Tuesday 3 April 2012

Dub (This!) Poetry [BEDA: Day 3]

Studying for my Contemporary Lit exam, and stumbled over the text for Linton Kwesi Johnson's poem, 'If I Woz A Tap Natch Poet'.

Poetry?

I think so.

To hell with Queen's English. (No offense to the Queen.)

Who said poetry had to be all like Blake and Byron and Frost?

I love Johnson's rhythm and repetition here.

When we saw this video in lecture, one of my classmates even thought he heard a bass line playing in the background until somebody pointed out that there was no backing track on this recorded version of his poem. The way Johnson performed it was just so deep and rhythmic that it sounded musical even without back-up music.

I'd love to make poetry like that. Makes me want to learn bass, so I can back myself up during a performance.

('Cuz I know nobody around here would play bassline back-up for me.

Bloody artless, consumerism slaves that they are.)

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