Hi! After reading and analyzing both G.Chaucer’s Wife of Bath & Patience Agbabi’s Wife of Bafa (from your textbook Performer Culture & Literature1, Zanichelli) I’d like you to create a modern version of “the wife” working in groups. Then you’ll recite it in front of the class. 🙂 Don’t be shy, it’s going to be fun!
First of all let’s see what a SLAM poem is. It’s type of poetry expressing a person’s personal story or struggle usually in an intensely emotional style. Very powerful, sincere, and moving.
Step one: in your group choose and agree on the profession, age, cultural background and nationality of your woman character.
Step two: give your “wife” a name. The WIFE OF …
Step three: Identify with her, put yourself in her shoes and write her slam.
If you need a rhyme you can use the RHYMING DICTIONARY:
5 TIPS for your poem:
- Make it original.
- Time. You have 3 minutes to perform. While practicing your poem, time yourself to make sure you do not go over the time limit.
- Simple & Relatable. Your poem should be able to reach your audience the first time it’s heard. It must be clear and convey a message.
- Rhythmic & Passionate. Your poem should have a rhythm that shows through your passionate performance.
- You can add multimedia if you like.(images, videos as background)
Here’s an exemple of a serious & provocative Slam by a girl your age: What Guys Look for in Girls.
I cannot help ending this post with the trailer of a movie I watched many hers ago in 1998 when we still used videotapes – and found really inspiring: Slam.
HERE’S YOUR POEMS! I’m very proud of you all. You did a great performance this morning. None of you read the lines but had learnt the poem by heart. The words flew smoothly, you complied with the deadline and it was fun!
THE KINGSTON LOVER
Hey brother what’s app?
Hey sister how’re doing?
I’m pretty fine here in the coastline
Chilling in Jamaica, in my beautiful land
Look at my face, i’m getting older and older
I’m trying a way to look younger each day
I’ll be 43 in a week
And i hope none of you have something to disagree
I’m going to celebrate with my fourth lover
He might not be my soulmate, but to me he’s been like a four leaf clover
Can’t say the same about his wife and his four daughters though
I wish he could let them go
Tomorrow i’m seeing Paul he’s my fifth and last
Finding him and making him fall for me was so fast
Because as you all know, seducing men is my third talent
The first two you’ll find them out on your own
I used to be a lawyer
I would work from 7 am till 11 pm everyday, struggling to win legal cases
I thought i was on the right way
But working too much made me sad and stressed
So i decided to have a bit of love in my life
I fired myself that same day
And since then i’ve never regretted my choice
Now i occasionally work in my sister’s salon
Braiding hair and entertaining clients with my interesting and hilarious stories
Therefore here AM i, searching for the perfect man
My first attempt was Mark, he used to be my boss
He was awesome and very kind
And we also had great time in bed
His fingers were as soft as cotton candy
Infact it was impossible to resist his magical touch
But despite these facts, our story didn’t last
I decided to leave him that sunday morning
After meeting his wife on his front door
Some say i have a crazy style
I only wear exotic hand made clothes
Made with the finest and newest red fabric there is
If you’re interested just let me know
I won’t hesitate and make you an allowance
But only if you offer me the best dinner ever
I’ll let you know from which foreign land they are from
My men call me in different ways
For their wives i’m just a calamity
But if you ever decide to come and look for me in my area
I am well known as the Kingston lover.
Written by Abigail, Federica, Alessandra P. and Elisa
************************************************
A wealthy woman from close to Burnley town
For her skill she’d deserve a crown
Barbara Barlow was her name
And she was well known for her fame.
She used to weave the silk
For nobles and people of that ilk
In her trade was she so killed
That quickly she became rich.
No husbands she had
And that was very bad
She worked every hour and every day
To make her feelings fly away.
A loads of men fell into her temptation
Therefore so high was her attraction
This woman was so good in bed
Fiery was her body after a night so red.
She had a birthmark on her shoulder
It had a shape of a flower
It looked like a tulip
That every man used to worship.
written by: Anna, Enrico, Carlo and Eleonora
************************************************
THE SPINSTER OF SOPHIA
I am a young woman named Mila
I am the duchess of Sofia
I dress up only in silk lila.
When I walk through the street
All I need is just a prince
And you realize I’m lonely inside.
For many men I cried
Many men thought that I would kiss
Just for money and not for peace.
You may ask “why do you wait so much
For a man who you may never catch?”
The answer is love,
more important then crown.
I never worked a day
If i want something I don’t even have to pay.
But that’s not real happiness
Because only grows my emptiness.
According to my friends
I follow too many trends
I just want the smartest guy
Handsome and who never says goodbye.
I don’t like the ones who are average
Even though I know
what I may need and want
I can’t be sure I’ll keep my man til marriage.
An ordinary living is not
for my person good, I forgot
what are women meant to do
as they’re born to cook and to sew.
One day all my dreams will come true
And maybe my man will be exactly you.
Here I am,
and this is my slam.
Written by Chiara, Adele, Alessandra C. e Elisabetta
************************************************
THE WIDOW OF MALLORCA
My name is Mrs Adelina
I come from Mallorca, in Spain,
today is my 100th birthdayand
I’m still a hurricane.
You know what many say?
That I show so great a bent
in making sandwiches in a Subway
that people buy for just a cent.
Just some years ago, in my adolescence,
I met so many men in the different countries I went,
but just a few put a ring in my hands.
but do you know which was the greatest time I spent?
One day I went to the Billionaire,
there I fell in love with a businessman
but only then I discovered he was a millionaire
and so I became an important woman.
But unfortunately he died
and my soul
stopped shining inside
After a long time I found again my control.
So many wanted me that I couldn’t decide
but only four of them played in my life an important role.
They are the richest men that I know
but they aren’t enough rich to make my heart beat,
so I still consider myself as the businessman’s widow.
After all these stories,
I’m still feeling that something’s missing
because my first love will be forever in my memories.
written by Elena B, Giusi , Erika e Stephanie
The Wife of Liverpool’
“A worthy woman from Liverpool,
was she kind indeed,
she never acted mean or cruel
and granted every need.
Maggie Mae was her name,
Lime Street her runway,
there she walked with no shame
working every day.
Many were the men who fell
for her velvet touch,
no where could you ever go
asking for that much.
Was she the kind of woman one could ever marry?
Plentiful the presence that she had to carry.
Her name was known, her acquaintance sought,
there was not a rival that she ever fought.
This lady used to glorify the many sailor’s tales
her name was the cause of the happy sales.
Far and wide, high and low, she was surely known
the youth would sigh the lady that none could ever own.
But the judge he guilty found her
of robbing the homeward bounder,
and soonly she was taken
as the dockside all was shaken
No more will Maggie Mae be marchin’ thru’ Lime Street.”
written by Abigail C., Alberto, Bajro, Claudia