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Poet Roundtable
3.
AOTW: Does reciting poetry enhance the experience? Do you ever do readings of your own poetry for an audience?
Mark Ford: It can. I'm English, and in England poetry readings are not very hip affairs, and one spends much of the time wondering how long it's going to go on for. In fact I often find them acutely embarrassing. But in America, as I understand, they are quite the thing. Well, I'm about to find out if they are, since I'm setting off on a 7 date tour of the Eastern seaboard in the second week of April. I'm going to be reading at fabulously named places like the KGB and the Russian Samovar. In general, I've noticed, people pay more attention to the patter in between poems than to the poems themselves, so I'll be working on my links and intros... Occasionally the reader's delivery of a particular poem will seem interesting or memorable, but it's generally pretty difficult to respond to a poem one's hearing for the first time with any conviction. Of course it can be a great thrill to see one's favourite poets in the flesh, and also one often meets interesting people after the event at the bar.
Daniel Mark Epstein: Reciting poetry reinforces the strengths of a poem if the poet is also a good performer. This is uncommon. Yes, I do readings of my poetry for audiences.
Carol Muske-Dukes: Just about all poets give readings. I'm not sure what you mean by "enhancing the experience." The poem "happens" on the page --- but yes, the power of the author's voice reading it can make it come alive in a different way.
Robin Robertson: I write poems to be read aloud. It should give the listener a further dimension to the work, and can sometimes help in the understanding of a poem.
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