Assessing The Artistry Of Erotic Spoken Word
As poets, we strive to maintain a certain level of respect for all poetry and the poets that do it. Despite, poets are people too and we each have our likes and dislikes. I dislike the suicidal stuff. Ricky Meyers, heaven help him, dislikes erotic poetry.
The debate is about the skill involved, and whether erotic poetry should be considered ‘art’. “I appreciate erotic poetry for its commercial value and understand the poetry as entertainment”, says Meyers. “Sometimes, erotic poetry transcends (Neruda, Natalie Diaz), but mostly I see it as entertainment“.
An Example Of An Erotic Poetry Show That Ricky Meyers Will Not Be At
Erotic poetry definitely has its detractors. There are those who feel that it isn’t an art form any more than pornography is. There are those that find it in poor taste. Personally, I’ve noticed that many poets are able to use the prolific nature of erotic subject matter to distract from the skill on display.
Erotic poetry is entertaining. Period. But the skill it takes to weave words is not negated. A good poet is a master of imagery, and when they tell you how they want to lick up and down your leg til you shudder — til you melt like butter, you feel it. (Yeah, I made that line up just now, don’t judge me, sadly, I’m pretty sure its been used before anyway)
Delivery, too, has always been an important aspect of performance poetry. A skilled poet knows how to hit those ‘sexual notes’. It’s the difference between a few snaps for the poet, and panties that need to be rung out after the show. A good poet will stare dead in your lady friend’s eyes, and spit a line that’ll leave the girl weak, and leave you shooting angry looks. (Don’t get mad at me. She didn’t look that into you anyway, sir) That’s why an entertainment factor doesn’t negate the art form. Musicians often straddle the line between artistry and entertainment. Some musicians may seem more artistic than others, but ultimately that argument is subjective. The same goes with spoken word.poetry
In some ways I do agree with Ricky Meyers,however. Whereas poetry has awesome potential for creativity, there is often a lack of imaginative erotic poetry. Many of the same ideas and even metaphors are recycled consistently. I don’t know how many times I’ve heard a poet talking about licking lips, both sets, or how he/she speeds up faster and faster and faster and… As much as I love it, I hate how often I’ve seen female poets fake orgasms on stage.
More Poetry That Ricky Meyers Frowns Upon
Erotic poetry pushes boundaries within the poetry community, but still mustn’t fail to push its own boundaries.
Prince
But then there are poets like Prince Poetry who seek to master the craft and love the work they do. His critique on erotic poetry goes a little like this:
“There is no specific importance of erotic poetry. It’s an expression of ones self just like any other poetry. I don’t separate erotic from any other form of poetry. I’ve never understood why people look at the subject of sex as less than any other subject. Not to mention the society that we live in, sex sells.
I’m a poet. I’m a poet that does erotic poetry. I just happen to be versatile, but I love poetry period. And as far as being good, you’re only as good as the confidence in you allows. I feel I’m good at erotic poetry cause I’m confident in my ability to captivate a crowd regardless of the topic.”
And Prince should know. You have to have a huge amount of confidence to take the stage for an erotic piece….and wear a shirt like that.