A multi-language template poem

LIKE A MIRROR (Urdu version)

 

The two speakers face each other up close, like looking into a mirror. To read the last line, both speakers face out to the audience.

The writing in italics is phonetics for the language of the second speaker i.e. not English. There is a time line going down the page and phrases on the same line are spoken at the same time. So words at the same height are read at the same time! This is intentional.

 

 

First Speaker                                                                          Second Speaker

 

We haven’t seen each other,                                                                           ----------------------

In years and years…                                                                                       saal or saalo mey

I see with different eyes                                                                                 ----------------------

----------------------------                                                                         mein alag ankh sey deykhta hoo

I hear with different ears                                                                                -------------------------

---------------------                                                                                              mein alag kaan sey soonta moon

Is it better, or…                                                                                              -------------------------

-----------------                                                                                                   kya yey zyada kharab hay?

------------------                                                                                                  zyada acha hai?

Or is it crueller?                                                                                               --------------------

To be many                                                                                                     zyada

Oh la la. Ohhh lala la.                                                                                     Oh la la. Ohhh lala la.

La la sa la                                                                                                        La la sa la                                                       

Words: black, white, young, old, strong, weak, woman, man                        lafs: kaala, soofeyd, jawan, boorha, bahadoor, kamzor, aurat, admi

Religion or no religion                                                                                    mazmab ya nahi mazhag

Words seem different                                                                                     lafs alag lagtey hain

Emotions seem the same                                                                                 -----------------------

-----------------------------                                                                                    ehsaas ek hee hain

But we are one                                                                                                -------------------

---------------------                                                                                              But we are one

hum sub ek hain                                                                                              hum sub ek hain

 

 

LIKE A MIRROR

 

The two speakers face each other up close, like looking into a mirror. To read the last line, both speakers face out to the audience.

The writing in italics is meant to be translated into the first (or second) language of the second speaker i.e. not English. There is a time line going down the page and phrases on the same line are spoken at the same time. So words at the same height are read at the same time!

 

 

First Speaker                                                                          Second Speaker

 

We haven’t seen each other,                                                                           ----------------------

In years and years…                                                                                       In years and years…

I see with different eyes                                                                                 ----------------------

----------------------------                                                                         I see with different eyes

I hear with different ears                                                                                -------------------------

---------------------                                                                                              I hear with different ears

Is it better, or…                                                                                              -------------------------

-----------------                                                                                                   Is it worse?

------------------                                                                                                  Is it kinder?

Or is it crueller?                                                                                               --------------------

To be many                                                                                                     To be many

Oh la la. Ohhh lala la.                                                                                     Oh la la. Ohhh lala la.

La la sa la                                                                                                        La la sa la                              

Words: black, white, young, old, strong, weak, woman, man                        Words: black, white, young, old, strong, weak, woman, man

Religion or no religion                                                                                    Religion or no religion

Words seem different                                                                                     Words seem different

Emotions seem the same                                                                                 -----------------------

-----------------------------                                                                                    Emotions seem the same

But we are one                                                                                                -------------------

---------------------                                                                                              But we are one

But we are one                                                                                                But we are one.

 

 

NON-ENGLISH LANGUAGE USED IS             …………………………..                          

                  

 

In years and years

                                     

I see with different eyes

 

I hear with different ears

 

Is it worse?

 

Is it kinder

 

To be many                                                

 

Words: black, white, young, old, strong, weak, woman, man

 

Religion or no religion

 

Words seem different

                                               

Emotions seem the same

                                                         

But we are one.

 

 

 

This was written at one of times when the media was trying to scapegoat the local Muslim community for things they had no part in and did not agree with. As happens a lot. I went to Muslim and non-Muslim bonding events. I also wrote this poem to say that we are all humans together. The poem has words which are a template. The template on its own is given at the end. The template is translated into a non-English language and inserted into the poem. I have done this for Urdu. It can also be done with French, Spanish, Kinyarwanda… Obviously a lot of rehearsal is needed! The poem ends with the English speaker also speaking words from the non-English language.

This poem can be used with any language using the template to get phonetic alternatives. Using phonetics allows it to be performed by anyone. I recommend that anywhere from two to five other languages are used. To show the rich variety in our communities. So, the poem gets performed with English and Urdu, then English and (say) French, then English and (say) Spanish… Please use this poem at events with credit to me as author. No money needed. Just, if you can, post a film of the event on You Tube and tell me about it.

If using four languages you can use the same English speaker for all four variations. Or have a different one for each language. Whichever works for you. If not using actors or poets, I am happy for amateur performers to read the words off the page.

Here is my multi-voice site which can help teach you about how to use multi-voice poetry: https://multivoicepoetry.wordpress.com/

 

Email me if you want any help.

Ashby McGowan

Email:  gw10mcgowanashby@glow.ea.glasgow.sch.uk

A nature poem where you join in. You speak one of the voices in this two part multi-voice poem
Rain Over Lochranza

EXAMINING THE EVIDENCE FOR WAR

USING AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION

WITH YOUR MULTI-VOICE POETRY

As an example we can use my multi-voice poem: Rhythm of the Tides. But this technique would work for many similar poems.

One of the accompanying pictures has 16 audience participation cards which allow audience members to speak out of sequence with each other. This will allow audiences to participate in the poem. Any size of audience. The 16 cards are printed, duplicated onto coloured card, and cut out. Then placed on every audience member’s seat before the show. Equal number of cards given out for each of the three verses. Cards are numbered 1, 2, and 3. Each depicts the phrases to be spoken by that audience member when the verse that matches the number on their card is being read. eg. Those with card number 2 read out their phrase when the second verse is being performed.

The poem is performed by the 4 actors with the first verse loud but, verse by verse getting quieter. The poem can be repeated twice. Someone not performing should indicate which verse is being read to the audience by holding up the appropriate number of fingers. They can discuss, with the audience, what the audience have to do before the poem starts. And they can encourage the audience to have a rehearsal by themselves before the poem starts properly (i.e. with the performers taking part).

The poem itself was a screen shot posted via a PNG file that had been cropped on Publisher 2010.

The file with the 16 cards on it was too complicated to save and post easily. So, I scanned the complicated printed page (using a high quality scanner) and saved as a high quality PNG file. This worked well and is another useful tool to use to post (to your website) your multi-voice poems or other complicated formats.

This poem has been performed by Chromatic Voices 1. It met with a great reception from the audience. The poem has been printed once in a Book by A.L.L. Times and thanks to them for permission to post the poem here.

http://www.anluchtlonrach.net/alltimes.asp

If the poem is too difficult to remember then the performers can read their lines off of blank books that are labelled - for the audience to see - with the titles “Wind” etc. With their lines inside. The performers have to move forward line by line at the same time and not leave anyone behind. This is the most difficult part of the poem for the performers on stage. For performers, the more rehearsals you have the better. And this is true for any multi-voice poem!

[This article below is already on one of my websites and duplicates some of the above but is useful to look at.] Large Number Multi-Voice. Since I started writing multi-voice I have been writing different versions that are suitable for large numbers of people: these people being either the audience or the performing Poets taking up the tasks/voices between themselves. I recently devised a version which I think allows maximum variation around the basic idea. Firstly, I wrote a Poem about something that flows or changes (in my case it was the sea, but it could be e.g. time or emotion). There are definite points in the poem were things change by a large amount/in steps. This basic poem has words taken from its text and written up on cards for the audience to read, or for other members of the Performance Group to perform between them. Instructions on how the Poem is meant to be read are enclosed on the card for each member of the audience. The words should have meaning and should fit the various “steps”. In my Poem, the performers read about the sea and each verse has the sea becoming softer and softer. So, the audience have to read words that are very loudly spoken (in verse 1), then loud (verse 2), then normal volume (verse 3). The words themselves change from being harsh words like crash to softer words like lap. Each verse that is read has a number which relates to a number on the card the audience member has: so members of the audience with card 1 read out their bit according to their instructions while the performers are reading verse 1 at the microphone. Similar occurs for verses two and three. Hopefully this relatively simple set up should keep the audience involved and should let them feel part of the poem-in meaning and in sound. This set up might sound a bit complicated but should allow audiences of thirty and upwards to take part in a poem. I was ready to try out this audience participation version of my poem at a poetry night in Glasgow but the audience was only twenty that night and I thought that was too low a number to get the audience participation a proper try out. If your acting/poetry group wants to try this out then please get in touch with me.

                                   

                                                            

Language translators.

 Some more information on how to put a language translator onto your website.

I have now, at last, got a language translator that works on my Altervista site. It is: http://free-website-translation.com/

Of course, language translators will not translate poems that are posted as pictures. However, multi-voice poems are usually so intricate and exact that a translation of an html (multi-voice poem) post sends the text all over the place. However, the text will go back to where it should be when the Language Translator is turned off, or when the viewer exits the webpage.

Even if someone looks at a multi-voice poem and they don’t speak the language of the poem, I believe that the poem can still look fascinating. I intend doing a Post soon which will be a multi-voice poem made into an art work. I think multi-voice poems are intrinsically artistic. As I said in a previous Post, a human rights group had wanted to use my multi-voice poems as artworks for a human rights exhibition. Unfortunately, the organiser became ill and it didn’t happen. The intention was for some entire poems to be painted (in various formats) as stand alone pictures. And for phrases from the poems to be pasted around huge stretches of wall. I think it would have worked. I would be glad for someone else to try this. eg. an art gallery or a human rights group.

 

I found a useful post on the web with regard to language translators for WordPress.com: https://en.forums.wordpress.com/topic/multi-languages-of-the-same-theme?replies=8#post-551125 Posted by timethief who is a member of WordPress.com Forums.

As s/he says, “If you wish to use this code then you will have to replace the URL for my blog i.e. onecoolsitebloggingtips.com with the URL for your blog throughout.”

 

If you go to the site and copy the html for the language translator and then paste it into an editor like Notepad. Then you replace that person’s URL for their website with the URL for your website (Edit; Replace; Replace All.) Check that the change has been done properly-I seemed to have gotten two URL’s for each line when I posted into WordPress.com. So you then go to WordPress.com and paste in the html editor your version of the code from the site with your own URL replacements. Preview it to check it is ok. Then Publish.

So thanks to timethief for this helpful Post and I finally got it working ok. (I am a beginner but I think that this method for WordPress.com works-where many others did not work-is because the html is a set of hyperlinks to a site where the translation is done. So the translation is not done on your actual site-so no potentially risky coding on site.)

Please have a look at each of my multi-voice sites and at the different language translators now on each.

Web addresses are:       

 

https://multivoicepoetry.wordpress.com/

 

And another at:

 

http://multi-voicepoetry.blogspot.co.uk/

 

And also at:

 

http://multi-voicepoetry.yolasite.com/

 

And now also at:

 

http://multivoicepoetry.altervista.org

 

 

 

RECENTLY PUBLISHED MULTI-VOICE POEMS OF MINE:

On 15/4/2015 My Multi-voice poem  Ripples was published in Issue 1 of Rooms.

On 24/6/2015 I learned that my Multi-Voice poem Many Different Animals would be used by Dupe web magazine in the Wild Issue:  http://wearedupe.tumblr.com/About

 

And also on the web: 1/9/2015: http://issuu.com/severinelit/docs/freedom1

A little matter of Economics multi-voice poem.