Home » Reading & Literature » Performance Poetry » Life & Death in the Open Section - the art of the poetry reading

Life & Death in the Open Section - the art of the poetry reading

© Billy Marshall Stoneking

"I hate poetry
I hate butterflies
I hate someone trying to put a thrill through me..."
- eric beach,
from "i hate poetry"

Jenny Magnus, Performance poet

Sitting through any number of poetry readings is a good way to work up a healthy loathing of poetry. eric beach, myself and other poets who have witnessed hundreds, even thousands, of readings, know this at first-hand. That guy who stands interminably at the microphone pouring out his great thoughts - is he aware of how much murder he does, or the murderous thoughts he prompts in some sections of his audience?

These days there is much talk and even some writing about how the public reading has led to a resurgence of interest in poesia. It is said that the voice has breathed new life into the outmoded form. Indeed, it's positively hip to call yourself a poet. Though it may still not be up there with the image of the rock star, it's way out of the closet and finding an ever-more-youthful crowd of devotees who not only read it but write and perform it as well. Nevertheless, in many ways the poetry reading as a dramatic form is just as much an enemy of poetry as it is its friend.

A poetry reading is a strange creature. Ego trip, indulgence, or ultimate theatre? For some, therapy; for others, a testing ground where they can try out "new material". Many established poets employ the medium to advertise and sell books, as well as add change to coffers already comfortably bulging courtesy of tenured university postings. Some, bent on evangelical concerns, see it as a way of "spreading the word", "turning people on", shaking "the masses" out of their dull-witted complacency. For some poets it is a near-death experience or sheer terror; for others, life in abundance and pure joy.

Each reading has its own character, its own unique personality, pace and texture. Readings affect and reflect their audiences, calling forth reverential silence, rapt attention or any mix of hoots, boos, interjections, laughter, and wild applause.

There is no correct or exact formula for the art of the poetry reading. In truth, there are no formulas in art at all. No techniques, no methods, that do anything more than lavish mediocrity upon the object of creation. Mind you, techniques and methods are highly successful. The world prizes mediocrity above all things.

There are, however, a few elements common to all good readings. The most important is having good poets - that is, poets whose poems have something to say. You cannot, no matter what some people believe, make a poem sound better than it really is. If the music of the speech of a poem participates in the divine, in the inspirational, then one must conclude that the poet has uncovered the voice of that poem, given it its due in the same way an inspired melody allows the lyrics of a song to find their particular resonance which might otherwise be lost or overlooked in the absence of their musical expression.