Do it like a twosome

Have you ever written a poem with someone else? Sometimes it's where each person writes a stanza on a subject and they combine them in interesting way. It could be a line by line switch off. This is called collaborative or collective poetry.

Something strange happens when to minds start to meld like that. You're the only two people in the world working on this particular poem at this particular time. You start establishing a rhythm. Your goal becomes clearer. Your theme develops.

You start communicating in grunts, gulps of coffee, and hastily scrawled words.

Or times of course writing a poem can be a frustrating time, taking you back to when you had to work with kids in class for a contest.

Sometimes, it works so well that it's amazing. Here's one that I really enjoy:

   
Sarah Kay & Phil Kaye "An Origin Story"

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Tamara Woods was raised (fairly happily) in West Virginia where she began penning poems after a boy broke her heart. She shares poetry, short stories and writer interviews on her blog, PenPaperPad. Her writing has been featured in Mamalode, In the Powder Room, and many others. She is the editor for The Reverie Journal, which will be releasing it's first poetry collection early October. She also hosts #writestuff TweetChat where writers talk about writing every Tuesday at 9 pm EST. She is a hillbilly hermit living in Honolulu with her Mathmagician.

Spoken Word Poetry

Spoken word or a slam is the performance end of poetry. This is when a person uses not just the words, but his facial expressions, the very sound of her voice to reinforce the impact of the words. For the timid, this form of poetry may seem to be a bit overwhelming.

When I initially found out about spoken word, I was a teenager living in Fairmont, WV. I had no idea what it entailed, or what it all meant. I just know it seemed incredibly intriguing. It pulled me in, but I didn't think I could do it. I watched the movie Slam starring Saul Williams

I watched Russel Simmon's Def Poets, which was a show that aired on HBO. Hosted by hip hop artist, Mos Def, it felt so raw and urban. And beautiful. I enjoyed it, but I didn't think I would be able to emulate it.

It was during college that I started actually experimenting and trying out spoken word. I'm still quite intimidated by the stage, but it's made my poetry so much richer. Don't be intimidated by reading your poetry out loud and trying spoken word.

If you would be interested in trying spoken word yourself, then here is a video I found that could help you on your way.

Thanks for reading!

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