Page to Mic: young people writing and performing poems

Spoken word poetry:from a blank pageto a poem said out loud

Spoken word poetry is poetry written to be performed out loud, and this site follows one poem the whole way, from the first prompt on a blank page to the moment a young writer says it into a microphone.

Page to Mic is written for two readers at once. The fifteen year old with a poem due on Thursday, who needs the next step and not a lecture. And the teacher, librarian, youth worker or volunteer holding the room, who needs to know how the session is built and what goes wrong inside it.

The route

Eleven stages, from a first prompt to a microphone

A poem said out loud is not written in one sitting and then performed. It is walked through eleven stages, and each one has its own job, its own failure and its own way of telling you it is finished. Start at the first prompt if there is nothing on the page yet. Jump to the stage you are stuck in if there is.

A section through the room: one lamp, one beam, one lit patch of floor.

01Starting from a promptWhere a poem starts when nothing has been assigned 02Writing the first draftYour own life without the diary entry 03Revising a poemRevising your own draft, and reading it as a stranger 04Reading a poem aloud for the first timeReading a draft aloud to a circle for the first time 05How a writing circle gives feedbackFeedback rules that keep honest criticism safe 06Memorizing your own poemLearning a poem by heart, and what that changes 07Performing your poemVoice, pace, breath, hands and eyes 08Nerves, and what to do with themWhat to do in the ninety seconds before you speak 09How a microphone works, and how to use oneThe microphone and the room 10Putting on the showcaseThe showcase, the recording and who agreed to what 11Keeping going after the showcaseThe notebook and the next poem

The rooms

Where a poem goes once it exists

The route ends at a microphone, and the microphone is only the start of the rest of it. What the poem is made of, the rooms it gets said in, where the form came from, how an adult runs the session, the ways a poem reaches people who were not in the room, and a plain record of the work that already exists.

A microphone on a stand under a single stage light.

WHAT IT ISWhat spoken word poetry isWhat spoken word poetry is, and what it is not THE CRAFTThe devices a young writer actually reaches forWhat a poem is made of THE ROOMSThe stage and its circuitWhere a poem gets said out loud THE LINEAGEThe lineage of the formWhere spoken word came from THE CLASSROOMRunning poetry with young people: the writing workshopPoetry in a school, a library or a community room GETTING HEARDWays a poem reaches other people, including a young writers contestGetting a poem heard beyond the room THE RECORDWhere to read, watch and listen to spoken word artistsWork about young people writing and performing

Plainly stated

What this site is, and what it is not

Page to Mic is a new, independent, non commercial reference on young people writing and performing spoken word poetry. Nothing is sold here, nothing is sponsored, and no poem written by a young writer is reproduced anywhere on this site.

This address was used in the past by a documentary film about a poetry workshop. Page to Mic is not that film, is not published by its makers, and is not connected to the To Be Heard Foundation, to Power Writers or to Power Poetry. It claims no continuity with any previous owner of this address and uses no former name. The film is described at Documentaries in the third person, as somebody else's work, and this site does not host, sell, embed or link a copy of it. A reader who came looking for the film should go to the To Be Heard Foundation, which publishes at tobeheardfoundation.org.

Where to go next