Tim, I'll add this to what's been said. Get behind the poem. Feel its emotions, see its images, and believe in its viewpoint. If you want to lead the audience into another world, you have to go there yourself.
Here's what I think is a great example, not from the poetry world, of a speaker and his words showing joint commitment. A flyfisherman and conservationist who lives near us, Ken Kirkby, is also an artist who is famed for a painting called "Isumataq", a massive work based on his experiences in the Arctic.
This website describes it as follows:
Quote:
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In 1981, determined to provide a stage for what he believed was his best work, Ken began the world's largest canvas painting "Isumataq". Twelve feet high by 152 feet long, it became his full time project. The painting, consisting of 38 vertical panels, depicts the raw powerful landscape and the inukshuks and ice bergs that so define the North. The painting was completed in 1991 and was unveiled in Parliament by then Speaker of the House of Commons, John A. Fraser. During the unveiling Ken Kirkby was introduced to Parliament as a truly great Canadian whose unique vision of this country is an example for us all. In 1993, Kirkby was awarded the Commonwealth Medal for the 125th Anniversary of Canadian Confederation in recognition of his outstanding contribution to Canada.
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Ken played a role in gaining the territory of Nunavut for Canada's northern first nations. In his speech to the Canadian Parliament,
shown here, the weight of his commitment comes through in his last two words. No Wabash Cannonball "From the great Atlantic Ocean, to the wild Pacific shore" here. Canada has a third coastline in the north and he wasn't going to let that be forgotten.
John