Slam Poetry

[happyrobyn]

I just saw one of Becky's layouts posted on another site and she used the words to a song that I had never heard before and it reminded me of slam poetry. Have any of you ever been to a poetry slam? I haven't but have seen them on TV and they look quite interesting. I can imagine that they are pretty cool live! Anyway, I was wondering if there is some way we could incorporate slam poetry-type poems into the WWO section of this site. What do you think?

Never heard of slam poetry? CLICK HERE. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slam_poetry)

[mishou]

Sure Robyn! That's a great idea. I've never been to a poetry slam before but I have a vague idea of what they're all about. Kind of like a performance-based poetry reading with a hip-hop style delivery? LOL That's about as far as my knowledge goes on the topic so I will follow your link to go read more about it.
Did you have an idea about how to work it into a WWO? Did you mean like an ongoing 'DAQ Poetry Slam' or something? I'd love to hear everyone's ideas on this. It sounds like it could be lots of fun.

[happyrobyn]

Honestly I don't know what I meant. I was just thinking out loud and hoping someone could guide my thoughts to the next level! LOL! You're the word wizard here. I'm just MAD!

[mishou]

LOL Robyn! Well let's wait for a few other people to chime in here and see if we can work something out together. Because I do think we should have some poetry related things going on here and this could be a great idea.

I went and read the wikipedia article on Slam Poetry and the general impression I get is that there is this emphasis on performance. That's kind of what makes a Slam a Slam is that it's being performed live in a certain manner. So that's kind of the obstacle here because we can't perform things in true Slam fashion through computers. Now if someone wants to stand on a soap box in front of their computer and spit rhymes at their monitor, then more power to you! LOL!

But I think to have a 'digital slam' all we have to do is sort of define what this style of poetry is minus the performance element and then get a thread going where people are encouraged to write poems and then either share them in the forum or create a piece of art with it for the gallery. I read on the wikipedia site that there are different types of Slams, like with different themes or specific rules and such, so every once in a while we could throw out a theme just for fun too.

Alright so there's my contribution to 'taking it to the next level' LOL Now somebody else try!

[SteinwaysMom]

I read the link and it seems like 'Slam' poetry is more gutsy and 'man on the street' vs. more academic poetry or the sentimental stuff one sees in traditional scrapping.

I like the idea of blunt, honest, no holds barred poetry but instead of using a vocal delivery we would have to rely on the LO to convey the spirit of the poem.

Sounds like fun to me and maybe a chance to be more real and honest than the traditional scrapbook world allows. I was really impressed w/a LO posted at Scrapartist because it was totally different than the traditional AAM or sentimental type journaling - not a poem but I liked the directness and honesty: Letting Go (http://www.scrapartist.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=11590&cat=500&ppuser=11)

[happyrobyn]

Michelle - this is honestly the first time I have ever almost spit at my computer from laughing so hard. I was sitting here crunching on a Werther's Original (candy) and I came to the part where you said "Now if someone wants to stand on a soap box in front of their computer and spit rhymes at their monitor, then more power to you!" and I just lost it! I couldn't stop laughing!

Debra - that layout that you linked to is awesome. I believe it won the color contest. And I agree. Here at DAQ we can be more real than the sugar-coated layouts you see everywhere and perhaps that is the direction we should go. Write our poetry and the illustrations will have to replace the performance aspect of the slam.

[mishou]

ROFL Robyn! Glad I could bring some humour to your day LOL!

Well I wanted to get a better feel for this so I followed a link to a guy's website who apparently is like this Champion Slam Poet and OMGosh you have to read this stuff. Follow this link (http://www.mikemcgee.net/poetry.html) and read his poem called 'Like'. The guy's a freaking genius. I love it.

Okay so now I'm really into this LOL! I think you guys are both right in saying this should be about direct, honest, gutsy, off the wall poetry combined with graphic illustration to replace the performance aspect. I think that could definitely work.

[webchyck]

Personal poetry and/or song lyrics that are raw, emotive, etc. I can see people making digital art that surrounds the words, brings them alive visually, for this topic.

[happyrobyn]

Thanks for tha link Michelle. He's awesome! "I like you like Americans like ranch dressing!"

[mishou]

LOL Robyn! I like you like Canadians like poutine :D

[happyrobyn]

Good thing Maya doesn't have on the swear filter! I can't stop reading this guy's poems!! My computer is getting spit on a lot today!!

[mishou]

Swear filter!? Robyn, you need to come to terms with the fact that poutine is NOT a dirty word!!! LOL

[happyrobyn]

I just can't! Every time I hear it I giggle. I'm like Beavis and Butthead ... "She said poutine ... he he he!"

[mishou]

Maybe it's cuz of the way you pronounce it. Most anglophones will say "poo-teen" when really in French it's pronounced more like "pou-tin" like as in a 'tin' can. Maybe that helps? LOL Maybe not . . .

[happyrobyn]

I KNOW how it is pronounced. LOL! However, it is very similar to a slang word for a female body part!! LOL! When I was in Canada, a friend was visiting from the States and he was offered some poutine at a restaurant and he immediately started cracking up as did me and my husband. If you're not familiar with the word I am referring to, email me and I'll tell you.

[mishou]

Oh I believe I am familiar with the word you are talking about LOL! Yeah I guess no matter how you pronounce it, it still sounds funny.

Hmmm . . . yeah. . . so about that Poetry Slam . . . Maybe we should get back on topic before people get bored of our banter and leave LOL!
Anybody else out there have any thoughts about this? Please share if you have ideas. Otherwise Robyn and I are likely to go on discussing the finer points of French-Canadian cuisine . . .

[SteinwaysMom]

To fit one of Mike McGee's poems on a 12x12 layout :p

Wouldn't it be weird to post this super long skinny JPG that never seemed to End the hegemony of the 12x12....too perfect...too square...how about a messy size for a messy world....post it for all to see unfurled...yeah I'm a beatnik now feel the beat my black beret and my cigarette bongo drums beating in the Big Mack Attack clogging my arteries with fried things and cheese whiz what is getting into me it's way past midnight and i can't sleep, Alzheimers sets in as I ramble on in a sing song way that makes sense to me but not reality!

Night all!

[happyrobyn]

Debra - so funny you should mention image size. Last night as I was going to sleep I was thinking that I should just let some of my layouts "be" whatever size they end up.

I can just see you in your beret!!

[webchyck]

snap, snap, snap (for Debra's beatnik-y-ness)

[SteinwaysMom]

Yeah, actually I was thinking that art works within conventions but then the 'avante garde' subverts them. Like in the digital scrap world we have 'standard' formats like 12x12 and the ATC but who says we are limited to that? Or that we have to do something that even fits into a predefined category? Standards are good and useful but it's good to remember they are arbitrary and we aren't bound by them....

Back in college we studied the whole concept of 'avante garde' and basically what is radical and cutting edge gradually becomes mainstream and traditional over time even though it 'looks' cool and different.

Like there is so much 'altered' art w/old timey pictures and stuff (like in Somerset) but sometimes I feel like it all starts to have a quality of sameness to it even though its gorgeous. There's nothing wrong w/it but I wonder if the artists feel bound to stick with a certain 'look'. So a benefit of the 'avante garde' movements in art is to challenge what we are used to seeing and hearing and introduce new visual paradigms.

Maybe DAQ can be the 'avante guard' of digital/scrapping and take it somewhere it's never been. That would be cool....

[happyrobyn]

Geez Debra ... you are like the DAQ guru or something! You speak so eloquently in all matters art. I agree with what you said. I hope we can change some of the rules here. Now beat on your bongo some more and churn out some slam!

[mishou]

Great thoughts Debra! I totally agree.

All this talk about different sizes has got me curious to try now. If you think about it, the only reason we scrap in those sizes is because those are the sizes that pre-made scrapbook albums come in. But who says you need to use those? You could make and print digital artworks in any wacky size you want and still get it bound into an album somehow. Even if it's just some kind of spiral bind like you can get done at office supply stores or a book cover that you make and bind yourself. Or you could find a cool shaped box (like a hat box or gift box) and alter it and have your pages stacked inside them . . .possibilities are endless really . . .

That might make another good activity for this site. Maybe in the altered forum or even a MAD mission . . .encouraging people to make, bind and/or alter your own quirky albums/boxes/etc. to store your printed digital artwork in VS. the traditional scrapbook albums.

Alright, this post is beginning to verge on V.D. . . .LOL

[mishou]

Getting back to the poetry slam thing . ..

Does anyone have any cool ideas for names for our Poetry Slam? Or do we just want to go with DAQ Poetry Slam? Anyway, you've got some time to think about it. I'm not in a writing head space today so the act of making this a WWO is temporarily being delayed.

So let's get some title ideas if you got 'em . . .

[happyrobyn]

How about 'Slam, Bam, Thank You Maam!'

[SteinwaysMom]

That's kinda cool (slam bam thankyou mam). Although I doubt if we want to get into the 'rating' aspect like poetry slams....

Off Topic Rant:

You know what sucks is I wanted to frame some of my 12x12's and there are no frames out there. My local JoAnn has only 2 options: this cheapy plastic thing or a superexpensive wood shadowbox.

Then I looked for 4x4 albums (for fatbook size LOs) and there were also very few.

So the idea of making your own book or frame, even if you get your base images professionally printed sounds really good to me. Or finding something cool like a ceramic tile to glue it on. I hate to just put my artwork in a scrapbook and stick it on a shelf KWIM?

Sounds like a potential topic for the ALTERED forum...I don't have any exp doing this type of stuff but I'm putting it out there to consider...

[mishou]

Hmm good point Debra. I don't think anyone was planning on 'rating' these things. I hope not anyway. That would spoil the fun. I think we'll just turn it into the type of relaxed, no pressure type of 'challenges' we have going on around here.

And I agree with your thoughts on the potential for this altered art thing.

I don't have any experience doing that type of thing either but I guess that's the fun of it! I've actually recently pulled out my old paper supplies and paints and stuff and (are you ready for this?) am actually altering a book!!! Big news for me cuz the last time I tried that stuff I made it about three pages in and threw it out the window. I just hated everything I did because I expected too much of myself. I have absolutely no experience painting or drawing and yet I expected my work to look like it came off the pages of Somerset Studio Magazine. But now that my attitude is different and I'm trying to be less critical of myself it's actually a lot of fun. So I may just give this "create your own album or display method for your digital art" thing a try.

Gosh . . .we have a seriously bad habit of going off topic around these forums, don't we? Well I say 'we' but it's probably mostly me LOL!

[happyrobyn]

Um ... I confess ... I am an off topic kinda person, too. Maybe that's part of our quirkiness. I did my very first IRL collage-type layout last week and I liked how it turned out. I didn't use any fancy paints or anything and it was actually just a glorified scrapbook page but it was fun and I gave it to a very dear friend.

Now back on the Slam thing. MG ... hurry up and get me a forum! I've got my toe pictures ready and just need to add my poem. Hoping to get it done later today! I'm sure everyone will love it. There's beauty in toe puss, right?! LOL! I hope we are not doing a rating system because I fear toejam will not be on the popular list!

[mishou]

LOL Robyn! Okay Okay! Sheesh. I'll have it up before dinner time. Can't wait to see your toe layout!

[happyrobyn]

Oh yes ... dinnertime would be great! Then I can post it - people can view it right after they eat and then they can puke. Then they can do a slam poem about their puke and the cycle will continue. You are just full of great ideas MG! I'll get us started:

RALPH!
It comes in chunks of brown
or red and orange
It smells.
Really bad stuff
It happens.
You make it to the toilet
SOMETIMES
Or on the hardwood floor
but on the carpet
that's bad
it reaks and it makes you feel
like you're a piece of toast
that you just can't swallow.
Worshiping the porcelain
lying on the tile
sometimes you can't get up for a while
dry heaves
they take over
water
water
water
give me some now
I hate to feel this way
but I can't stop
re-
gur-
gi-
tation
it smells
it stinks
it happens to us all

[mishou]

Alright, that's it Robyn. Your jig is up. You're a closet slam poet aren't you? You've been doing this for years haven't you? LOL How do you just come up with stuff like that on the fly? Anyway, you are quite good at it my dear but we need to work on getting you AWAY from the gross topics LOL

[happyrobyn]

OK then! Pick a topic ... any topic and I'll see what I can do!