Staying in the Moment
What Poetry and Improv Have in Common
Last week I had a really fun experience where I got to write a poem live based on improv comedy scenes I was watching and then perform it for the same audience.
I know a lot of poets might not jump at the chance to have to write on command, but I was excited by the opportunity.
Why the Blank Page Doesn’t Scare Me
At my day job I don’t have the luxury of staring at a blank page for hours waiting for inspiration to strike. As a copywriter, I’ve got pages to fill and projects that depend on me getting things done at a fairly steady rate regardless of how I’m feeling about the content that day. It’s been a fairly good training ground for “just getting shit on the page.”
While I try to allow myself to have a little more leeway while working in my artistic practice, the truth is I have career goals I’m trying to meet and they require work. If I don’t approach it with the same tenacity, I’m only putting off my own dreams.
Plus, more often than not, my best inspiration shows up when I’m actively trying to work on something. I get my best ideas when I’m elbow deep in the metaphorical sandbox.
Sandboxing My Way Into An Idea
Sandbox? What’s that Abby?
One of my favorite ways to start creating a new piece lately is using what I’ve started calling the sandbox method. I’ve most clearly been using it as I develop my new solo show “American Raccoon.”
In the document, I have the “sandbox” section which is where I throw all my ideas, half-formed thoughts, potential bits and related notes for the show. Then I have the “script” where I’m working things into a coherent order…the sandcastle if you will...
When I run into a block on the script, I go back to the sandbox and dig around. When I feel like something in the sandbox is ready, I scoop it up and move it into the script.
I used a similar method with drafting the poem in real time while the improv team was doing their scenes. On the left hand I wrote down anything that struck me as interesting or that I wanted to remember. After a couple of scenes I had the starting point for the poem and started writing alongside the improv as it happened, but still jotting things in the sandbox if they didn’t quite fit into the poem yet.
Poetry vs Comedy?
There are people who think that poetry and comedy are opposing mediums. We used to capitalize on this with an event called Poets vs Comics years ago at the arts bar.
Generally, a lot of people think that poets are Sad™ and comics are Funny™; but like most binaries, that’s not entirely accurate.
I’ve been spending the last few years in a space where I’m playing with combining the two and I’ve discovered they have more in common than we think. They both shape stories and details to garner a particular reaction from an audience.
Poetry and improv especially go well together because they both play in spaces of discovery. You don’t always know exactly where either medium is going, so you need to trust the process as you go. With enough practice, you can reliably create something pretty great even just off the cuff.
It’s not about perfection, it’s about practice, and dare I say it…having a little fun!
Anyway, Here’s the Poem (with light edits)
Untitled
Here we stand again,
hesitant about the change of seasons.
How many leaves equal an imminent emotional breakdown?
Is this enough for the cost of a Home Depot bag?
A tree felled in secret, a parents’ legacy marred
It’s fine. It’s fine? It’s fine.
It’s only October,
we’ve got all winter to fight about this.
So crack open a Michelob
and pour one out for the future
we’re stumbling toward together.
Excited, terrified,
fast, slow:
A playful dichotomy.
A delicate balance
dancing around the truth:
How much should I open up here,
leaving nothing else to hide?
But it’s worth getting caught.
Loving you feels like sneaking wine
into the punch bowl at a high school dance,
like there’s more to life than spelling bees.
So S-C-R-E-W IT!
Let’s go all in!
Don’t be afraid of the dark,
we can build our solar systems together.
There are actually good reasons to be scared,
but there are reasons to be brave, too.
The moon rises,
despite how many emails you’ve yet to read
or strange job listings on Indeed
asking you to compromise your values
and sacrifice your body to monsters
roaming our world
built by capitalist urges
that we created by carving up our countryside
and leaving us desperate for roots.
Smiles stay plastered on our face
while we ignore the dangers lurking in the woods,
but we know we’re still better together.
We’re something beyond good intentions and canned goods.
Loving you makes me want to survive the zombie apocalypse,
makes life feel like more than a waiting room
where we’re all metaphorically bleeding out
while people just hang out on their cellphones.
Can I ask you for an honest moment?
Will you step into the arena with me?
No, I don’t mean a fight club,
it’s a moment of vulnerability,
a chance to tell a new story,
releasing the tension.
People say the hardest job is looking me in the eye,
saying yes, taking a sip of the wine,
even if the bottle is a little broken.