Performance Poetry

One of my favorite lines of all time is delivered by Joan Cusack’s character Cyn in Working Girl (1988): “Sometimes I sing and dance around the house in my underwear. Doesn’t make me Madonna. Never will.”

I feel the same way about the explosion of “performance poets” and “spoken word artists” thanks to the advent of YouTube. ‘Just because you have a poem and a video camera doesn’t make you a performance poet.’ At least there’s still hope you could become one, however. And for an great example of what it means to be a performance poet and spoken word artist in this digital age, check out Cassandra Tribe.

And, of course, there’s the indomitalbe Maggie Estep with one of my favorites: “I’m an Emotional Idiot.” For aspiring spoken word artists, she should be on your list.