Having gone to probably thirty to forty poetry readings over the last few months, I am beginning to think there should be a Poetry Reading Primer. The first rule: you must keep the listener awake! The enemy of the reader is the venue: places where poetry is read tend to be dark and sudsy. They are places in which a lengthy, NPR-esque recital in your quiet hush-hush voice will undoubtedly lull the listener into a doze. Especially as you can be sure that most of the people in attendance at any poetry reading were out until all hours the previous night, drinking as much alcohol as their wee, poety frames could bear, and honestly ought to be in bed. You must give them a reason to return to this world. Yelling "Sex!" loudly in the middle of something usually does the trick.
In other news, I finally got Shanna and Shafer's new collaboration, "Big Confetti." I also got Kasey Mohammad's "Deer Head Nation," but I bought it at Barnes & Nobles, so any subversive street cred I might have gotten for buying the book has been totally wiped out by the corporate source I used. Alack.
posted by Reen |link| 0 comments
