Congratulations Andy on a prestigious gig, I hope it goes well! Please let us know.
I've had my plans to attend the Henley LitFest disrupted by the chance to do some reading of my own, at the (very small) Moondogs Cafe in Reading, Sunday afternoon at 3pm. Am terrified, I have no idea how many poems it takes to read for 40 minutes.
Any tips from more experienced poetry readers on how to read well for an audience would be much appreciated.
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Alas, I have no tips for you, JUdi, but just saying 'good luck', and please tell us how it goes.
ReplyDeleteHi Judi, Well done you. It'll be fine. 40 mins is a long time, The only way to be sure about how many poems to read is to read them aloud and time them! Choose your favourites and try, if they allow, to give the progession of the poems some kind of shape. Start and end with the ones you feel have the most impact and bury the ones you're less secure about in the middle somewhere. Allow a minute extra per poem for anything you want to say about it before you read. Better to have too little than too much. Leave 'em wanting more! Not being prescriptive, Judi - you'll find your own way - but I hope this is helpful and not merely stating what I'm sure you know instinctively anyway. Good luck on Sunday. Pru
ReplyDeleteYes, I'd like to hear how it goes, too. Good advice from Pru. It's good to be nervous - but try not to be terrified. I just say to myself 'What the hell', and try to think of it as licensed self-indulgence. And if you concentrate on how you want your poems to feel and sound, and just getting that across, you don't need to think about your own nerves. There's a lovely phrase I heard somewhere - "I'm going for a swim in the lake of me." And I think there should be something of that about it. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteThank you! As with a business presentation, the amount of rehearsal I put in should make a difference. I will get my reading list together tonight and read aloud to my cats to get the timing right. They are a difficult audience to impress.
ReplyDelete"A swim in the lake of me" sounds very egotistical - but I suppose most poets are egotistical to some extent.
Judi - how did it go yesterday? Was sending good vibes!
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Thanks Pru.
ReplyDeleteWell, despite the cyberpromises of the cafe owner's Facebook friends, the audience was a little... select. Consisted of: two poets from the Reading Poetry Cafe (hooray), two random girls who really would have preferred a nice chat, a couple who came in hoping for a quiet coffee and a read of the newspapers, two workmen sitting on the back step having a smoke, an old duffer dressed like Derek and Clive in a flat cap and muffler, a youth worker from the local church with verbal diarrhoea (sp?) who at least shut up for a few minutes while the poetry was going on, and Craig, the cafe owner. But it went ok, thanks, I wasn't too nervous, it was good practice. but as I wasn't exactly working as Jen Hadfield's warm-up, I hadn't expected too much!
Hello Judi and well done! We all start somewehere, and it looks like you got some good advice to add to the good poems...onto the next one!
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