CPR for Poetry

One of my favorite newspapers is the San Francisco Chronicle. Of all of the newspapers I've read, this one is hands-down the very best at covering art, music, lifestyle, and food. If you want to read the online addition, it's sfgate.com. You can find some very interesting articles there, especially if you're into the arts.

The last article that I read interestingly had to do with improvisational poetry. Now, we're all a little more familiar with the term "improvisational" than we are "extemporaneous." I've been referring to oral poetry composed on the spot as extemporaneous. Just to let you know, it is the same as improvisational poetry.

In that article, they highlighted a poet who has made a living at doing improvisational poetry, selling his poems from $0-$350 per poem. What struck me, though, was the poor quality of this guy's poetry. I read one of his pieces, and I was a little dismayed at what he called poetry; however, that being said, I'm not really the person to judge his work. That's a personal preference, and I did not personally like the poetry. But what he does bring to the table is an interesting idea, and he is trying to bring back the old extemporaneous poetry movement.

Right now, he's renting a one-room office space and is selling poems to anyone who comes in and gives him a topic to write about. For whatever amount of money he quotes, he'll write the person a poem using an old typewriter which adds an artistic element from his perspective. I'm not sure that I really like this concept. It is just one step removed from fast-food poetry. However, the guys artistic ideas are interesting, and I thought I'd share them with you.

On one hand, he's thinking about renting a small theater space and doing a one-man show around poetry. Perhaps doing his own poetry competitions. He's thinking about doing a one-man competition, but what if he decided to make it a true competition? I think that would be a phenomenal idea. I like the idea about a one-man play around poetry. I'd have to think about that a little and see what kind of play would work, but I think people in the right region of the country would find that interesting. I also like the idea of an extemporaneous competition. Eventually, he could grow that to draw poets from all over the United States and get them interested in this grand old art form.

His second idea is my favorite. He's considering doing his poetry recitations in an art gallery. Now, why I like this idea is because he's trying to show that poetry is an art just like painting on a canvas and sculpture. I think that everyone knows that. Poets are artists too. But, I think we lose sight of that in the real world where we reserve fancy shows for canvas painters and sculpturers only. Now, his idea is to just do poetry in the gallery. I think it would be interesting if he were to team up with an artist. The artist would have her show, and the poet could make poetry about the works of art. That way, people attending a show would get two artistic moments at one time. Wouldn't that be interesting?

And what I'm getting at here is that poets need to get more creative in their endeavors to ensure that the art thrives. We've all seen some pretty outrageously creative art exhibits, fashion shows, and music concerts. But all we're getting from poets are stodgy old books that no one wants to read anymore. There is a way to put life back in poetry, and I think the San Francisco Chronicle is trying to get poets to think with this mentality. A little creativity is all it takes, and you would think there would be a few poets out there with some creativity left to make something happen.