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Poetry Is Doomed #14: The Academic Voice of Doom
The academic voice is one of the greatest hurdles to the acceptance of poetry beyond the navels of professors and MFA students the world over.
While attending the Columbus Arts Festival this weekend, I spent almost all of my time at the Poetry Corner. It’s a large tent where poets who have been vetted and auditioned read sets of 20-30 minutes before whoever happens to be passing by. It’s a facet of the event that can be hit or miss depending on the poet, but almost all of them make it work.
There is one type of poet behavior that does not work here and that is the “academic voice”. For all the griping that academics have done over the ham-handedness of performance poets, the one thing that they refuse to grasp is how much more engaging poetry is when you actually put an ounce of performance into its presentation. Of course, by saying they “refuse to grasp” this tool I am not saying that they do not comprehend this dynamic. They simply refuse to use it.
I am in no way suggesting that academic poetry – journal-ready poetry, publishing house-decreed poetry, form poetry…whatever typifies “academic” these days – has no place in public spaces. As one of the judges in the vetting process for this festival, I know that it is imperative to find a wide range of styles and voices to cover two or three days of poetry. The judges at large care less about style than they do quality, and every year academic work makes it to the stage despite their death knell-worthy performances. So I am perfectly capable of hearing the poem on its own merits, and even, if the work is about more than rippling lakes and dead pets, capable of enjoying it.
What I’ve noticed is that poets who consider themselves “serious” poets (and most academic poets think that they are serious poets) tend to put on a voice very much in the spirit of their performance brethren, though clearly for different reasons.
What is the voice? Well, it is not a bombastic voice. It is not a voice that projects or considers volume or appearance. It is not a voice that strives for conversational tone. It is, in fact, a voice utterly devoid of all these things which, if it were the voice of the poet when they aren’t reciting poems, would simply be an extension of their naturally poor communication style. As it is, because it is not an extension of the poet’s natural voice, it is put on. And THAT, my friends, is a device, and it is why the academic voice – not their poems, but the device through which many of them CHOOSE to deliver their art – is one of the greatest hurdles to the acceptance of poetry beyond the navels of professors and MFA students the world over.
The academic voice does not want to excite you, does not care if you like it. In fact, the deader the poet sounds, the better they have utilized the technique. If the poet can achieve genuine mumbling and make a microphone set on its highest setting sound like it’s still off then they are truly a master.
Performing is silly, we all know this. Sometimes it feels awkward to get up and perform, to flail about and yell at no one in particular for a minute or three. The whole exercise is a little childish, and that stands if you are a poet or a musician or a teacher, but mostly if you are a poet. On top of that the general expectation of poetry readings remains that the poet will mount the stage, flip through a journal of curling pages, and bore us to random murder with their suicide notes by the end of it all. This stereotype is the fault of the academic voice, the voice that killed the bards, the voice that made even the Bukowski sound like he might be on to something, the voice that says, “My words are more important than me”, the voice that says, “I don’t care if you don’t like what I’m doing.”
That last thought is key. There is a line (or rather, there should be) for the artist between not caring about opinions of their work, and creating work that doesn’t care if it connects with people. The first artist, we hope, doesn’t cater. In fact it should be the opposite: artists should care about connecting with people, but not so much as to allow public opinion to dictate their work, and hope their work finds its audience. The second camp does not care if there is no audience, but wants to subject us to their art whether we like it or not. They are perfectly content with allowing their work to die in books no one will read, with creating work that will help no one, educate no one, change no one, enlighten no one...work that will do nothing. This is an unreasonable camp and we should band together and slay these pockets of asses where they can be found.
Just listen for the mumbling on the wind and you will find them.
Submitted by ScottWoods on Monday, June 09, 2008 (11:36:07) (1837 reads)
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| "Features: Poetry Is Doomed #14: The Academic Voice of Doom" | Login/Create an Account | 6 comments |
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Re: Poetry Is Doomed #14: The Academic Voice of Doom
(Score: 1 )
by sonshine27 on Tuesday, September 09, 2008 (14:26:22) |
I swear Scott, you tickle me to death sometimes! 
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Re: Poetry Is Doomed #14: The Academic Voice of Doom
(Score: 1 )
by rykmcintyre on Monday, June 09, 2008 (09:44:49) |
In Boston we call that being "Grolier than thou..."
Still, the Grolier was a great book shop: http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=358291
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Re: Poetry Is Doomed #14: The Academic Voice of Doom
by Anonymous on Monday, June 09, 2008 (14:21:15) |
Bwahaa.
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Re: Poetry Is Doomed #14: The Academic Voice of Doom
(Score: 1 )
by oscar on Tuesday, June 10, 2008 (02:19:22) |
While I agree with the general point you are making here (If the poetic speaker doesn't have any regard for the audience, the audience has every right--and should!--have no regard for the poetic speaker.), I don't agree with the term "academic voice." It makes it sound like one has to go to school to be a flippant, self-absorbed, emotionally devoid orator when it is most likely that those non-skills have always been with the speaker well before any type of poetic training.
When I hear the term "academic voice," I think of poets like Amiri Baraka, Juan Felipe Herrera, and Bob Holman (first three names to come off the top of my head) who all have taught at the university level and who make poetry, poetic process, and the history of poetry a pleasure to the ear and to the hungry mind.
All the best,
Oscar
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Re: Poetry Is Doomed #14: The Academic Voice of Doom
by Anonymous on Thursday, June 26, 2008 (03:27:32) |
Hello, My poetic name is Tai Chi Italy and I found this article most encouraging in the process of making poetry popular again. The Academic Voice has indeed Doomed poetry to be considered by most of the masses as beyond their comprehension and understanding so they don't bother. I am what I call myself, a Peoples Poet, I am simple and a poet. I like to get my message across and that is simply the key to reinstating poetry back to the people from where it came in the first place. The folk song of the 14th century was poetry of the people. Goethe was a poet of the people and thanks to his vast endeavours on our behalf, poetry and music in the arts is ours. Great to read something that does not conform to strict academic standards of who is deemed worthy of such higher arts....I have been studying, as you can probably tell!lol from Enlightenment to Romanticism 1780 to 1830 and the process I was forced through was truly draining in the manner in which I had to present each and every argument/essay. I felt mangled at the end, but hopefully 60 points towards my degree was worth it!? I enjoyed this read, it appears a good site and I may just join.
Smiling at you
Tai 
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Re: Poetry Is Doomed #14: The Academic Voice of Doom
by Anonymous on Friday, August 28, 2009 (17:09:36) |
The uncanny way for which words can be used to come up with verbage can be theraputic. An ideal voice coupled with a few adjectives and adverbs can easily calm any man, woman, boy or girl, getting a shot with a needle. Yet, that same voice if heard spewing out words that would make a sailor blush can turn away those who love it most.... How can I use words to express to an emotion which supercedes that of even Webster? "For you I would swim 300,000 freezing, unbreathable nauticle miles, to see your lips part and white teeth when you smile." A heartfelt expression that falls short of the emotion......
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