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and the Chapter One series.

 

In the late 1960s, amid the anti-Vietnam War protests, Charles Matz came to the Southampton College English faculty from teaching at Notre Dame. He began performing his “shout” poetry—an antecedent of the larger genre called performance poetry—at Notre Dame, having been invited by his students to shake things up at a rock concert. He recalled that the rehearsal was raucous. “The clamber of noise extraordinary. I reasoned that I would have to create something that would match or exceed their volume level. The performance was before many rather staid nuns and priests. They were absolutely stunned. I had the students turn up the volume to blast people.”

 Despite his passion for performance, he continued to teach literature in Europe, England and the United States. In a diverse creative life, he also held the post of iconographer of nave clerestory windows, Washington National Cathedral.

1. Think that the poem is to be used. And that the poet is to be used. Used as though it were the last time, emergency, and the use was to consume them, use them up completely.
2. Conjure with the elements of the situation of use: setting, audience, time of day. Each use is a dramatic affair; prepare for it using theatrical methods…
3. Compose, if possible, for the precise usage. And repeat existing poems with extreme care & caution. In these emergency situations a used poem may not be adequate.
4. Keep in mind that the poem has to move out on three levels: first on the visual (and lesser) level, that is all the setting, lighting, room or open space, the poet himself; then on the level of meaning (each word must be shaped to be understood, by rehearsal and intent at the moment of emergency use); and finally as music, being sounded with its rise and fall in dynamics, with the rhythmical beat clearly established and progressive, with tonality in proper pitch, in the voice.
5. Preserve an unbroken line in the performance. No faltering is possible. The whole shout will collapse if a moment’s faltering and hesitancy is felt. Perfect self-assurance and control must be given to the hearers throughout, from opening words to climax and end. For safety, test the situation with the first words, or add preface words to prove out the ambient and the moment. Find the measure at once! The is an emergency. Remember: this is the last possible shout. Rouse yourself out of torpor and put everything into this last possible shout before oblivion.

 

Charles A. Matz: University of Notre Dame, USA, La Sorbonne, University of Paris, France, Columbia University, USA. Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur de France.