Brandon Leake, spoken word poet wins season 15 of America's Got Talent 2020

[TL Murphy]

Clark writes:

though poetry IS sound and rhythm and music and is enriched when heard as well as read, it need not necessarily be performed.

To be experienced fully, Spoken Word must be performed.

I see no problem whatsoever in Spoken Word and conventional poetry existing side-by-side in the canon of poetic forms. It's all good. Each form fulfills needs for different audiences. One need not supplant the other. One is not "better than" the other.

Spoken Word IS poetry, but it is also performance, so in that way it is also DRAMA. Spoken Word is a fusion of poetry and drama. Song lyrics are also poetry, but song is music. A lot of song lyrics would fail on the page without the music to back it up and the same can be said for Spoken Word. A great performance piece may fail on the page without the performance to back it up. So Spoken Word is really a genre of its own. There is poetry, song, drama and spoken word. They all share elements of poetry but they are all distinct genres.

I used to do a lot of spoken word, until I realized that the “performance” aspect of it is a whole direction on its own. To be a successful Spoken Word artist, you have to be more than a gifted poet. The poet must take on a persona, play a character, and play it well. For me, that is an added element of drama that I would just a soon not indulge in. As a poet, it removes some of the authenticity of the poem. Any poem can be entertaining with enough performance behind it. But that says nothing about the quality of the poem as literature.

So Spoken Word brings poetry to the people as a form of entertainment. That’s great. The poetry audience has expanded exponentially as a result. Fantastic! But they aren’t the same thing. Spoken word is poetry but poetry isn’t spoken word.

[Gumby]

I can agree with that, Tim. I can't perform my poetry or anyone else's for that matter, as I don't have the acting chops, but in my head I can perform the hell out of a poem.

[PiP]

[-xXx-]

*sorry pip*
*bad post timing on my part*
*flip the post order*
*nevermind*
*i r haz quoteability*

k.
in attempt to be mindful of original OP post
and
how much devolve becomes different thread

is a poetry reading performance art?
does a poet reading his own work or another reader reading
change that dynamic to performance art?

spoken word groups in which i participate
are not drama groups.
often they are verbal presentation
of written form
poetry
by
the poet.

many of those individuals are fine literature academics
who use their exploration of language
through various written (poetic) forms
to explore themselves and their perceived reality constructs.

virtually all of them agree that oral spoken traditions
precede attempts to externally engrave communication symbols.
many agree those attempts served at least three purposes:
to prompt the keeper of the tale
to communicate the prompts to students
to communicate between social groups

virtually all of them agree that what is engraved
does not fully embody or convey a totality.

i would suggest that many poets recognize
writing to be externalization
of an internal processing tool set.

i would suggest that any reader
interprets/performs that set of symbols
according to their translational/interpretative tool set.

did brandon's selection of form and sequencing of content
assist in his being recognized as having talent (legitimizing)
by a prime time/popular demographic
act as social validation of poets?
yes.
powerfully so.

sculpture.
not chisel.
as focal point.
feel free to break out any concepts that are not focused
on the OP subject.

does the written form of brandon's work
connect with a significant number
of readers.
yes.

will brandon's work endure?
chances are really good.

i believe the issue may be what constitutes literature?
communications, media and blending?
yeah.

best,

[-xXx-]

*better*

[TL Murphy]

A verbal presentation of a poem is called a "reading". It isn't Spoken Word. Although it is obvious that the genres can overlap. Just like poetry and song can overlap. If you listen to a lot of Leonard Cohen, it is poetry set to music but we don't call it poetry, we call it music because of the instrumentation. Spoken Word is what it is because of the performance, and frankly, it has a lot to do with the expectations of the audience. A poetry reading is aural poetry. But I really don't see the point in quibbling. Sure, some might argue that all verbal poetry is spoken word. Whatever.

[PiP]

did brandon's selection of form and sequencing of content
assist in his being recognized as having talent (legitimizing)
by a prime time/popular demographic
act as social validation of poets?
yes.
powerfully so.

sculpture.
not chisel.
as focal point.
feel free to break out any concepts that are not focused
on the OP subject.

does the written form of brandon's work
connect with a significant number
of readers.
yes.

will brandon's work endure?
chances are really good.

i believe the issue may be what constitutes literature?
communications, media and blending?
yeah.

best,

i believe the issue may be what constitutes literature?
communications, media and blending?
yeah.

xXx you raise some excellent points Especially text highlighted in red

[TL Murphy]

Art is constantly evolving. Impressionism, abstraction, cubism, all set the art world on it’s ear. Imagist poetry, minimalist poetry, free form, sound poetry had similar effects. In retrospect we see all of it as an historical tapestry. Spoken Word is no different than these other innovations. It’s poetry and therefore it’s literature.

[clark]

We're just vibrating the air now. . .and the sine waves are dipping and rising in only marginally different curves. The discussion has become congratulatory as much as oppositional. Significant discussion requires some fundamental disagreements, some sources of tension and ongoing movement towards either 'victory' to one side or approbation of some kind for both. We are in fundamental agreement on the important aspects of this discussion. Along this road, you have taught me some stuff that I value, but I'm not going to get into it any further.