The 24-Hour Poetry Feature
Tips & Advice
Having done this event a couple of times now, here is some helpful advice for participants.
It's not everything I could recall, but it's close.
If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to ask.
Your question might be so relevant that it ends up right here!
Ask at: the24hourpoetryfeature@yahoo.com
Q: How do you get through all 24 hours?
A: There are different answers to this. One is, read one poem, then another, then another. Another anser is that I really try to think of the show as 24 separate one-hour features, each it's own show with it's own characteristics and mood. I try to keep each hour interesting, reading poems I like or that I think people will like or that are a challenge to do. I embrace challenges, so having a competitive side helps. It will come down to will power, ultimately, and how much you can push your body, mind and poetry itself.
You'll either fall asleep or you won't.
Q: Do you use drugs or energy drinks or coffee, etc.?
A: No! The only drug I've used was throat spray, which I recommend to anyone doing this. Keep a spray bottle of it handy to keep your throat numb. But coffee, soft drinks and especially energy drinks are a big no-no. You get a buzz soon after, but the crash isn't worth it. When you compound a 12-hour stint of public speaking with an energy drink crash, you may as well just go home.
Q: Do you take naps?
A: No! A nap will only make your body think it's okay to shut down. Try very hard not to sleep during the 24-hour period unless you are sharing the show with other poets. I took a quick five minute nap near the end of my first 24-hour show and I just about crashed after getting back on the stage. It took my twenty minutes or so to get back into the groove.
Q: How many poems do you pick ahead of time to read?
A: I shoot for about 350-400 poems. I've not hit the 400 mark yet, but it's sure nice ot know you're covered. The last thing yuow ant to do is have to start flipping through books or journals for stuff you don't even know or like because you didn't come prepared. "Prepared" is not JUST enough; it is MORE than enough.
As dauning as that sounds, if you pick 50 poems a week over the course of two months prior to the show, then you'll have 400 poems at the end of two months. If you pick 25 poems a week over four months it's even easier. If you haven't picked 400 haikus you should be okay.
Also, I've always thrown in a few longer pieces (Allen Ginsberg's "Howl", Ron Silliman's "Chinese Notebook", Poe's "Raven", parts of Walt Whitman's "Leaves of Grass", etc.) to help me bridge the gap a little. I've also read numerous poems from a single poet in one sitting.
Q: 24 hours of talking is a lot of talking, and 24 hours of performing on any level is a mountain. How do you keep the instrument from completely crapping out on you? Your descriptions of the event sound like there are parts of the night where you're pretty much kicking it like you would at any feature or open mic. How does one not lose one's voice?
A: There is no guarantee that this won't happen, unfortunately. It never happened to me and I didn't train for it physically either time, nor would I consider myself having a special set of pipes. I just knew when to pull back and save it for later. If you pace yourself, you're less likely to lose your voice. Don't do all of the poems every hour like you're in a shouting contest. It's not about the volume, but the will power to keep going.
Volume drains you. Save it for the good parts or better, think of it as an arc and go full-bore at the beginning, middle and end. These are the times when you are most likely to have the most audience anyway. I just figured if my voice went that didn't mean I wasn't performing, so I gave
myself over to the process and got lucky. If I ever lose my voice during one of these, I'm still going to read. No voice wouldn't sotp me. Falling asleep or pain would.
Also, I used lots of throat spray and drank lots of water.
Q: How much of the show do you do standing and how much sitting?
A: Because some poems demand more of a performance than others, and some are not harmed by being done while sitting, I set up two stations: a sitting station and a standing station. I don't dictate when I will do one or the other, and I have often done both in an hour. This should largely be decided on by mood, and you'll find it less monotonous if you mix it up a little.
Q: Do you print out all the poems you read?
A: Not really.
I bring my poems - as many of them that I might share in public anyway, which is about 100 or so - and the rest comes from books and anthologies and chapbooks and just about anything that has a poem in it that I like. I show up with a few boxes of books, many from my collection, many from the local library, and I choose as I go along. Trying to find poems, then print them all out (or type in some cases) and then make sure they're all together come show time is too much work for the person who has to then perform it all for 24 hours. You should be focused on getting ready to perform for 24 hours, not whether or not your printer has enough ink or how many copies you need to run off at a copy store.
You should buy a couple of packs of Post-Its, find your poems in books and mark them with Post-Its, and put the book in a pile to take to the show.
Q: How do you decide which poems you're going to read and when?
A: Perform stuff you dig or that is compelling to read and hear. The goal of this event is to interest people in poetry, to fascinate them with the journey...not to make them hate poetry (or you, for that matter).
I usually set aside the first and last hours for original work only. This gives people a chance to see the person behind the show, and if you're the kind of person who people like to see feature, this gives you audience when you need them most: at the beginning and at the end. I also don't shy away form reading oriignl work whenever it suits me during any hour as well. Picking poems for something like this is a very fluid process, and should feel like a dance or a bozing match with poetry. If you plot out all of the poems you're going to read in the order you expect to read them, you're in for some nasty surprises. There are few things worse than starting a poem that you discover you no longer have the stomach for ten hours deep. In that instance I have stopped and gone on to another poem without apology. Feel free to read what you llike when you like! If you're having fun, your audience will have fun as well.
The second year I did this I did set aside a couple of hours for specific things. I had a children's hour Sunday afternoon, and I set aside an hour at midnight (the first one) to read my new chapbook in its entirety. It's your journey...take time to smell the roses and kick rocks into the river along the way!
Q: Do you eat or drink during the event?
A: Drink? Yes. Eat? Heck no!
I didn't ever want to be in a position where I had to run to the bathroom in the middle of an hour or spend my break "indisposed" for too long, so I just didn't put anything on my desk except fluids, mostly water. I had a crate of water on the stage both years, and drank liberally. Staying hydrated is important. But food? Actual meals and such? That's bad news. I think the most I ate the second year was some granola bars. (Wait: someone did sneak a taco to me in there somewhere...but I shouldn't have eaten it.)
Q: What do you do during breaks?
A: Get off the stage and try not to talk. I was lucky both years ot be in venues hat had "off space"; a place you could go to get away from being the spotlight and just close your eyes for a minutel. The worst way to spend breaks is talking to people. Yes, they've come out to support you and see you, but if you want to talk to people, do it from the stage. You're not a robot and Guiness isn't going to give away a poetry record (they refuse), so treat it like a back-and-forth thing during the working part of the hours.
Q: Do you keep track of what you read? If so, how?
A: I do, but not by hand. I record the shows to CD and go back after the event and pull out the titles and such. This is also somethign I recommend you have someone(s) do for you during the show. The first year, someone else ran the recording for me so I just got up, did my thing and let them handle that. I had enough to worry about, you know? The second year I got cute and had the recorder next to me and forgot to hit the "record" button one hour. So I lost an hour in 2007 and have no way of knowing what I read unless I come across those poems again. That setlist will have an asterisk next to it for all time, and I hate that.
You can see my first year's list here.
Q: Do you have to get poets' permission to read their work?
A: No. Make sure you're giving credit, but outside of that you should be okay. Most people are honored that you would even consider them for such a thing.
At the same time, if someone says, "Don't read my work," don't. Never heard of it happening, but there's always some nut out there.
Q: Do you rehearse?
A: Nope. I'd waste my voice and throat if I rehearsed 300-400 poems before I had to DO 300-400 poems! Besides, it takes the danger out of it if you "train" too much. I like not knowing if I can pull it off, and make no mistake: there are people out there who will come to see the train wreck if it's to be. This is why the last hour is usually the one with the largest audience.
Q: Do you have help during the show?
A: Having a crew is essential if you plan to perform solo, and even if you don't.
My crews consisted of a foreman who figured out what needed covered and then had it covered. Again: you have other things to worry about, so get a crew and let them do their job. My crew positions consisted of:
1 person on recording
1 person as a gopher
1 person as a sitter
Sometimes these jobs are all covered by one person, but the most important one to keep fresh and rotating is the sitter. This is one person (or more) designated to sit there and be audience no matter what for however long their shift is. The first year I had a crew of rotating sitters, switching out about every 4 hours or so, and sometimes teaming up. The second year I had a sitter for much longer, but the overall crowds were better, so it wasn't as lonely as the first time. The second year we also had live broadcasting online, so the sitter manned a chat room that I interacted with as well, taking requests and such.
One of my fondest memories of the first year was having three sitters at once at around 4 AM, knocked out on couches while I performed, occassionaly shaking cheerleader pom-poms in their sleep. Go Scott go!
Q: What about audience size and energy?
A: As far as audiencre goes, there will likely be times when there is only one person in the room. For this reason you'll need to have someone schedule a crew or person to be there each hour with you. I never encountered non-clapping unless the audience was asleep because I think they knew it kept me awake. Bottom line though is that if they opt to not clap, so what? Next poem. Don't be afraid to tell people to work on the energy on your behalf, though. Tell them clapping is welcome.