Literary Event 2: Poetry Out Loud

I also attended the Poetry Out Loud event but I must say I hold a far more negative impression of it. Frankly, all of the performers were amazing in their own particular way. But what I came to find frustrating was the fact that these performances were often quite subjective. What moves me is likely quite different from what moves you. And I can understand being (generally) able to differentiate between that “star” of the show, but I must say that the majority of them could not really be judged against each other for what they’ve presented considering the differences in tone and words and the rhythm and the point of each poem. And what I mean by this is that I find it quite irritating and even problematic for this event to have taken place in that I felt the judges were quite partial. Some poems were taken more seriously considering their reputation and their content matter (and maybe even how much our judges liked the poem) while others seemed to have been dismissed by these exact premises. Still, other poems had already been done quite well beforehand (in other media by professionals) and it almost seemed as if the judges themselves were pitting these performers against those of their antecedents.
    I guess, then, one has to ask the question of how it is the judges are evaluating the performers. Frankly, I got the impression that it wasn’t by how moved we were and how alive the poem became, but rather by the measurement of how difficult a poem was and the creative methods employed by our performer to make it his or her own. But even in this judgment, subjectiveness still reigns supreme and I strongly disapprove of what has taken place. But of course, this is just me. And I’m entitled to my own opinion.