Peter: a good, long dis/missive such as that is worth a couple of weeks
of silence, I reckon. I have a 1958 EP reads selected Cantos & Hugh
Selwyn Maub + some others. Havent' been able to hear one complete poem
yet without reaching for the off switch. The recordings in Spoleto must
be remarkably different in approach by EP. Will give these Caedmon
tapes another try.
Re: reading & the 'scenes'. That can be difficult to evaluate. Perhaps
among those not previously exposed to late modernist works, somebody
hearing Allen F or Fiona T was really turned on. Don't know if we're
further ahead by pre-judging any given audience (though I understand A.
Thwaite OBE, once noisily evacuated a reading by Canada's Phyllis Webb -
were he ever in my audience I'd be inclined to have some trained
bouncers to enhance his departure). There's a strange little 'scene' in
Kamloops - mostly kids in early 20's some doing the poetic equivalent of
scratching their balls in public, a cowboy poet, a beat wannabe etc.
I've read some Denise Riley & Barry MacSweeney to them as well as my own
stuff & I swear they sit up & take notice. In a letter to Caterpillar
mag years back Jonathan Williams was lamenting a dire performance by a
sadly drunken Richie Havens, "But what to do: if the young [any
audience] don't know the difference between shit & wild honey? Answer:
keep making honey." (Hey, Randolph - is that where the name came from?)
S'long, Pete.
ps Erin Moure - Tuesday next, right? At SVP. She good. Good writing:
play/serious, subversive & over-the-top. Saw her read to an audience
who were somewhat baffled (they were largely there to hear less
adventurous work) but her reading style, which included that night
marvellous facial expressions that suggested she was equally baffled,
was very endearing.
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