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¶ … Wanna Hear a Poem
I agree with you that Steve Coleman's piece "I Wanna Hear A Poem" would be an excellent choice of a first poem to study in an introductory poetry class, given the way that it frames all of the many weighty and sometimes contradictory expectations teachers and students bring to poetry. Questions which inevitably arise in a class when students begin to discuss poetry are: what is poetry? How is it different from prose? What purpose does poetry uniquely fill in the literary landscape? Coleman's ambitious demands for poetry, rendered as a long, searching, compelling drumbeat of a list highlight the 'specialness' we demand of the poetic format. Poetry must mean something that transcends the surface meaning of the poet's words. I also agree the poem is an excellent jumping-off point for discussing the various functions poetry has fulfilled in societies across the ages.
However, as well as introducing timeless discussions about poetry, Coleman's poem is ultimately a socially conscious 'slam' poem. It offers students the opportunity to talk about what poetry means to them personally and how they think poetry should exist in its present-day form. How is poetry still relevant? Of course, Coleman's poem is noteworthy for its effective use of repetition and other poetic devices, and can be discussed in the abstract as well as a social product.
Finally, discussing slam poetry raises the question of what are the differences between spoken and written poetry. Once upon a time, all poetry was oral poetry. Now poetry is often seen as something 'written' and thus intended to be deconstructed, unlike the lyrics of a song. Slam seems to bridge the divide between heard lyrics and written poetry. So is it fair or worthwhile to 'read' a slam poem as literature at all? This would be an excellent question to end the class.
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