Fraser Valley poets gathered to ring in summer with poetry on the night of the summer solstice.
Presentation
We began the evening with a short presentation by Alvin Ens on “What Makes a Poem Good?” The ten items he listed are tools any poet does well to tuck into their toolkit:
1. Interesting thought.
2. Emotion.
3. Good vocabulary with connotative words.
4. Imagery.
5. Conciseness.
6. Originality.
7. Sound effects.
8. Visual effects.
9. Concreteness (vs. abstraction).
10. Rhythm and rhyme (especially if it’s a more traditional poem).
Thank you, Alvin, for an informative and useful presentation!
Open Mic
During the open mic portion of the evening we enjoyed an interesting variety of poems from fifteen readers.
Though they’re not all pictured here in multiples, the variety of poses I captured during the reading got me thinking about how a poetry reading is not only about the words of the poem read but also about tone of voice and body language. It’s a multi-sensory performance—and experience for the audience!
Reading a poem
Reading a poem’s
more than reading just words
about showers or summer
or hockey or birds.
It’s grimaces, eye flicks
a grin or a frown.
It’s where you are looking
upward or down.
It’s words clearly spoken
precisely intoned
to embellish the writing
you’ve carefully honed.
It’s mystery rhythms
that beat soft to loud
you’re part of the story
enchanting the crowd.
It’s significant pause
of emotional choke,
the punchline delivery
of a well-told joke.
Then hand over the mic
to the next girl or guy
while audience claps,
sighs a satisfied sigh.
© 2016 by Violet Nesdoly (All rights reserved)
June 20, 2016 – Open Mic readers
FVPS will be taking a break from organized poetry nights during the summer. Sign up for our email newsletter to stay informed about summer activities of interest to poets in the Fraser Valley and Greater Vancouver area. But we’ll be back on Monday, September 12th, 6:30 at the Clearbrook Library (32320 George Ferguson Way, Abbotsford) for more poetry and to celebrate International Literacy.
Fraser Valley Poets Society 