Performance poetry means reading or declaiming poetry in a way that acknowledges the presence of an audience. This can be anything from a bit of eye-contact to fully blown histrionics. That is it, basically. There are no rules.
Performance Poetry Guide
Your No.1 Guide to Start!
Whatever your motives for becoming a performance poet, remember that you are first and foremost providing a service for an audience. As such, they should be treated with the consideration they deserve - especially once you start doing featured slots and they have specifically paid to see you.
Performance poetry means reading or declaiming poetry in a way that acknowledges the presence of an audience. This can be anything from a bit of eye-contact to fully blown histrionics. That is it, basically. There are no rules.
The best poets speak from an authentic experience or perspective. Don't try to speak on something that you know nothing about or can't really relate to. It will come across as being unauthentic at best and pretentious and self-serving at worst. Poetry is something you feel. It is organic to your soul and before you can have an impact on others it must be true to you first.
Telling a story with words is fun, but being able to tell a story with a poem is even more challenging, imaginative, and entertaining for an audience. Spoken word poetry is a form of poetry where the author will present their poem to an audience, or out load, using narration. When you hear spoken poetry being performed, you will notice that there are many differences when compared to other types of poetry.