Alison wrote:
'There was a young black woman next to me who had come to the reading out of
curiosity...'
Did I miss something? Was there a reason behind the 'young black woman'
label???
> Alison Croggon <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> I saw Ruth Padel reading a long narrative poem in London and had real
> trouble not falling asleep. There was a young black woman next to me
> who had come to the reading out of curiosity; she had never been to a
> poetry reading before. She really enjoyed Padel's performance. For
> me, the performance was maybe the most tedious part of the whole
> reading: practised and polished, with gestures I was sure had been
> rehearsed in a mirror, and devoid of all real spontaneity.
>
> Which is where the question of "sexiness" comes in, I guess. This
> was a reading which had Maggie O'Farrell's quote behind it in a kind
> of coy self awareness, a subdued flirt with the audience dependent on
> a certain complicity (look at little ol' me!) So I actually can't
> disagree with Spence: the whole persona played into that particular
> syndrome. It's a certain attitude which is relatively common among
> woman presenting themselves in public and it stems from an
> insecurity, just as there are certain kinds of male poets who mumble
> to the floor. The poetry itself was kind of like knitting.
>
> But some people, like the woman next to me, _like_ knitting. And
> perhaps, if they continue to like knitting, they might move on to
> something more interesting. Or perhaps not. What is certain is that
> one can't legislate what people will like, and if one disagrees,
> well, maybe it's better just to get on with what one _does_ like.
> It's all about "success", isn't it? I tend to agree with Giacometti,
> that success and failure are secondary.
>
> Best
>
> Alison
> --
>
>
>
> Alison Croggon
> Home page
> http://www.users.bigpond.com/acroggon/
>
> Masthead Online
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