I would have to agree with what you say, Alison. Who knows, most of the
time, who is the audience, ie, who is listening/auditing?
Which is why I managed to get over my angsting about this reading I've
just done (normally never bothers me but this time I noticed I was
shaking - in an odd way I was getting a monkey off my back and it took a
bit out of me). I pared down my introductory remarks so I said what I
needed to say contra the topic we were given then I more or less just
read poems either from A4 typed sheets (the new poems) or from my book.
I swear one day I will learn some by heart.
I gathered that what I read was 'a bit to dense' for some people and
others thought it was 'great' (verbatim quotes). So, some people got it.
We were reading at 5pm after a full day of readings and talks so I would
expect that some people would have tuned out. But these are all
assumptions - my respect for an audience is to give them what is best
from me at that time rather than trying to second guess them. In the
end, all you can do is write (or read) as best you can.
Now I can go to bed and turn up at the gig again tomorrow and simply
listen to others. Thanks again to those who threw in some helpful and
supportive-type remarks.
Cheers,
Jill
On Saturday, September 7, 2002, at 10:16 AM, Alison Croggon wrote:
>
> Perhaps all this sounds disingenuous. But personally, I get baffled
> by the concept of writing towards a certain audience. I read and I
> write, and I do the best I can at both of them, and these activities
> are deeply interrelated, but there's a black box in between which I
> don't fully understand, and which I suspect has nothing to do with
> either of them.
>
_______________________________________________________
Jill Jones
http://homepages.com.au/~jpjones
Latest book: Screens Jets Heaven. Available now from Salt Publishing
http://www.saltpublishing.com
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