Performance poetry is a type of poetry that is written especially for or when it is performed in front of an audience. It includes many different styles and types.

History

Performance poetry, a type of poetry created for live audiences, has roots in the Dada movement. On June 23, 1916, Hugo Ball performed one of the first sound poems, Gadji beri bimba, at the Cabaret Voltaire in Zürich, wearing a cardboard costume that required him to be carried onstage. This event marks Zürich as the birthplace of performance poetry. Later examples include Kurt Schwitters’ Ursonate, Ernst Jandl’s otto’s pug, and performances blending speech, body language, and theater, such as Natias Neutert’s Diogenes Synopsis.

The term "performance poetry" first appeared in the 1980s to describe the work of Hedwig Gorski, a poet whose audio recordings gained popularity on radio programs. Her band, East of Eden Band, created music and poetry collaborations, allowing her recordings to be played alongside underground music. Gorski, an art school graduate, sought a term to distinguish her vocal performances from performance art, such as the work of Laurie Anderson.

Performance poets focused more on rhetorical and philosophical expression than performance artists, who came from visual art traditions. The Austin Chronicle newspaper first used the term "performance poetry" in 1982 to describe Gorski’s work with composer D’Jalma Garnier III. Gorski later used the term to describe her 1978 piece Booby, Mama!, which used techniques like the cut-up method popularized by William Burroughs.

The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) initially classified performance poetry under theater but later moved it to literature. This change helped performance poets gain recognition, as they previously lacked printed publications. Today, the NEA accepts audio recordings without printed versions for poetry fellowships. Performance poetry with music was especially popular in the 1980s, while performance art peaked in the 1970s.

During the 1980s, San Francisco, New York, and Austin, Texas, were hubs for performance poetry. Austin’s scene included poets like Hedwig Gorski, Raúlrsalinas, and Harryette Mullen, who was nominated for the National Book Award. The Austin Poets Audio Anthology Project recorded these poets for radio broadcasts. Others, like David Jewell, helped transition performance poetry into the slam poetry movement of the 1990s.

Performance poetry became a way to share oral literature directly with audiences, a practice dating back to ancient times. Today, it is used in schools to promote literacy. Programs like Global Writes Inc. use technology, such as videoconferencing and podcasts, to help students share their poetry and perform it onstage.

Poetry in oral cultures

Performance poetry is not only a modern tradition. It started long ago in societies that did not write things down, where people shared poems by speaking them aloud. These poems were passed from one person to another through speaking, and they used tools like repeating words, rhyming, and special phrases to help people remember them. The performer would use the version they had learned as a guide in their mind, and then add their own style to the poem. However, staying close to the traditional versions of the poems was usually preferred.

Advent of printing

Although poems and collections of poems were already being shared through handwritten copies for private reading and study, the development of inexpensive printing methods greatly increased the spread of these works. This change led to a shift in the poet's role in society. Previously, poets were mainly seen as entertainers, but they became more focused on creating written texts for private reading. Public performances of poetry became less common in Europe, except for poetry in plays or songs, such as those by some groups during the Elizabethan era or by Robert Burns. Outside of these cases, poetry was usually read aloud from printed books during family or friend gatherings.

20th century

In the early 1900s, people began to question traditional ways of creating art. Poets like Basil Bunting and Louis Zukofsky wanted poetry to focus more on how it sounds. Bunting said that a poem on the page is like a musical score; it only makes sense when spoken aloud. This idea helped create a culture where poetry readings became popular. Charles Olson suggested that the poetic line should be based on how people naturally breathe when speaking. Clive Sansom spent his life collecting and sharing poetry and plays that are good for children to perform.

In the 1950s, American poet Cid Corman tried a new method called oral poetry. He would create poems on the spot and record them on a tape recorder. Allen Ginsberg later used this method in the 1960s. David Antin, who heard Corman's recordings, took it further. He would improvise poems in front of an audience. These performances were recorded and later written down for books. At the same time, Jerome Rothenberg used his research on different cultures to write poems for special events called happenings.

Poets from the Beat generation held events that combined poetry with jazz music. In the late 1960s, poets outside major cities like San Francisco and New York were trying new performance pieces. David Franks, who taught at the Maryland Institute College of Art, created works where the performance itself was a key part of the piece.

In Britain, poets like Bob Cobbing and Edwin Morgan explored live performances. Cobbing formed groups like Bird Yak and Konkrete Canticle, which included other poets and musicians. These groups helped bring more poets into the performance scene. Meanwhile, many well-known poets in both Britain and the U.S. gave readings at small academic events on university campuses. Poetry readings became more famous when Robert Frost recited "The Gift Outright" from memory at John F. Kennedy's inauguration. After this event, recordings of Frost and other famous poets became more popular.

The 1970s and after

By the 1970s, three main types of poetry performances had become popular. The first was the poetry reading, where poets who wrote poems for books would read them aloud to an audience, often the poet themselves. Poetry readings are now common, and poetry festivals and regular reading events are part of the culture in many Western countries. However, most people do not consider these traditional readings as part of the performance poetry movement.

This leaves two other types of performance poetry: poems written specifically for performance, like those of Jerome Rothenberg, and poems created during the performance itself, like those of David Antin. Both are generally considered performance poetry. Another type involves poetry with music, based on the Beat poets’ style. Bands that include performance poets use spoken words instead of singing, but their texts are not classified as songs. While Allen Ginsberg performed his Blake poems with a harmonium, the most well-known poet to use music in performance poetry was Hedwig Gorski. She created the term "performance poetry" to describe her work, which combined poetry and music. Gorski, who sometimes calls herself an American "futurist," wrote poems specifically for performance with music composed for each piece. Her spoken words closely resembled singing without actually singing. Gorski also performed poetry without music, but these shows were limited to smaller venues. Unlike poets who improvise, Gorski always wrote her poems for performance and avoided publishing them in print.

In the United States, the rise of language poets, who distrust spoken words as a basis for poetry, caused performance poetry to lose popularity among experimental artists. However, the growth of open mic events, where unknown poets can share their work for 3 to 5 minutes, and poetry slams, which are competitive performances, has made performance poetry one of the most popular forms of poetry today. Bob Holman in New York, Marc Smith in Chicago, and Alan Kaufman in San Francisco were key figures in promoting these new styles. In the 1990s, U.S. Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky’s "Favorite Poem" project helped ordinary Americans gain recognition for performing their favorite poems. Today, performance poets use CDs, videos, and the internet to share their work.

The Beat Poets were among the first to record their performances for distribution. Allen Ginsberg, the most famous Beat poet, followed Jack Kerouac’s example by recording his readings. Ginsberg often used a harmonium, a musical instrument, to accompany his performances. He set William Blake’s poems to music. Although the Beats did not use the term "performance poetry" to describe their work, their style influenced Hedwig Gorski. Gorski graduated from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design in 1976, a school known for launching the careers of many 1970s performance artists. She is one of the few women, along with Patti Smith, in a group of late 20th-century artists who revived oral poetry. Since the 1990s, touring has become a common way for performance poets and slammers to share their work. The Poetry Slam, created by Marc Smith in Chicago, is a competitive live performance format that has become a major hub for performance poetry.

Performance poetry has also grown in popularity due to Def Jam, a hip-hop record company led by Russell Simmons. Def Jam created a television show on HBO that features performance poets and a Broadway show that ran for a year and won a Tony Award.

Hispanic artists like Pedro Pietri, Miguel Algarín, Giannina Braschi, and Guillermo Gómez-Peña are known for their humorous and politically charged critiques of American imperialism. Later poets such as Willie Perdomo, Edwin Torres, and Caridad de la Luz continued this tradition.

Chicano poets are closely linked to Native American poet John Trudell, who recorded his poetry and music on cassettes. Trudell gained attention after his wife and children were killed by FBI agents on his reservation. Protest plays a key role in the work of many minority performance poets, including Def Jam poets and slammers. This adds energy to American performance poetry and connects it to the social activism of Beat poets like Ginsberg.

In France, Lucien Suel, Akenaton, and others are known for their performance poetry. Setsuko Chiba, a Japanese poet and artist, uses theatrical methods in her performances, which began in New York’s East Village.

In the Czech Republic, performance poetry has become popular among both Czech speakers and expatriates in Prague and surrounding areas. In 2002, the first expat-based performance poetry group, Alchemy, was formed and held open-mic events until 2018. In 2003, the first national slam poetry championship was organized as part of the Olomouc literary festival "Poetry without Borders," initiated by poets Jaromír Konečný, Martin Reiner, and literary theorist Miroslav Balaštík.

In 2018, the Prague-based poetics group Object:Paradise was created by Tyko Say and Jeff Milton. The group aims to make poetry readings more inclusive, interdisciplinary, and less limited to art cafes. They promote events that mix poetry with other performances. Object:Paradise outlined twenty rules in their manifesto to make performance poetry a unified, dynamic experience.

The United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom, many experimental poets focus on sharing their work through live performances, following the example of earlier poets like Cobbing. Notable poets include cris cheek and Aaron Williamson. Michael Horovitz, a British poet, helped spread this tradition in the early 1960s. His work, Live New Departures, was a traveling version of his poetry and arts journal New Departures (started in 1959). This project gave opportunities to poets like Pete Brown and Adrian Mitchell, who performed poetry with the help of jazz musicians such as pianist Stan Tracey and saxophonist Bobby Wellins.

The popularity of performed poetry as an art form likely began with Allen Ginsberg’s performance at the Albert Hall in 1965 during the International Poetry Incarnation. Horovitz, Brown, Mitchell, and others joined Ginsberg, along with poets like Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Gregory Corso, at this important event in London. These developments also connected to the Liverpool Poets, a group of poets including Roger McGough, Adrian Henri, and Brian Patten, who energized audiences across the UK in the 1970s. In the 1980s, poets like John Hegley emerged, influenced by stand-up comedy and wordplay, shaping what became known as contemporary British performance poetry. This style is still seen in the work of poets like Murray Lachlan Young, Francesca Beard, and Gerard McKeown.

Apples and Snakes, a group that promotes performance poetry in pubs and at festivals, was founded in London in 1982 by Mandy Williams, PR Murry, and Jane Addison. It was inspired by earlier groups like New Variety/CAST. The group worked with poets such as Attila the Stockbroker and Seething Wells, as well as musicians like Billy Bragg, who often included political messages in their work. Apples and Snakes is still active today, 31 years after its founding.

In the 1990s, a different style of performance poetry emerged in cities like Manchester and London, influenced more by hip hop than by comedy. This style was similar to the Def Poets movement in the United States. Poets from this era include Lemn Sissay and Dike Omeje from Manchester, and Roger Robinson and El Crisis from London.

In experimental performance poetry, there has been a focus on collaborative stage work that combines poetry with movement and sound. For example, ShadoWork mixes simple theatrical movement with voice and stage elements to highlight the meaning of the text. This approach is considered a "counter-cultural" style, as it avoids focusing only on entertainment. Other projects, like Lyrikal Fearta by Jonzi D, have expanded spoken word into short prose and combined it with dance.

British performance poetry continues to grow, with events in pubs, theaters, and festivals like Glastonbury and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Poetry slams and open mic nights remain popular. Some poets have been influenced by radio poets like Hedwig Gorski, and there is increasing crossover into TV and radio. Many modern British performance poets are inspired by punk poets like John Cooper Clarke and reggae poets like Linton Kwesi Johnson, as well as by comedy and hip hop.

In 2003, the first UK conference on performance poetry was held at Bath Spa University, organized by Lucy English. Speakers included American poets Bob Holman and Charles Bernstein. Bath Spa University now includes a performance poetry module in its Creative Writing program.