How You Tell It: Spoken Word Poetry with Cormac Mac Gearailt

Course Summary

Poetry is originally an oral art form, to be performed live in front of a captive audience. This course will focus on all aspects of the spoken word poem: how to come up with ideas, how to write and edit your work and, crucially, how to perform it live in front of an audience.

From the outset, the focus will be on writing, with participants encouraged to begin thinking about what kind of work they would like to create. Writing prompts and exercises will be given throughout, with gentle encouraging feedback given at each stage of the process.

There will also be a focus on form and rhythm, impactful imagery, and exploring what makes a poem great. This is a course for anyone who wants to write spoken word poetry, to be performed live and out loud.

Course Outline

Week 1: Introduction to Spoken Word Poetry. History, the present day, and an outline of the course to come.

Week 2: Forms of Poetry. Exploring metrical poetry and hip hop and how they relate to performance.

Week 3: Rhythm, cadence, imagery, ideas. How cadence, rhythm and strong, impactful imagery can greatly enhance your work. Also, how we generate ideas.

Week 4: Getting ready for performance. How to prepare your poem and yourself to perform.

Week 5: Showcase 1. A showcase of students’ work with feedback and focus on Voice.

Week 6: Showcase 2. A chance to share more work, to reflect on what we have learned, and to focus on what comes next.

Course Outcomes

By the end of the course, participants should have a better sense of their own voice and how to write and deliver their work, as well as a deeper understanding of the art of spoken word poetry.

Each session will have some “homework” based in the lesson, and it is envisaged that participants will be well on their way to writing a strong, impactful spoken word poem by the end of the course.

Cormac Mac Gearailt is a multi-award-winning bilingual spoken word poet and creative writing teacher based in Dublin, Ireland. He was the All-Ireland Poetry Slam Champion in 2024, and the UNESCO Cities of Literature Slamovision Champion (for an Irish language poem). Cormac also won the Leinster Slam Championship that year, the Rising Tide Comórtas Slam Filíochta Náisiúnta, the Féile Liú Lúnasa Slam in August 2023, and the Talkatives Slam in December 2022. He has performed at festivals across Ireland – including a number of recent solo shows.

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Booked out? To be added to the waiting list for this course, please email booking@irishwriterscentre.ie.