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« on: April 29, 2007, 09:06:42 AM »
I am consistently scored lower because my material is not memorized. The judges usually tell me this. They come up to me afterwards with feedback and usually state that I need to be more prepared. The perception is if you don't memorize your material, then you have not prepared as much as others.
After they give me feedback I have to tell them why I have not memorized my poetry: I was in a car crash in 1998. I whacked the left side of my head and I lost all my math ability and I lost all my memorization ability. All that was replaced with poetry. I cannot memorize. For several months I took my cards with me when I walked the 2 miles to work. I tried to memorize three pieces. Not possible. I still need the cards, but now when I read those poems, I remember my walk to work.