On Fri, 30 Nov 2001, david.bircumshaw wrote...
>Inneresting. I did a reading the other Friday, beforehand I felt utterly
>awful about it, but something clicked in me, and although I felt like an
>anthology of dog's droppings, I read well, I had to do an encore and
>received a standing ovation, I can 'project' well, despite a bad chest,
>disaster area teeth and a Birmingham accent, but I do find readings very
>nervous experiences, maybe because I'm terrified of the world they're taking
>place in.
>
I enjoy doing readings. The last one I did was in Blackwell's, Oxford,
in support of my appearance in the OxfordPoets 2001 anthology. I was
going to announce it here, but I forgot.
Sometimes I read at the local 2nd-hand bookshop/cybercafe, where the
audience is enthusiastic and uncritical, and the standard of performance
very variable. Last time I read there, there was someone high as a kite
on some substance or other, and disgruntled because he wasn't allowed to
read his own September 11 poems. He started heckling me, muttering
"Arse, arse" in increasingly audible tones. He wouldn't stop, even when
invited to "Shut up" by members of the audience. Nor even when it was
politely suggested to him that he should "Shut the fuck up." But when
Mart stood up and suggested that the two of them should step outside to
discuss the finer points of poetry reading etiquette, the inebriated
gentleman became unaccountably shy. (Mart is a big bloke, and was in the
Army for 25 years.)
Best,
--
Peter
http://www.hphoward.demon.co.uk/poetry/
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