Poetry 247 gives local artist; whether they're poets, singers, rappers, or comedians, information of all the local open mic events that are around them, while also giving them the opportunity to display their art and perfect their craft in front of a live audience. What's interesting about Poetry 247 is that they've promoted a plethora of open mics throughout the tristate area & in the DMV, such as Pecola Breedlove & The Freedom Party, Jus' Words, Busboys and Poets, Sounds In A Gallery, & Urban Juke Joint, but it never had an open mic event that was created by Poetry 247 themselves. But that all changed Friday, 3/4, when the first ever "The Poetry 247 Open Mic" was presented to the city of Brotherly Love at The Irish Pol located at 114 Market St, Philadelphia, PA.
I have been to plenty of open mics
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in Philadelphia, some good, some bad, & some that were average (which is probably the worst.) What I noticed about all good open mic is that they had one thing in common, a good host. A host has the power to control the vibe of the event. A good host knows to make the crowd & artist feel comfortable by being themselves, showing them that this is a place where they can do the same as well. And that is exactly what host KP Ultra, co founder of Poetry 247, did. KP Ultra was able to gain the trust of the crowd simply by making a couple of jokes, sharing some food for thought, & even having the entire crowd sing, "If You're Happy & You Know It." By not being afraid to be vulnerable to opinion, KP Ultra was able to have the audience open which allowed them to engage with all of the artists which helped the artist feel comfortable on stage, and give the crowd the best performance they could. One of those performances came from the first poet of the night Lindo Yes, who's poetic presentation could be described as a captivating one man show.
Sometimes a very theatrical poet can distract an audience with their physical movement on stage from what is actually being said on stage. But Lindo Yes did a great job of avoiding that issue when performing his piece "Cupid is a G." He was able to make every action, & the tone of his voice to match the emotions of the lines in his poem. It was as if we were watching a man relive a traumatic moment of his life, reminiscing over the first time he had his heart broken.
Another great act to watch was singer/songwriter Justin Graham. With the help of "Maxine," (his guitar), his voice, & poetic lyrics, Justin Graham was able to capture the audience's attention & entertain them with original love songs such as "More Than Butterflies." Lines like,"It's that type of love that gives you more than butterflies, changes how you're viewing every aspect of your life," Justin shows the beauty of being in love not just because of the feeling of infatuation, but also how it can help you grow as person, changing your life for the
better. One of the features for the "Poetry 247 Open Mic" was New Jersey native Dookie Brown, a microphone controller who brings a high level of enthusiasm and confidence every time he gets on stage. I noticed though that what drew the crowd to Brown was the passion he displayed during his performance. The combination of his lyrics & the tone of his voice made the audience root for him as if he was their hometown hero. A line such as "You ever feel like you the best player but you got a bad coach?", made you see him as a man with so much talent who is patiently waiting for his chance to show his worth to the world. The last feature of the night was the lovely Britta Floyd, a young poet with a ton of soul in her writing. What was interesting about Britta was the pictures she painted with her literature, as if the audience was able to see what she was thinking when she wrote a particular piece. For instance lines like "We have the eyes of Brutus, with so much passion that fruit becomes sweeter when we bite it," gives us an image of a couple enjoying one of the high moments of love. Then there were pieces were Britta opened up and fearlessly showed the audience some of her insecurities. Britta thrilled the audience with her colorful poetic portraits of her imperfections.
As depicted in the poem "Kicking the Habit", The role of the English language in the life of the writer, Lawson Fusao Inada, is heavily inherent. As articulated between the lines 4 and 9, English is not just solely a linguistic device to the author, but heightened to a point where he considers it rather as a paradigm or state of mind. To the author, English is the most commonly trodden path when it comes to being human, it represents conformity, mutual assurance and understanding within the population. Something of which he admits to doing before pulling off the highway road.
In the poem Juggler, Richard Wilbur conveys the routine of a talented entertainer through figurative and imagery, which reveals how the speaker is completely delighted by the act. This poem, while portraying the juggler in colorful hues and the performance to be one full of action, allows the reader to view the captivation the speaker gains from observing the avid
Kim Addonizio’s “First Poem for You” portrays a speaker who contemplates the state of their romantic relationship though reflections of their partner’s tattoos. Addressing their partner, the speaker ambivalence towards the merits of the relationship, the speaker unhappily remains with their partner. Through the usage of contrasting visual and kinesthetic imagery, the speaker revels the reasons of their inability to embrace the relationship and showcases the extent of their paralysis. Exploring this theme, the poem discusses how inner conflicts can be powerful paralyzers.
Sound Devices help convey the poet’s message by appealing to the reader’s ears and dr...
The 1990 poem “I Am Offering This Poem” by Jimmy Santiago Baca is themed around the life of a prisoner who has nothing else to offer except poetry. As one learns, more about the author’s background, the context of the poem becomes clearer. Examine this piece of information taken from the biography of Baca, “A Chicano poet, Baca served a ten-year sentence in an Arizona prison and his poetry grows out of his experience as a convict” (Baca). Baca’s experience as a prisoner reflects in his writing in that prisoners are often deprived of their rights and many of their possessions while serving a sentence. In his poem, “I Am Offering This Poem”, Baca speaks from the point of view of a prisoner having nothing to offer his love interest except the
This darkly satiric poem is about cultural imperialism. Dawe uses an extended metaphor: the mother is America and the child represents a younger, developing nation, which is slowly being imbued with American value systems. The figure of a mother becomes synonymous with the United States. Even this most basic of human relationships has been perverted by the consumer culture. The poem begins with the seemingly positive statement of fact 'She loves him ...’. The punctuation however creates a feeling of unease, that all is not as it seems, that there is a subtext that qualifies this apparently natural emotional attachment. From the outset it is established that the child has no real choice, that he must accept the 'beneficence of that motherhood', that the nature of relationships will always be one where the more powerful figure exerts control over the less developed, weaker being. The verb 'beamed' suggests powerful sunlight, the emotional power of the dominant person: the mother. The stanza concludes with a rhetorical question, as if undeniably the child must accept the mother's gift of love. Dawe then moves on to examine the nature of that form of maternal love. The second stanza deals with the way that the mother comforts the child, 'Shoosh ... shoosh ... whenever a vague passing spasm of loss troubles him'. The alliterative description of her 'fat friendly features' suggests comfort and warmth. In this world pain is repressed, real emotion pacified, in order to maintain the illusion that the world is perfect. One must not question the wisdom of the omnipotent mother figure. The phrase 'She loves him...' is repeated. This action of loving is seen as protecting, insulating the child. In much the same way our consumer cultur...
Poetry Foundation. Poetry Foundation, n.d. - n.d. Web. The Web. The Web. 20 November 2013.
Throughout the musical, the prowess of each individual performer was on display. Every performer, with the exception of Kristine, expressed a power and vibrato that was breathtaking; the highest notes lilting and the lowest notes thundering. I was in awe during a majority of the performances because of the commanding singing in each performer.
I attended the poetry reading on Monday night October the 17th and listened to Jamaal May and Tarfia Faizullah’s excerpts from their poetry. Firstly, I noticed the style of the performance that Jamaal May had throughout his reading. Jamaal read with extreme conviction and confidence. His voice filled the room and forced the audience into a trance because of the beautiful tone that his voice held. His style was performative, but it was not over the top. It was controlled in a performance value. It seemed as though Jamaal really knew his poetry by heart because he had good eye contact throughout his reading; even though he often looked down to confirm his place within his poems. Throughout his reading, I felt as though I was in a trance because
Kenyon, Jane. "Poetry 180 - The Blue Bowl." Library of Congress Home. Web. 11 Dec. 2015.
The entity of the chorus, which serves as the narrator of the play, still holds true to that function as a camera crew and news reporte...
The narrative voice in “Michelle” gives insight into a male character’s thoughts as he conveys his emotions by declaring his love to her, “I love you, I love you, I love you / That's all I want to say,” (Doc. 1). The young man’s commentary is a verbal response because he notes that he is ‘saying’ these words to her, and he conveys his inner emotions because when he declares his love the reader learns of his sentiment as he feels overwhelmed, desperate, and overtaken with this love because he tells ‘Michelle’ that this is all he wants to say, so her love is all that matters to him. Similarly, in Shakespeare’s play, Romeo proclaims his love for Juliet, “Did my heart love till now? forswear it, sight! / For I ne'er saw true beauty till this night,” (Romeo and Juliet
Firstly, Brandon was successful in not only maintaining eye contact with the audience (which made the performance seen more personal), but he had a powerful introduction that caught the audience’s attention. Secondly, Brandon explained the scene (content) before he started in order to avoid the audience becoming confused. In addition, from the very beginning of Brandon’s performance he enunciates his words, conveying confidence about his performance. Next, Brandon also uses his hands and facial expressions, as well as vocal fluctuations in order to emphasize important words so the audience could pick on the purpose of the scene. Next, Brandon conveyed the emotional aspects of the poem, including anger and grief that Harvey was feeling, along with the disgust and frustration of the Joker’s character. Brandon also distinguished his voice for the characters and maintained energy and enthusiasm throughout the scene. Brandon memorized the content so the scene was more realistic and believable(less scripted feel), and also overcame his anxiety, allowing the performance to shine through and not his nerves. Finally, he emphasized his language and rhythm in order to create a sense of flow to the performance. In other words, Brandon’s performance was not too fast or too slow (he went at a good pace). In my opinion, I don’t think that there is anything that Brandon could have improved or changed in his
I sat in the classroom of Poetry 101 wondering what I was doing there. I looked around at the 30 other pimply faced boys who sat wondering the same thing. We were rich, we would be successful, and nobody ever needed poetry while holding a board meeting. I would soon change my mind.
Then audience members who were perfect strangers who were screaming loudest would turn to each other with knowing glances and smile because they were sharing the same excitement and connecting with one another over their love of this man’s music. There was no pushing or shoving to get closer to the stage – it wasn’t that kind of crowd. Instead, there was mutual respect for one another’s space within the confines of the too-small venue. Nobody wanted to be the person who ruined it for someone else. It was this respect that made the audience members’ connections with one another that much stronger – we were all here to listen to this wonderful man’s music and see his performance – and, of course, we were here to enjoy it.