Part I

I used to listen to the poets slamming their works at Chicago House off Sixth Street in Austin. One night, I decided to give it a try. I climbed up onto the little wooden stage, took microphone in hand, and recited one of my favorite poems, "In The End."

We lived a love became a lie

Because it would not adapt to the changes

Rearranged our lives.

We grew away from each other on our own,

Until one day, I opened my eyes

And looking around

Realized

I was alone.

That poem covers the entire arc of how love is lost in a few lines. The polite smattering of applause I received told me no one liked it, so I went back to watching and listening for the next few weeks. Finally, I thought I understood. In a single morning, "Full Meter" jumped out of my head and onto the page.

I got back up on stage, shared "Full Meter" with the audience, received a thunderous round of applause, walked off the stage, and never got up there again.

Why? And hey, what is the real meaning of "Full Meter" anyway? I'll cover that in Part II.

Part II

What I learned:

A successful poetry slam is visceral, more about emotionally potent images than meaningful concepts. In other words, it's not so much the words as the wordplay.

What the poem was really about:

I made "Full Meter" uber visceral to appeal to my audience. It worked.

but...

I was an idealistic writer determined to produce ages enduring versus immediately marketable poetry. I'd already decided slamming did not appeal to me, but I didn't want to go away feeling like a loser, so I wrote "Full Meter." I really meant for that poem to be a bit of a raspberry kiss for my audience on my way out the door.

https://www.thecreativenow.com/post/full-meter