EXAMPLES OF PERFORMANCE POETRY

THE SOUND COLLECTOR by R McGough

A stranger called this morning

Dressed all in black and grey
Put every sound into a bag
And carried them away

The whistling of the kettle

The turning of the lock
The purring of the kitten
The ticking of the clock

The popping of the toaster

The crunching of the flakes
When you spread the marmalade
The scraping noise it makes

The hissing of the frying pan

The ticking of the grill
The bubbling of the bathtub
As it starts to fill

The drumming of the raindrops

On the window pane
When you do the washing up
The gurgle of the drain

The crying of the baby

The squeaking of the chair
The swishing of the curtain
The creaking of the stair

A stranger called this morning

He didn’t leave his name
Left us only silence
Life will never be the same.
LEISURE CENTRE, PLEASURE CENTRE by J
Rice

You go through plate glass doors And we go

With giant red handles, Breast stroke
Into light that’s bright Back stroke
As a million candles. Two stoke
The chlorine smells Big folk
The whole place steaming, Hair soak
The kids are yelling Little folk
And the kids are screaming. Eye poke
No joke
Watch them In the leisure centre, pleasure
Wave jump centre.
Dive thump
Cartwheel And now we’re driving back home
Free wheel Fish ‘n’ chips in the car,
Look cute Eyes are slowly closing
Slip chute But it’s not very far.
Toe stub Snuggle wuggle up in fresh clean
Nose rub sheets
In the leisure centre, pleasure A leisure centre trip
centre. Is the best of treats because you
can
Sporty people laugh and giggle
Folk in swimsuits give a wriggle. Keep fit
Kids are in the café busy thinking Leap sit
If they can afford some fizzy Eat crisps
drinking. Do twists
In the changing rooms Belly flop
Wet folk shiver. Pit stop
It’s hard to get dressed Fill up
When you shake and quiver With 7-Up
Get going
Blood flowing
Look snappy
Be happy
In the leisure centre, pleasure
centre.
THE DRAGON WHO ATE OUR SCHOOL by
N Toczek
The day the dragon came to call,
she ate the gate, the playground wall
and, slate by slate, the roof and all,
the staffroom, gym and entrance hall,
and every classroom, big or small.
So…
She’s undeniably great.
She’s absolutely cool,
the dragon who ate
the dragon who ate
the dragon who ate our school.
Pupils panicked. Teachers ran.
She flew at them with wide wingspan.
She slew a few and then began
to chew through the lollipop man,
two parked cars and a transit van.
Wow…!
She’s undeniably great.
She’s absolutely cool,
the dragon who ate
the dragon who ate
the dragon who ate our school.
She bit off the head of the head.
She said she was sad he was dead.
He bled and he bled and he bled.
And, as she fed, her chin went red
and then she swallowed the cycle shed.
Oh…
She’s undeniably great.
She’s absolutely cool,
the dragon who ate
the dragon who ate,
the dragon who ate our school.
It’s thanks to her we’ve been freed.
We needn’t write. We needn’t read.
Me and my mates are all agreed,
we’re very pleased with her indeed.
So clear the way, let her proceed.
Cos…
She’s undeniably great.
She’s absolutely cool,
the dragon who ate
the dragon who ate
the dragon who ate our school.
There was some stuff she couldn’t eat.
A monster forced to face defeat,
she spat it out along the street –
the dinner ladies’ veg and meat
and that pink muck they serve for sweet.
But…
She’s undeniably great.
She’s absolutely cool,
the dragon who ate
the dragon who ate
the dragon who ate our school.
 LOUDER! by R Stevens

Ok, Andrew, nice and clearly – off you go.

Welcome everybody to our school concert…

Louder, please, Andrew. Mums and dads won’t hear

you at the back, will they?

Welcome everybody to our school concert…

Louder, Andrew. You’re not trying.

Pro – ject – your – voice.
Take a b i g b r e a t h and louder!

Welcome everybody to our school concert…

For goodness sake, Andrew. LOUDER! LOUDER!

Welcome every
body to our
school concert!
Now, Andrew, there’s no need to be silly.
THERE’S A MONSTER IN THE GARDEN by
D Harmer

If the water in your fishpond fizzes and foams

And there’s giant teeth marks on the plastic gnomes
You’ve found huge claw prints in the flower bed
And just caught sight of a two-horned head
Put a stick in your front lawn with a piece of card on
Look out everybody – there’s a monster in the
garden!

You haven’t seen the dustman for several weeks

Haven’t seen the gasman who was looking for leaks
Haven’t seen the paper-girl, postman or plumber
Haven’t seen the window cleaner since last summer
Don’t mean to be nosy, I do beg your pardon
Look out everybody – there’s a monster in the
garden!

One dark night it will move in downstairs

Start living in the kitchen, take you unawares
Frighten you, bite on you, with howls and roars
It will crash about, smash about, push you out of
doors
In the cold and snow the ice and rain will harden
Look out everybody – there’s a monster in the
garden!

Now listen to me, neighbour, all of this is true

It happened next door, now it’s happening to you.
There’s something nasty on the compost heap
Spends all day there curled up asleep
You don’t want your bones crunched or jarred on
Look out everybody – there’s a monster in the
garden!
GENIUS by M Glynn

I am a liric maniac
An Urban Oral GENIUS
My style iz fast ‘n’ FURIOUS
My manna iz SPONTANEOUS
My lirix make yer laugh sometimes
As well as bein’ SERIOUS
I’ll send yer round and round the bend
I’ll make yer act DELIRIOUS
Each word is hot, and can’t be held
I suppose you’d say I’m DANGEROUS
I know I have a way with wurdz
The wurd I’d use iz NOTORIOUS
For those who want to challenge me
I find it quite RIDICULOUS
When critics try to put me down
Can’t see them. They’re ANONYMOUS
The only thing I have ter say
I see them all as ODIOUS
I luv my rithmz ‘n’ the beatz
Smell my wurdz, they’re ODOROUS
I love my lirix to the max
Evry syllable ‘n’ sound iz MARVELLOUS
I execute my wurdz so well
I suppose you’d call it MURDEROUS
To work so hard on all these wurdz
Some say it is LABORIOUS
There’s double meaning in my style
Four syllables ter you. AM . . . BIG . . . U . . . OUS
I know I’m going on and on
But I certainly ain’t MONOTONOUS
You have ter chill ‘n’ agree with me
The feeling is UNANIMOUS
Ter get inside yer head like this
I know that I am DEVIOUS
I do it in a sneaky way
I suppose I’d say I’m MISCHIEVOUS
When pepul think about my rimez
I know that they are CURIOUS
Don’t understand the resun why
Becuze the cluez R OBVIOUS
Okay you’re right my wurdz ‘R’ good
I suppose they are MIRACULOUS
Astounded by this type of rime
I know you ‘R’ OBLIVIOUS
There’z only one thing left ter say
I’m bad ‘n’ cool
‘N’ INFAMOUS
 HOW TO PERFORM A POEM

 Read the poem “The Sound Collector”.

 Think about how you would perform this poem.
 The following ideas might help you.
Hint 1

Think how a performer could use the voice to make the poem
alive, dramatic and interesting. Think about volume, different
ways of speaking, times for quietness or loudness, times to slow
down or speed up, times to pause and key words that need
emphasizing.

Hint 2

Think how a performer could use the face to help make the use
of voice as expressive as possible. Silly twitches and over-
exaggerated things might not work! But what could a
performer do that would be effective?

Hint 3

Think how the performer’s body language might help to make

the poem come to life. The performer might be still but the
body can still be used, such as in the turning of a head, the
lowering of an eye, or the sudden making of eye contact with
the audience! Might there be some particular movement you
would like to make at certain places in the performance?

Hint 4

Last of all, are there any other effects that would be good to
use. This could be anything to do with lighting, the stage, your
positions, clothing and any special visual or sound effect that
would be practical and easy enough to achieve.
 PERFORMING POETRY: PEER ASSESSMENT
SHEET

Assessor’s name:
________________________________________

Assessee’s name:
________________________________________

Task title: Rainforest Performance

Poetry
Use the criteria box below to make your observations of your
assessee.

A scale of 1 – 10 is simple and easy to use, 1 being low and 10

being high.

SKILLS MARK

Clear, audible voice

Expressive use of voice

Clear, purposeful movement

Facial communication

Body communication

Awareness of audience

Fluent delivery of ideas

Comments and advice