I think Miles Davis talked about the silences being as important as
the notes? Certainly, if a poet puts spaces in, they're meant to be
'heard'; at least, mine are.... And I'd sure think Oppen's are, too....
Doug
On 11-Feb-07, at 8:13 AM, Joanna Boulter wrote:
> I think people are on the whole afraid to read spaces -- maybe they
> think the audience will assume they've finished. I reckon it's very
> like the rests in music -- musicians, singers in particular, use this
> sort of lifted silence which carries through to the next sounded note.
> If you don't let the tension go yourself, always holding in mind where
> it is you're going, your audience stays with you. Works perfectly well
> with words too.
>
> joanna
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Peter Cudmore"
> <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Sunday, February 11, 2007 2:41 PM
> Subject: Re: What famous poets have you met or seen read in person?
>
>
>> We had that Peter Nicholls from Sussex give a paper on George Oppen's
>> 'The
>> Book of Job and a Draft of a Poem to Praise the Paths of the Living' a
>> couple of months ago. It began with Nicholls reading the poem in
>> question,
>> having first circulated the text. What struck me is that he
>> (Nicholls) read
>> the words, but not the spaces. Perhaps it's a bit like that old
>> Egyptian
>> 'secret name': any fool can read the words, but only the author can
>> read the
>> spaces?
>>
>> (It was a fascinating paper, and is a marvellous poem, btw)
>>
>> P
>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: Poetryetc provides a venue for a dialogue relating to
>>> poetry and poetics [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
>>> Behalf Of Joanna Boulter
>>> Sent: 11 February 2007 13:23
>>> To: [log in to unmask]
>>> Subject: Re: What famous poets have you met or seen read in person?
>>>
>>> There is an unarguable extra dimension given by the voice and
>>> personality of the poet. But I haven't yet sussed out if
>>> there's any permanent effect on the poetry in those sad cases
>>> where the poet happens to be a bad reader of his/her own work.
>
>
Douglas Barbour
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The stars wheel over
The Cross drops its image
Into the watertank.
David Campbell
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