The poets I've heard perform their poems best did it from memory, or had a rock and roll attitude, like Patti Smith. Most poets kill their poems when they read them, because they read them in a monotone and are shoe-gazers.
Olga Broumas is a great poet-performer. I saw her read her own poems and those she had translated from Odysseas Elytis once, and she did it all from memory. It was performance, it was magic.
This is oh so true.
ReplyDeleteThe poets I've heard perform their poems best did it from memory, or had a rock and roll attitude, like Patti Smith. Most poets kill their poems when they read them, because they read them in a monotone and are shoe-gazers.
Olga Broumas is a great poet-performer. I saw her read her own poems and those she had translated from Odysseas Elytis once, and she did it all from memory. It was performance, it was magic.