AudioBoo: My First AudioBoo and Introducing #SpokenSunday

People might have seen around the web lately the new publishing technology, AudioBoo which is essentially a simple form of podcasting. It was a bit weird recording my voice for the first time but I think voice is an underrated tool of the writer. You can use tone and emphasis in a completely new way.

Today I launched a new Twitter meme #SpokenSunday which is spoken word and readings via AudioBoo on a Sunday, and ideally, people are going to read their #FridayFlash pieces. I launched the blog – spokensunday.wordpress.com – this afternoon and interest so far has been good.

http://boos.audioboo.fm/swf/fullsize_player.swf

Performance Poetry: The embarrassing cousin of literature?

In the past couple of months I’ve performed on the open mic at the Brunswick Hotel three times as part of Passionate Tongues Poetry and really enjoyed it. It’s become a regular thing and I can’t see myself stopping open mic poetry for a while at least and I’ve quickly incorporated it into my repertoire of writing.

But the thing is, there’s this niggling feeling that the medium is less respected, seen as the embarrassing cousin of other writing. And at the Emerging Writers’ Festival, two poets spoke disparagingly of the Australian poetry scene in general which got me thinking.

Photo taken by Michael Reynolds

The act of getting up and performing your poetry has fulfilled a lot of desires I’ve wanted with writing, it’s an outlet for expression that I’ve never gotten out of prose or even just writing poetry on paper. I enjoy yelling in the microphone and getting angry, and adding other tone to the words that you can’t do on the page.

It’s also fulfilled something I was looking for when I compared myself to my friend’s in emerging bands last year. They had these little pub gigs they could go to, get their friends along to support them, and now that act of performing in front of people and being engaged with your audience rather than disconnected from your reader adds an element I’ve really been looking for.

I don’t know too much about the poetry scene in Australia, where it sits in terms of respectability and talent and all of that. The only thing I can really say is I’ve gotten the impression that it isn’t one of the most respected mediums, particularly performance poetry – and perhaps that it is deserving of much more credit.

I mean, open mics aren’t the best judge of quality of any scene, but I’ve heard some great stuff, it’s even prompted me to write more in order to have something to perform, and encouraged me to dig into the poetry sections of the journals I’ve collected mainly for the short fiction.

So I guess my concerns might sound slightly egotistical, but if poetry isn’t given the credit and attention it deserves, is it still worth doing it? Am I better off focussing on something I’m going to get the credit I deserve? If it is worth pushing on with, what are the prospects that the Australian poetry scene is going to pick up?

Blurring the lines between prose and poetry

Since reading at the Passionate Tongues open mic night last Monday, and writing pieces like Chasing Cages, I’ve been thinking about the blurring lines that can exist between prose and poetry.

I think a lot of my pieces can resemble both and I will probably try reading Chasing Cages at an open mic night in the future, even if it is flash fiction.

I’m finding myself writing with a thought to how things might sound aloud, how they’ll flow together and how phrases will compliment each other with beats and rhymes and rhythms. In some senses is can be harder to pull off, but some of the lines I’ve written lately really seem to pack a punch because of this focus.

Though a weak point I find with poetry-like prose is that it can be vaguer, alluding to images and distant events which miss the more mechanical details like names as well as not spelling everything out. Though this could also be a strength if done right.

Does anyone else do this, blur the lines between prose and poetry?

My Open Mic Debut

Last night, with the encouragement of a comrade and a fellow collaborator in The Red Pen zine, Santo Cazzati, I got behind the mic for my debut spoken word performance at an open mic night. And it confirmed one of my fears – that I would enjoy it so much I’d want to do it again.

Every second Monday or so, The Brunswick Hotel hosts a poetry night called Passionate Tongues where budding poets use the open mic as a chance to perform alongside two feature poets.

After confirming via Twitter that performing a poem wouldn’t make it void from submitting to all those markets that only accept unpublished work, I decided to perform my poem The Homophobe because I think there’s some biting lines in there that would work better out of my mouth instead of off the page.

I was a little nervous but after a few glasses of red and seeing that the crowd was friendly and encouraging, my nerves eased and getting up on stage seemed fine. I think I did pretty well and received a good reception.

Santo described it as a “Fabulous, forceful, ferocious debut.”

I think I will definitely do this again.

Day 246, 365 Day Challenge