Poetry at Nationals

[lilmcd86]

what kind of poetry seems to make its way to semis and finals? narrative-like, or a bunch of small poems? funny or serious or both? is there anyone who pushes the limit on the "no movement below the waist?"

[Lorelei]

i will be doing poetry at nats for the first time ever(i never competerd in poetry b/c we dont have it in cali). im prollie not the best person to give an advice in this event but i will do poetry the was i saw it done in college competitions. the topic will be serious but with funny moments. it will be a little bit narrative-like and i will prollie not move around a lot. what i dont understand ... is there a rule "no movement below the waist"??

[phillyone]

well......poetry that usually does the best is fun poetry....poetry that makes people laugh, makes them have fun, draws them in, interests them, techy poetry that has room to play with(the words), or just plain hilarious poems.....serious poems can do well, dont get me wrong, but fun poetry typically does better'.."prose-poetry" does well too, but people like to hear fun poems they can follow...make sure your poems have a connection if you do a collection because if people are confused they will rank you low


there is not a rule that says NO MOVEMENT BELOW THE WAIST...however, excessive movement can and often does get penalized through low ranks.....walking is looked down upon....any overly excessive movement distinctive of DI or HI will get low ranked usually...the purist OIer will no move their lower body much at all, if at all....

I defenitely agree with phillyone, fun poetry typically does the best. I see alot of serio-comedy winning, and of course dramatic poetry tends to do well too. But if you want to go far I would reccomend going funny, but you may not win, b/c alot of the time judges will have more respect for an amazing serious than an amazing funny.

[phillyone]

true...as is always with forensics it will depend solely on the judge, but few judges can deny a clearly good poetry performance..so get a good program together, make it clean, make it flow, and you'll do fine...pick one's that you like

Just make sure you envoke some sort of emotion out of your judge. Thats all you need to set you apart really...emotion. Make them laugh or cry...but make them do something. :D