First performance

Super nervous at the prospect of performing some of my poetry for the first time at an upcoming local open mic event. I have often heard comedy writers say that they never got anywhere with their work until they started performing stand up. I wonder if the same it true for poets. I also feel that poetry is primarily a performance art, not a literary one. To me, rap and hip-hop are the closest you can get to pure poetic expression.

Assuming I don't chicken out, first thing I need to do is to chose which poems to perform. I have, I think, up to five minutes, so guess that three will be the maximum. I may even slip in a crafty haiku recital, in Japanese, just for fun. I do not have a good speaking voice so will want to rehearse expression beforehand, as much as possible. The haiku will be simple to rehearse as I have found a good Japanese speaking reader on YouTube so will just need to repeat their pronunciation and expression until I can get it as close as possible to Japanese.

What do you think?

Would really appreciate any views and honest feedback on my choice of performance pieces. To start off, I thought I would include a variety of approach.

Start with fun, humorous short piece, recited from memory

Longer, serious 'love' or otherwise emotion-rich poem

Another short piece and/or haiku recital in Japanese

I am pretty certain of my choice of opener but please do say if you think I should start with something else. You can find pretty much all of my poetic works written in the last three years (my entire poetic career) here on Vocal media:

Ray's poetic works complete

You can filter this list into chronological order, by length or date. Please also feel free to explore any of my fiction work or work in other Vocal communities such as Art, Writers or Pride

Recital opener

Cheap as chips

The bestest thing to pass my lips

At any time’s a bag of chips.

At sixpence there’s no better treat,

With salt and vinegar you can’t beat

The tangy warmness that pervades

The winter kid who promenades.

Continue to read: Cheap as chips

Second performance piece

Need to choose between two and I think I will probably go with

... for reasons (1) it was emotional enough to make me tearful when I just read it and (2) it was received well when I first published it here.

In a similar vein would be my second choice

Ask me in December

Possible third piece to read

If time allows I might lighten the mood with something shorter/lighter, not necessarily funny, possibly:

Little coffee cup

Closing recital in Japanese

Again, if time allows,

The old pond by Matsuo Bashō (1644-1694)

Furu ike ya

Kawazu tobikomu

Mizu no oto

Should I follow this with a translation?

I may also print out some postcards to take along with one example of a poem or Drabble and QR coded links to my work.

Post-performance note

It was a delightful gathering of local poets and poetry enthusiasts and it confirmed me in the view that poetry needs to be heard. Makes so much more sends than just reading poems in your head. There were some wonderful poems read by other attendees, some by the poets, some as performances or other poets' work.

I managed to get through my performance with only a slight hiccup over one line of my first poem, the one I had memorised. The others I read without further issues (as far as I was aware). I also added another poem to the performance

Whither lost dreams

I decided that I wanted something to end on a positive note.

Some pertinent questions were asked about 'I'm in love with a girl...' and I had some kind feedback. Next event is in a month and so I need to think about which of my poems I should take along.

Any suggestions gratefully received.

Thanks for reading