>
>> and that 90 miles to read one poem,
>> eek! a tie with the worst reading story I've yet heard, a woman poet
>> about 7
>> months pregnant who went 3 hours by train to give a talk, arrived,
>> and found no
>> one had announced the talk, so there was nobody there, or she hoped
>> there
>> would be nobody so she could go home, when one person walked in a
>> moment
>> or two late, and she had to give the talk anyway!
>>
>>
> I am amazed this woman didn't freak out and run amok. A talk to ONE
> person? They could have gone out for coffee or a drink and at least
> turned it into a social event.
>
This has happened to others. There's a story about Earle Birney, at the
time one of Canada's most famous poets, who went to give a Canada
Council sponsored reading in northern Manitoba, was met by the
organizer, who told him he couldn't stay, left him in an empty room, to
which one person came, & since it was in a hotel, Birney took him for a
drink. And read him some poems....
I've read to as few as four, at another badly advertised gig.
Doug
Douglas Barbour
Department of English
University of Alberta
Edmonton Alberta T6G 2E5 Canada
(780) 436 3320
http://www.ualberta.ca/~dbarbour/dbhome.htm
We both know the reason why you called
So stop wastin’ time tryin’ to soften up my fall
I know you wanna sweeten up the taste
But if you don’t mind I’ll just take my sorrow straight
Iris DeMent
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