ticking boxes about access and making literature groovy. The words performance poetry are even worse. That's for the ranters, the hipsters who roar their rhyming rubbish or deliver it Jack Dee deadpan, in a desperate attempt to bridge the (usually rather large) gap between poetry and stand-up. Page poets, as the performance crowd dub them, prefer to call it a reading. Performance poets think readings are for the bearded, be-corduroyed, bespectacled crowd who shamble on stage and then mumble into their beer.” A note to Ms. Patterson: I, for one, resent the term “grim-faced Arts Council lackey.” At poetry inquisitions, I always wear a Cheshire grin.
