National Black Arts Alliance

Black British History Event

Remember We Were People Before

We Were Slaves

Performing Poetry. Body, Place and Rhythm in the Poetry Performance

Editors Cornelia Grabner and Arturo Casas

Rodopi ISBN 978-90-420-3329-0  £52.00

    Performing Poetry is an edited collection of essays that consider the challenge that poetry in performance poses to conventional literary theory. The contributors to the volume work in a range of disciplines including Literary Studies, Theatre Studies and Area Studies. The focus of the volume is wide-ranging and there are discussions of poetry from Britain, Holland, the United States, Latin America and Spain. The volume’s intensely theoretical essays are supplemented by analytical yet accessible pieces by experienced poetry practitioners. 

A portion of the discussion in Performing Poetry is preoccupied with theoretical questions that are aimed at interior debates among specialist researchers. Despite this, the volume is indispensable for poets and for the general reader. The contributors to the essays collectively provide broad-ranging and nuanced accounts of the province and pedigree of poetry in performance. A particular highlight is the essay ‘Allen Ginsberg, “Howl”, and the 6 Gallery Poetry Performance’. Written by Ginsberg’s biographer, the essay provides a compelling account of a single performance and its aftermath. Another highlight is a beautifully conceived essay by Deirdre Osborne about the ‘landmark poetics’ of Manchester poets Lemn Sissay and SuAndi. Osborne provides an intelligent and sharply observed discussion of Manchester’s devolved literary cultures that attends to the specificities of place and individual performances without losing a sense of wider perspective. Osborne’s essay operates as a companion piece to SuAndi’s own fascinating contribution to the book, entitled ‘Eartha Kitt Once Told Me’, which provides the “long view” on the politics of poetry and performance.