Thursday, February 09, 2006
The spoken word ...
Lisa Coutant writes about InterAct Theatre Company's Writing Aloud: The "Writes" Of InterAct. This should done with poetry als0, I think. Poets are not always the best readers of their poems. Just because you can write words doesn't mean you have the voice or the technique to speak them effectively in public.
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Hi Frank,
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of that program. And you're right, it should be done with poetry for the reason you've mentioned.
I've often thought, though, that in real, versus such ideal life, poets are some cross between musicians and writers, because they take their show on the road, whether to "coffee shops" in unused church rooms with folding chairs, or before hundreds or thousands at a college hall, or like Robert Frost or Maya Angelou at the State of the Union addresses. Nowadays, it's Billy Collins who's king of the poetry road, a must see in person. But Robert Pinsky and many others are up there. In fact, although I have never seen her, I read somewhere, that one of the reasons for Carolyn Kizer's success is that she reads so well.
So, I always thought that, if I were to go for the big time in poetry, I would consider myself like a musician, and get gigs wherever I could, selling books like they sell CD's wherever people brought their wallets and might ask me to sign the cover--ultimately going for bigger and bigger venues, until I could say I've read with Collins and Hall here, and Ashbery and Graham there.
Yours,
Rus