Responding To Hannah Kniphfer's Megan Married Herself

I am responding to Hannah Kniphfer; Hannah chose to perform the poem Megan Married Herself for her performance of poetry. Hannah kept the introduction short and concise, she mentioned that the poet was famous for writing poems about acceptance, hope, and depression. Her choice of attire for this performance was a short all black dress, black boots, and heavier makeup than she would have normally worn. As she spoke the first few lines of the poem she threw dead rose petals on the ground with every word that was said. She did not look at the audience very often in the beginning of the poem, she looked at the rose. While the poem continued on, there were a few key words that were spoken and as they were spoken a few audience members would perform
As the poem continued on, she moved across the floor and towards the end of the poem began to write the words “you are enough” in lipstick on a small mirror.
This performance was overall very compelling and held meaning not only for the performer but also for the audience; this was a relatable poem although the surface level meaning is a little absurd. The performer clearly brought her own truths to the poem in terms of acceptance. This performance was freed from the “confines of textual authorities” (Bell) because Hannah’s physicality and attitude towards the poem gave it brand new meaning. From an audience perspective, the poem itself was mostly about accepting yourself as a person and loving yourself. The character within the poem, Megan, represented people as a whole and
Through the use of props and idea personification, the performer made this idea clear. I think she closely followed the poet’s intentions, it seems that Hannah did a lot of research of the poet and other poems that were written by them. In a sense, Hannah performed culture. In our worldly culture, body shaming is common and people often go through periods of self hate due to body issues. Hannah’s choice of dress created a blank canvas and made herself genderless by wearing solid colors which in turn made the message of the poem much more universal than simply focused towards female acceptance. This performance was clearly reflexive in this way. I believe that she found what she needed to do to get the message across as necessary, however, if the props and attire were taken away, her physicality did not paint a proper picture regarding the poem’s message. Her choices to not go through with large motions, or walking towards the other side of the room, were definitely noted. The choice to under utilize the space impacted the message. The message of the poem was still self acceptance, however, Hannah aired on the side of death of self-loathing once again by not selling her performance to the other side of the room, perhaps she associated that side of the room with those particular