Stage Invasion

This book by Pete Bearder is a multi-disciplinary investigation in poetry and "the spoken word Renaissance" that has been taking place in the west in recent years. I've actually met the author* (stage name Pete the Temp) at a fracking site a few years ago, where he performed some radical poetry - but his scholarship shown here is just as fine as his capacity for crowd-rousing verse.

   The book itself drives a complex path across its many disciplines to explicate the nature and trajectory of spoken word. After an introduction setting up the intent of the book, we are first given a glimpse into the world of slam poetry, its origins, popularity, and benefits and drawbacks.** We then dive into a definitional chapter discussing exactly what spoken word is and isn't - from the ancient concept of oral tradition to "live literature"; reflections on style, and then finally a consideration of the social format itself in which this art form generally takes place and its uniquenesses. Then there's a history chapter, starting with the Romantics through the Beat generation up to contemporary hip-hop, and how all of these have left their mark on the art form as it's evolved. The next chapter digs into DIY renewal culture; how the grassroots nature of poetic space necessarily creates room for creators to create, interact and share in innovative ways. Following this are three chapters building on the same idea - first how a poem inhabits and leaves the body of the performer during performance; second how this inhabits and shapes the experience of bodies in the crowd listening to said performance,*** and thirdly how if done well this can all lead to spoken word performances bringing out transcendent states of shared consciousness between audience and performer. The final chapter is about how this can be, and often is, utilized to great effect in harmonising sympathies in crowds for transformative political ends - poetry can be remarkably effective propaganda if written and shared correctly, as long as recognition and empathy are at its heart.

   The blurb quote on the front of this book claims it is the book "we have all been waiting for", and as a member of the many spoken word communities in the UK today, I couldn't agree more; Bearder's scholarship is deep and wide and his love of the craft evident on every page. The poetry he samples for quotes to make his points is eclectic and wondrous, and his core argument that spoken word is a social force of uniting and driving emotional communal activity toward understanding and the forging of better worlds is tangible throughout. If you're a spoken word artist craving to know more about the artistic world you inhabit, this is absolutely the book for you - if you're skeptical about it as an art form, this would be a challenging but wholesome read that will make you think twice about what you do or don't seek out and listen to. A fantastic book.

* And again [edit December 2024] as he was performing at The Shakespeares, and I got my copy signed; he says "this book - in your hands - a powerful weapon". I hope I live to prove him right.

** As the host of a spoken word night myself which is very much in its culture antithetical to slam, I found much to disagree with in this chapter, but much worth bearing in mind too.

*** This chapter has a section which delves into the role of the MC of a spoken word event, a role which I myself have held for Guerrilla since 2019, and so this was of much interest and encouraging inspiration to me.