Today I'm handing over to a guest – my new real-life friend, Sarah Temporal, who describes herself as poet, performer and teacher – because I thought what she had to say in a recent blog post would interest you as much as it did me. I am always fascinated by discussions of process. (Not to mention that she refers to both Natalie Goldberg and Kate Tempest, whose work, in different ways, is dear to my heart.)
What comes first: rhythm or words?
© Sarah Temporal 2017
I had a great question from a punter
after my performance at M-Arts last weekend. (You can watch the live
performance here).
“When
you’re creating a poem, do you start with the words or the rhythm? Do you write
something and then make it flow, or does the flow dictate what you write?”
The answer, of course, is not
straightforward, and that’s what makes it an excellent question. I have had so
much fun investigating this very problem that I wanted to share it with you.
Many of the great slam poets around
today, such as Luka Lesson, Omar Musa,
and Kate
Tempest, came from a hip-hop background. These extraordinary wordsmiths
can tell you loads more about ‘flow’ than I can; they have spent countless
hours, weeks and years honing their skills rhyming, freestyling, laying words
over beats or vice-versa. When they deliver a poem with only their
unaccompanied voice, they bring an expert sensibility of rhythm and flow, which
makes their work so much more complex and compelling to listen to.
It’s like the difference between plain
handwriting and calligraphy: there’s an extra layer of
expressiveness which is just beautiful to immerse your senses in.
I didn’t come into poetry from hip-hop,
but I grew up learning music from a young age. I’m sure that
has had a big impact on the way I use language to compose poetry. As a kid I
spent equal amounts of time every day practising guitar, which my mother taught
me to play, and burying my nose in books. So by the time I discovered slam
poetry at the age of nineteen, the fusion of spoken language with the qualities
of music just made sense to my music-trained brain.
Like many writers, I keep copious
notebooks, which no one else reads (see Natalie Goldberg for the value of
letting yourself write junk, and lots of it). I’ll comb through these when I’m
looking for ideas, and often what jumps out is something that has an
interesting sound, as well as an
interesting sentiment.
There’s sometimes a weird moment when I
realise that some little line I’ve written has lodged itself in my brain like a
catchy guitar riff, pestering me to make a whole poem so that it will have
somewhere to live!
So when I’m composing (and ‘composing’
may be a more apt term than ‘writing’), I’m focusing as much on the sound and
rhythm as I am on the meaning of words. When I speak a line of poetry out loud,
I’m trying to become aware of the physical sound of the words: the cadence, the
tone, whether it seems to burst forth with explosive energy or coil slowly
around the tongue; whether the line wants me to take my time or get carried
away. It’s not always simple.
Sometimes the meaning is clear but the rhythm
isn’t working. Sometimes too much rhythm diminishes the meaning. And sometimes
the particular mood or energy of the piece just takes a really long time to
reveal itself. The challenge for any poet who performs
is to strike the right balance of sound and sense.
There’s no point having lots of verbal
tricks if you’re not saying anything meaningful; and likewise, no point in
performing a great poem if there’s nothing for the ear to enjoy. It’s a fine
balance, challenging, occasionally maddening, but ultimately so rewarding when
you share it with a live audience.
If you’re interested in trying slam
poetry yourself, please sign up to follow my SlamCraft series.
This link takes you to Sarah's website, where you can also click on her blog etc. Also check her "Flight to the Heart" on YouTube – poetry with music, and the poem itself very musical, demonstrating what she says above about the way her musical training has influenced her writing.
Just now she's been appearing in one of a local series of "The Vagina Conversations" (based on Eve Ensler's famous "Vagina Monologues") at Byron Bay. Her husband posted proudly on facebook this morning of his joy in hearing audience members last night "raving about how good 'the poet' was". Wish I'd been there!
