Beyond literal definitions, in this issue we wanted to capture the breadth and scope of how performance shows up in the most unlikely settings. We wondered if poems could explore the nuances of when we have a role to assume, a mask to hide behind, secrets to tell and when our identity becomes tied to how we interact in our day-to-day lives.
In our call for submissions, we wished to observe how poets sought refuge in intimate, vulnerable and voyeuristic contexts. We yearned to read poems which reflected performance on the page – from never-ending scripts to stanzas centred like a stage. Most importantly, as onlookers to a spectacle, we embraced poems which stood in their truth, often taking different approaches that are unique to the poet. As Jane Keynon said “the poet’s job is to tell the truth in such a beautiful way, that people cannot live without it.” In this way, we searched for poems which had decided on a specific angle, and looked at performance through a truly unique and often playful, surrealist or microscopic lens, and every time with a deep commitment to the fullest expression of both the story and characters at hand.
Our call for submissions saw performance stretch, waver and withdraw depending on the voice of the poet. We have Abbie Day’s Tonight’s the Night where she describes what it feels like to finally drop the performance, Francis-Xavier Mukiibi who gives readers the privilege of being let into the mind and vision of a child mute in A Broken Ghazal: Mutism and Erica Hesketh in Live Action Role-Play who uses surrealism to mirror the magnitude of many overlapping connections and actions we are all playing out in real time. Our Inspired feature, Shaniqua Benjamin and Selected poet, Maureen Onwunali both make you confront performance through tackling themes of identity, trauma and activism.
Dialogue and conversation are a backdrop to performance. Many deeper messages were translated by opening dialogue on the actors in family dynamics, relationships and mental health. This demonstrated to us how revealing performance can be and raised questions of who is performing? Why are they performing? Where are they performing? There was a desire to explore the idea of performance as facilitating an environment for sensibilities to thrive or as a tool to address hard conversations or as having the agency to make decisions.
From multiple voices to monologues, we were also drawn to poets who had asked the questions “what is this poem trying to say?” or “is there anything more this poem needs to say?” with a complete inquiry, offering more than an individual musing or catharsis. Poets such as Alison Davis were able to begin their poems with a sense of expanse and possibility, returning to the end, with this similar sense of openness.
Poetry is a conduit for channelling contrasting yet real interpretations of performance. We’ve found ourselves sitting at the feet of storytellers and become immersed in their worlds of street cleaners and flamenco dancers, magicians and pianists, painters and parents, chemists and comedians, drag queens looking at themselves in the mirror and refugees in the interrogation room. It is no surprise that performance even took centre stage in the natural world, with birds and trees and the silent dancing of sound and light.
Turn the page and the performance will begin.
Mariam Chaudhri, David Floyd and Josiane Smith
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From Magma 89, Performance
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