Well, horses for courses. Some poets read very well, and project a rich
personality when they perform. Some poets are dull on the page until you
hear them read - then it opens up the tone and character of the written
word. Dylan Thomas can seduce new listeners to his printed words, and John
Berryman brings the Dream Songs alive. Yet Eliot and Lowell murder their
own works.

I read the printed page silently with my ears. I hear words as I read - but
this happens with all texts - and separates me from many authors of prose
who I can't stand - flat, dull and lifeless. No names, no pack drill. I
came to writing from song lyrics as a child, so I'm guessing that's where
this habit stems from. (It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing
...Duke & Irving Mills)

Now, all lurkers, speak yr mind.


Andrew

On 19 May 2015 at 10:13, Bill Wootton <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Tend to agree, Hal. The fewer distractions the better.
>
> Bill
>
>
> > On 19 May 2015, at 12:53 am, Halvard Johnson <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> >
> > Well, I'll just make one point. Not right or wrong, as Lawrence says, but
> > still I find that the less there is of the poet between the poem and my
> > receptors the better. So, I guess I'd prefer hearing the poet's voice
> via a
> > recording to hearing the live poet read. And to either of those I prefer
> > the words on the screen or the page.
> >
> >                                              "*Vraiment*,
> > Poetry can be so many more things
> > Than what people mostly believe it is."
> >
> >                --Anselm Hollo
> >
> > Halvard Johnson
> > ================
> >
> > [log in to unmask]
> >
> > <
> http://www.amazon.com/Remains-To-Be-Seen-Works/dp/1933132787/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1367618323&sr=8-1&keywords=Halvard+Johnson
> >
> > Winter Journey <https://www.createspace.com/5376388>  <-- Newest!!!
> > Trapeze <http://issuu.com/swirlmag/docs/halvard_johnson>   <---  Newer!!
> > Junkyard Dog
> > <
> http://gradientbooks.blogspot.fi/2015/01/halvard-johnson-junkyard-dog.html
> >
> > <--- New!
> >
> > On Mon, May 18, 2015 at 9:35 AM, Lawrence Upton <[log in to unmask]
> >
> > wrote:
> >
> >> ok
> >> I meant "much prefer" rather than the "must prefer" that I sent.
> >> As to the preference for reception mode, i don't think there is any
> right
> >> or wrong.
> >> I could perhaps argue my position; but don't feel that keen to assert
> it!
> >> All best
> >> L
> >>
> >>> On 18 May 2015 at 15:22, Halvard Johnson <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> >>>
> >>> I prefer the words on a screen or on a page to the sound of the
> writer's
> >>> voice recorded or not.
> >>>
> >>>> On Monday, May 18, 2015, Lawrence Upton <[log in to unmask]>
> wrote:
> >>>>
> >>>> I must prefer being in the reading presence of a poet I value than
> >>> hearing
> >>>> a recording; but that creates certain difficulties, logistical
> >>> difficulties
> >>>> that are probably insurmountable -- only a few can get to the gig.
> >>>> I find it wearisome that we should be considering the idea of ac-tors
> >>>> reading poetry for us. They are not trained to read poetry but to
> >> perform
> >>>> plays. There are overlaps of course, where poets write plays or poems
> >>> that
> >>>> work "dramatically".
> >>>> In my radio experience actors mess it up.
> >>>> I'm not saying that poets don't mess it up. Many do. But they have the
> >>>> potential incentive to learn to read poetry aloud.
> >>>> *
> >>>> The author limits himself to linear writing. He just doesn't mention
> >> the
> >>>> poetries that might come under the turgid heading of vispo
> >>>>
> >>>> L
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>> On 18 May 2015 at 09:30, Bill Wootton <[log in to unmask]
> >>>> <javascript:;>> wrote:
> >>>>
> >>>>> Interesting observations here, not least :
> >>>>>
> >>>>> Poems, by contrast, [with recorded readings] often seem more like
> >> acts
> >>> of
> >>>>> specialized witnessing, and this makes the witness himself an
> >> essential
> >>>>> figure.
> >>>>>
> >>>>> There is a place for recordings I think but I like to think even my
> >>>> clumsy
> >>>>> or 'arrived-at' readings offer me something that passive listening
> >> does
> >>>> not.
> >>>>>
> >>>>> Bill
> >>>>>
> >>>>>> On 16/05/2015, at 3:37 AM, Max Richards wrote:
> >>>>>>
> >>
> http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/17/books/review/toward-an-oral-art.html?emc=edit_bk_20150515&nl=books&nlid=22180501
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> --
> >>> :: from the desk of Halvard Johnson ::
> >
>



-- 
Andrew
http://hispirits.blogspot.com/
'Undercover of Lightness'
http://walleahpress.com.au/recent-publications.html
'Shikibu Shuffle'
http://abovegroundpress.blogspot.com.au/2012/03/new-from-aboveground-press-shikibu.html