Doug,
I'm virtually certain they've read on the same bill. Wonder if anyone has
tried to "measure" their respective speeds? Suspect one could compare
audio versions available on the internet. Randolph Healy's presentation of
Miles Champion's work affords one the chance to follow Champion's text with
your eyes as he reads it, though my sampling of his "Colour In Huysmans"
just now seemed at a slightly slower velocity than I heard in person
yesterday. His rationale for his pace is straightforward: that's how he
hears his poems. Raworth used to read more slowly. I've speculated that,
motivated by an innate shyness, Tom Raworth picked up the pace to get thru
the ordeal of reading in front of an audience more quickly. Ian Keenan
independently put forth the "shyness theory" to explain Miles Champion's
pace, but I disagreed. Champion simply didn't seem particularly shy to me,
in my three in-person samplings over a number of years. Quite intriguing
as well was his comment to me yesterday that he writes [composes] slowly.
Barry
On Mon, 22 Oct 2007 09:06:43 -0600, Douglas Barbour
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>Geez, if he reads faster that Tom Raworth, I'm not sure how any ear
>could keep up.
>
>Doug
>On 21-Oct-07, at 11:36 AM, Barry Alpert wrote:
>
>> Must get ready to attend this reading, motivated mostly by Miles
>> Champion's
>> distinctive presentation of his texts--at perhaps the fastest pace of
>> any
>> reader in the world today. I've witnessed him twice previously with
>> interest, and assume there will be a further performative advance in
>> evidence today.
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