Yes, it is difficult to read poems, and most of us have done it both well
and badly. "Acting" is death to poems. But that is generally bad acting.
Very good actors can erase themselves before the text without imposing their
personalities on top of it, and to hear a poem spoken with vocal skill can
be really something.
Many people who call themselves performance poets in reality (and this is a
bugbear of mine) know very little about performing, and speak about it as if
there are not histories which stretch back for millennia in different
cultures around the world. Not that you have to understand Noh theatre to
speak a poem: but sometimes it would perhaps help to be less naïve. That
said, there is something particularly exposing about speaking one's own
work, especially in comparison to speaking someone else's.
Best
A
Alison Croggon
Blog: http://theatrenotes.blogspot.com
Editor, Masthead: http://masthead.net.au
Home page: http://alisoncroggon.com
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