4 tips on how to improve your performance poetry

In the photo above are Nadia Martelli, Steve Wheeler, Richard de Bulat, Tyrone M. Warren and Kate Cameron. All appeared at the recent Invisible Poets Roadshow, performing their poetry for a live audience.

What exactly does it take to be a successful performance poet? The answer can be multifaceted, not least because we are all different, and have different styles, vocal ranges and various ways of communicating. However, there are some tried and tested techniques that you can adopt and practice to improve your performance presence, no matter what kind of poet you are. 

Yes, performance is all about presence. 

The first tip is to connect with your audience. This can be done in a number of ways, including eye contact, body movement, and gestures. I often meet and chat with members of my audience before I even get up onto the stage. This breaks down barriers, people can see that I am human and down to earth, and that helps to span the gap between audience and stage. I try to find commonalities with each person I meet, and can even mention some of those when I'm in performance mode. Knowing a little about members of your audience can be a nice little touch, especially when you are 'filling in' between poems. It all helps to break down barriers and create a connection. 

Secondly, microphone technique is all important. Stand too far away, or too close, and the sound will be compromised. Some poets seem terrified of the mic. It's not a threat, it's a useful tool to enable you to communicate. Use it badly and it can hamper your performance. Use it effectively, and it is magic. Always hold the mic so that it is pointing directly toward your mouth, not to the ceiling, or to somewhere else. If it's on a microphone stand, adjust it o the correct height and angle before you start. Remember preparation time is all important, so a sound check before the audience arrives is always a good idea. You don't need to touch the mic with your lips (that would be unhygienic especially if several of you are performing). However, you should be able to get the flat of your hand in between your lips and the microphone, so no more than an inch or so. Too far away, and the sound system has to work harder to pick up your voice, and the result can be howl-around feedback. Too close, and the sound can be distorted. 

Thirdly, rehearse, rehearse, rehearse! The more you are familiar with your own material, the more slick your performance will be. Several poets have told me recently that their live performances have improved since they began to practice breathing, pausing at appropriate points in a poem, and emphasising certain words and phrases. You can practice different voices, ways of expressing your emotions from whispering to shouting, and modulate your entire vocal range according to the demands of the poem you perform. 

Finally, have fun! If you are exuding happiness and confidence on stage, your audience will sense this and will get on your side, because they want to enjoy the performance too. You don't necessarily have to tell jokes or be a comedian, but humorous stories or anecdotes about how you wrote a particular poem, or were inspired can really get your audience on your side. If your audience is laughing, you are winning. Smiling and other facial expressions can also help, especially if the poem is funny. If you don't have any humorous or witty poetry in your repertoire, you might think about writing a few. 

So that's it. Four tips on how to improve your performance poetry delivery. There are many other tips, such as taking a deep breath or two before you go on stage, pacing your set effectively, or visualising success before you start. Watching established performance poets to see what they do is always a good idea. If you receive any feedback, listen to it, and try to learn, even if it is negative. Ultimately, you will only learn through your own experience. 

Good luck (...you won't need it)!

Steve Wheeler

All photographs copyright Wheelsong Books Ltd 2025

Urban poetry

What is urban poetry? Well, have you ever seen or watched a performance of poetry on the streets? I used to do this myself when I was younger. It takes some courage, but out on the streets you always have an audience of some kind. I would get on top of a wooden box with a microphone stand and perform my poetry to anyone who was walking by and who might be prepared to stop and listen for a while. Yep, I was a little bit more insane back then. I've seen others do similar. Urban poetry doesn't have to be outdoors. It can be anywhere. Some of the best urban poetry pops up unexpectedly and takes us all by surprise. 

Urban poetry is about being on the right side of history. It's about telling the truth in spoken word. It can be about down to earth subjects with which we can all identify, like love and loss, traffic jams, chip shop queues, losing your keys, self esteem, or simply... living in a city. More often than not, urban poetry is a protest about something - corrupt politicians, war, poverty, pollution, racism... you name it. If you want to speak out against something by writing and performing poetry, you can call it urban poetry. There's no room for flowery language in urban poetry. It's delivered in a no-compromise, earthy, gritty, street level rhythm and tempo with plenty of rhyme and some choice language too.

Classic urban poetry proponents include Manchester Poet Mike Garry performing Penny for the Guy in an outdoor market, or Gil Scott Heron with his classic The Revolution will not be Televised complete with a bass and drum accompaniment.

Look out also for excellent urban poets such as Harry Baker, the inimitable John Cooper Clark (here he is in 1980 with a poem about urban decay called Beasley Street) and Birmingham poet and playwright Benjamin Zephaniah (here with a 2009 performance of Dis Poetry)... all of whom have influenced my own writing and poetry performances and probably inspired me to write my 2020 collection Urban Voices. If you have poetry in you, and it is just screaming to get out, try the spoken word as well as the written word to get your message out there. You can do a lot worse than plunge into some poetry performances out on the street. 

Be an urban poet - and go make some waves. 

Steve Wheeler

Image copyright by Steve Wheeler 2023

Performance Poetry

I learnt a lot about public presentation through time spent as the front man in several bands that toured during the 70s, 80s and 90s (the image left is me playing at a gig sometime in 1982). Later I learnt more about public speaking through my teaching career, and latterly as a professional speaker on the keynote circuit. I managed to clock up tens of thousands of miles a year as an invited speaker at large events around the world, taking in more than 45 countries. 

There are some key things to remember when you speak or present publicly. It's all based on performance to, and connection with your audience. The same principles apply to poetry performance as they do the playing music or public speaking. 

Here are just a few of the things I learnt:

1) Take your time, don't rush, don't speak too quickly. Do some deep breathing before you start. It lowers your voice and steadies it. 

2) Your audience largely wants you to succeed. Most of them are on your side. The ones that aren't don't actually matter.

3) Start with some humour. Get the audience smiling or laughing. It will lighten the atmosphere.

4) Speak clearly - use pauses - and maintain eye contact with your audience. If there are a lot, then you may need to scan around more, but if you do so, each member of that crowd with think you are speaking to them directly.

5) If it goes wrong. Start again. Make a joke out of it. Use the moment to regroup and ... go again.

6) If someone is stupid enough to heckle you, remember.... you have the stage. You may also have the microphone. Which is more that they have. You can either talk over them until they shut up, or you can wait until they say something that actually makes them look foolish. Then, if you are brutal enough... you can turn it against them. 

7) Finally, don't just read blandly your poem. You have an audience! Perform it to them. Use all your emotion and energy to convey the meaning of your poem to them. People will appreciate it. 

I hope these have helped a little for those doing any live performances of their poetry. Remember, the poetry - if it's good enough - will speak for itself. You will merely be the vehicle in which it arrives. 

The Power of Immediacy

Back in the day (and I'm talking mid 80s to early 90s) in the pre-internet, pre-smartphone, pre-social media age, life was simple, but everything took so long to accomplish. As a performance poet, I frequented, and sometimes MC'd live poetry events at festivals. I also appeared in several bands, usually accompanied by my trusty axe (the one in this photo is a Gibson Les Paul - a set in the Big Top at Greenbelt Festival 1983). Under clear blue skies, warmed by the summer sun, we would stand on makeshift wooden stages with nothing more than a microphone and a book of poems, and hold forth to whomever was walking by. Sometimes we would garner audiences of up to a thousand people and on one occasion, I managed to blag a spot on the main stage of a major festival and performed in front of over 24 thousand people. Heady days. I wish oh I wish I could remember the names of my fellow festival fringe poets. 

Poets need feedback. All of the feedback we received for our performances and readings was received by our audience in the form of applause and an occasional comment or two. Sometimes people would write to us. I had a few letters and notes from people through the mail appreciating my poetry, and one notable complaint. One person took umbrage about one of the poems I read, called Vegetarian. She herself, she informed me, was a vegetarian, and then proceeded to berate me for the words I had written. I think if the Vegans had landed on the planet by then, she might well have claimed to be one. She was adamant and militant about her vegetarianism. 

In writing, I replied that she might have misunderstood my poetry. I was not sniping against vegetarians, but rather praising their stance, and bemoaning my lack of discipline in my own dietary practices. She replied by return of post, a huge diatribe including several printed sheets of documents that claimed the health benefits of vegetarianism. She had missed the point. Completely. This went on for a few weeks. Back and forth. Her final mail to me was a small package rather than a letter. Must have cost her a fortune to send it through the mail. At this point, I politely wrote back thanking her for her concerns, and wishing her well. This exchange took place over a couple of months. It served to inform me that some people, passionate or not about their beliefs, can sometimes be seriously wrong, but will go to any length to try to prove their point. 

Today of course, in the age of Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms, anyone can voice their views to anyone else, and regardless of all the drivel, vicious trolling and vacuous spam we receive, there is the power of immediacy. There is nothing quite like live poetry. During my time performing (and I hope I can resurrect that time) I had the pleasure to meet many talented individuals including luminaries such as Stewart Henderson, Steve Turner and the late great Larry Norman - all of whom I consider to be excellent poets leading lights in the poetry world. 

But I spend most of my time now online, either reading live or responding to discussions and comments on Facebook poetry groups such as Pure Poetry and two of my own groups Invisible Poets and Wheelsong Poetry Group. (Join us if you wish.) Some of the content posted is astoundingly good in quality, and I of course join in, sharing my own compositions. The beauty of these groups is that you can gain almost instant feedback on your work. It's often complementary, with an occasional comment about how it can be improved or extended. What would have taken days or even weeks back in the 80s and 90s now takes seconds, and can also be immediate through live chat and messenger systems. Oh how the world of performance poetry has changed!

Steve Wheeler