There have been so many poetry readings over the last few
months that it would have been just about impossible for one person to get to
them all. I managed to get to quite a few over the summer, and they got me
thinking about the purpose of a ‘reading’. For me it adds to my understanding
of a poet’s work; to hear them read, to hear where they put the inflections,
the pauses, the emphasis. I go back to the poems on the page with the poet’s
voice still in my head. Hearing Miriam Gamble, Anne-Marie Fyfe and Theo Dorgan
read from their new collections has made me feel as if I have been given a key
to the books themselves, making entry to the work easier. On another level, it
can be the pure pleasure of just listening, letting the words enter through the
ears rather than the eyes.
Hearing Myra Vennard read at the On Home Ground Festival in
Magherafelt was one of the joys of my summer. The tone of the event was set by
Damian Smyth, who seemed to channel the spirit of Heaney into the room, holding
the atmosphere despite noise from outside and other distractions. Myra’s poetry
flowed into and around the audience like a spiritual balm. I felt as if I was
listening, not to a poet read, but to poetry itself. The event finished with
the wonderful voice of singer songwriter Ciara O’Neil and I could feel the
hairs stand up on the back of my neck. The music and poetry complimented each
other perfectly.
Another outstanding reading for me was that of Damian Smyth
during Aspects Festival. I have been at readings where, when the poet announces
that he/she is reading two more poems, you can almost hear the collective sigh
of relief from the audience that the end is in sight; but this was the
opposite. I was at a table with a number of other poets, Jean Bleakney , Paul
Maddern and Jonathan Hicks and we all agreed that we could have listened for
hours. For me it was like the pleasure I had as a child listening to my mother
read me the next chapter from whatever book we were on.
I always appreciate the opportunity to read my own work to
an audience and I hope people enjoy hearing me read my poetry. I’m always
inclined to the view that ‘less is more’ when I read at events. I’m terrified
of boring everyone! Different readings can have very different feels to them
for the poet standing up there. I’m always nervous beforehand. I usually pick a
range of poems to read and adjust the list according to the ‘feel’ I’m getting
from the audience. It can depend on so many factors, but sometimes I feel as if
my words are toppling off a cliff and other times I can feel the warmth,
interest and engagement. Like most poets I have poems that I know work at a
reading and others that I seldom read in public. It’s not that one is ‘better’
than the other, some poems just work well spoken aloud and some suit the
solitude between the reader and the page. It’s always a bit nerve wracking
giving a new poem its first spoken outing.
All of this pondering meant I was very interested to be
asked to attend a Poetry Slam as a ‘judge’. It was good fun, though I did feel
slightly uneasy at the idea of poetry as competition. It allowed me to reflect
on the difference between ‘performance poetry’ at a slam, and a more
conventional reading. My conclusion was that good poetry shines through in
either setting.
