The poet’s first relationship is with the page; it is where the idea that birthed the poem is worked out, each word chosen and each line crafted. The page is the first performance space. Each move must be tight and flow with the next as in a dance. Is it possible for a second or third person read the text as you intend? That level of care and attention impacts what the work looks and sounds like as a performed piece. It’s common for a poet in performance to impose performative notions that are unnatural and uncalled for based on the text. How can we honor our texts and listen to how they move and what they say? As an aside, the poet’s capacity to produce new and imaginative pieces that grow with their work impacts their efforts to develop their brand, their market, and a community around their work.

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This FREE workshop is designed to heighten an awareness in poets of the words and ideas we weave together, with a view to increase their effectiveness on the page and in performance. We will pay very close attention to particular texts, looking at the particular elements that make a piece effective and those that do not, and how one may craft a performance or presentation. Space is limited to ten persons. Please send particular pieces you would like workshoped to nmawiyoo[at]gmail[dot]com at least 3 days before the workshop, if possible.

This workshop is sponsored by WAPI, A British Council Initiative. Skill Factory Workshops are part of the kaleidoscope of WAPI events, they’re intended to be spaces where practitioners from various disciplines can share their skills with others.

Come to the British Council in Upper Hill this Saturday September 20th 2008. We start at 11am, and will run for about 90min. (phew!)