Spring Break
Poet brings inspired performance to UA
Edward Humphrys
Issue date: 10/13/08 Section: Lifestyles
Massachusetts-based poet Shira Erlichman's performance at the UA Thursday was an inspiring moment for Fayetteville's small slam poetry circuit. Erlichman, a nationally recognized slam poet, performed at RZ's Coffeehouse as part of the Coffeehouse Committee's bi-monthly poetry events.
Erlichman's performances displayed a deep multi-dimensionality in the interplay of drama, humor, physical movement and recital in each of her works. The various balances and the internal interaction between these elements form the constructive backbone of her art.
Erlichman began her first performance, a rendition of "The Piano Speaks," with an almost fluid ease, delivering the opening lines with surprising clarity and power, immediately seizing the attention of the hushed room.
"I am the mental hospital piano, and I have seen hand," Erlichman recited, the sincerity of the delivery seeming to transform her into the poem's narrator.
As the recital progressed, the total physicality of Erlichman's delivery became apparent.
Lines were delivered to the accompaniment of dramatic expressive movements of the body, especially of the poet's hands, which rarely came to a complete rest.
In an appropriate synchronism, "The Piano Speaks" found its central focus in the subject of human hands and their capacity for deep and revealing expressiveness.
The expression of desperation, desire and human feeling by these secondary characters in the poem was handled in a convincing way because of the extremely descriptive and image-rich dialogue and Erlichman's engaging movements.
Perspective and delivery shifted for the next two poems, which dealt with female sexual orientations and the preconceptions and confusion surrounding them.
Humor ran predominant throughout the pieces, with the poems giving the impression of after-school educational programming fused with sarcastic social criticism.
Audience members cracked amused smiles and occasionally burst into short bouts of laughter at the confrontational humor in the performances.
Erlichman's performances displayed a deep multi-dimensionality in the interplay of drama, humor, physical movement and recital in each of her works. The various balances and the internal interaction between these elements form the constructive backbone of her art.
Erlichman began her first performance, a rendition of "The Piano Speaks," with an almost fluid ease, delivering the opening lines with surprising clarity and power, immediately seizing the attention of the hushed room.
"I am the mental hospital piano, and I have seen hand," Erlichman recited, the sincerity of the delivery seeming to transform her into the poem's narrator.
As the recital progressed, the total physicality of Erlichman's delivery became apparent.
Lines were delivered to the accompaniment of dramatic expressive movements of the body, especially of the poet's hands, which rarely came to a complete rest.
In an appropriate synchronism, "The Piano Speaks" found its central focus in the subject of human hands and their capacity for deep and revealing expressiveness.
The expression of desperation, desire and human feeling by these secondary characters in the poem was handled in a convincing way because of the extremely descriptive and image-rich dialogue and Erlichman's engaging movements.
Perspective and delivery shifted for the next two poems, which dealt with female sexual orientations and the preconceptions and confusion surrounding them.
Humor ran predominant throughout the pieces, with the poems giving the impression of after-school educational programming fused with sarcastic social criticism.
Audience members cracked amused smiles and occasionally burst into short bouts of laughter at the confrontational humor in the performances.
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