Radio Active

Today Sara and I did the Around Noon "Open Air" radio show. We had a live audience and the show was also broadcast live which was lots of fun for us - but did make producer Dave DeOreo a bit anxious. It's a rather new format for the station and we were honored to be asked to help break it in.

I think this was the third installment - the effervescent host Dee Perry had called and asked for us to help kick the series off earlier in the summer but we were out of town so a back up poet was utilized. We were very happy that they called us back.

It's a funny thing - we very rarely see Dee outside of the studio (I have to be pushing about a dozen visits now - WCPN is a very poet friendly station) but everytime we work with her it's more like a reunion with an old friend. I think this is why she is so successful.

Here are some shots I took before the show with my phone. I brought the good camera but left it in the car.

All these wires go somewhere.

There's Dee giving me the corner eye look.

Dee and Sara chat while the band tunes up.

Dave the producer in white and the evil sound dude peeking out in the striped shirt.

Just about air time.

Here's a link to the show: Open Air / WCPN.org

Sometimes you just want to...

So
we're getting our act together little by little to get out of town. I have the collected stories of Eudora Welty - but the travel time all totaled is around 22 hours so I decided to pick up some back up reading.

There are a few books that I always say were watershed moments in my literary career when asked. Most of them I do not remember though - I just know they made a big impression - so I have decided to start re-reading some of these tomes.

Sara and I stopped in at the local Barnes and Noble.

Do you have Celine's Death on the Installment Plan?

Not in stock no, I could order it for you.

No I don't have time, what about Journey to the End of the Night - same author.

No sorry

Okay, how about The Trial, by Kafka?

Let me check, how do you spell the author's name?

You would have been proud of me gentle reader. I did not rip the clerk a new one - did not say EXCUSE ME? You work in a bookstore and you're asking me how to spell Kafka? I just calmly spelled it out for her.

Sometimes...

Can you hear me now?

Read at John Carroll University last night. It was a pretty good reading if I do say so myself. We had a full house – extra credit for English class right before finals is quite the incentive. Even so there was a good showing of folks from the “scene”.

Buddy Ray McNiece grabbed mic time when I asked him to read a piece of mine that had been translated for an Italian literary magazine. I read the original poem, he read it in Italian then I read the poem again – this time a translation I produced by dumping the Italian version into the online translator Babel Fish which rendered it back into English. It was an interesting and humorous exercise in interpretation. The piece still bore more than a passing resemblance to the original but there were quite a few differences – the filter of translation did not leave the piece or its meaning unscathed.

Ultimately all poetry, all writing, all communication passes through some sort of Babel Fish filter. What we hear or read is colored by our own experiences, our own definitions of the words we are interpreting - our brains do the rendering, giving meaning to the conglomeration of images offered up. This transmission model of communication recognizes the interpretation of the receiver to be just as important as the original message. One need also take “noise” into account – any extraneous input being received along with the primary message. Noise could literally be background noise, or it could be worrying about what your kid is up to at home by themselves, seeing someone walk past the window, or remembering that you are allergic to lemons anything that interferes with the transmission of a meaning.

It’s a wonder we communicate at all – and there are those who would posture that when all is said and done, we don’t. I believe that some level of miscommunication happens every single time we try to impart an idea into the world. How often have you used the phrase – “That’s not what I meant” or “You took what I said the wrong way?” Have you ever had to explain the same concept over and over to someone and how frustrating is it when that someone just never seems to understand you?

I like to tell my students to try and reproduce instances the best they can – to put all the clues there and then let it go – ‘cause once you’ve put it out there you no longer have control. Don’t come whining to me that your audience doesn’t “get you”. There is an easy explanation for this – once you’ve put your ideas into some public arena your audience is not YOU.

Know what I mean?

Cleveland Poetry Scenes

Attended a reading, publication event for the new anthology and history Cleveland Poetry Scenes -published by Bottom Dog Press yesterday. The event was hosted by the Cleveland Public Library and the head of that institution’s literature department Ron Antonucci.

Extra big kudos goes out to the editors of the book – Larry Smith, Nina Gibans and Mary Weems. A rouges gallery of Cleveland poets showed up for the event and read from their works contained in the tome. We all jumped on stage afterwards for a group photo. While this is not all the great poets living in the greater Cleveland area at this time this was one of the more inclusive gatherings that I have been a part of.

Your scorecard is below.

1. Jim Lang 2. Meredith Holmes 3. Sara Holbrook
4.Chris Franke 5. Terry Provost 6. Adam Brodsky
7. Katie Daley 8.Ray McNiece 9. Mary Weems
10. Larry Smith 11. Kelly Harris 12. Michael Salinger
13. Kisha Foster 14. Mary Francis Player 15. R.A. Washington
16.Douglas Hoston Jr. 17. Bonnie Jacobson 18. Bree
19. Mwatabu S. Okantah 20. Nina Gibans 21.Mark Kuhar
22. Susan Grimm 23. Leonard Trawick 24. Vince Robinson

more pics from the event at my flickr site:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/michaelsalinger/

look for the Cleveland Poetry Scenes set.

Kooser Daddy?

Saw Ted Kooser – former Poet laureate of the United States – read last night. It was the third time I have attended a reading by him, thus the third time I heard a lot of his stories and jokes between his pieces.

Now I don’t think this is a bad thing and I can certainly sympathize with the guy. We all have our pat stories our go to anecdotes the one-liners we toss out speciously on the fly. I think these little segues are a very important part of any feature reading, many of which have been born in the cauldron of a moment and then reissued over and over – because they work.

A feature reading should be considered as a whole set, the patter in between the pieces a way to keep touch with the audience and to measure their interest. If one has the audacity to stand in front of a group of people and expect that crowd to listen then the speaker should be prepared.

Here’s a list of my pet peeves re: poetry readings in no particular order.

Going on too long.

Kooser read for about 40 minutes and he was the poet laureate – do you think your work deserves more stage time? Nobody, not even your mom, wants to hear you go on and on and on for an hour and a half. In the same vein – if there is a time limit set – say two poems - do not read two twelve minute epic pieces on your failed love life. Don’t ask the reading’s host for more time while you are up at the mic – this is a cheesy ploy that puts the person responsible for your opportunity in the first place on the spot in front of the rest of the audience. Leave your listeners wanting more is the mantra that should be adhered to.

Explaining every piece before you present it.

Granted, every once and awhile you may have an arcane reference in a poem that could use a bit of explanation. But, I could not give a rat’s ass about how you were feeling, where you were sitting, what you really mean, the TV show that inspired you, your favorite movie etc. etc. etc. If everything you are presenting requires a preamble it most likely also requires a bit more rewriting. If your poem cannot stand on its own no amount of propping it up with an introduction is going to save it.

Rifling through a stack of papers.

Are you telling me that getting up in front of this audience was a surprise to you? You may think that flipping through your stack of poems written on paper bags, post-its, grocery store receipts, a couple dozen composition books or scrolling through your PDA will lend you a devil may care aura of nonchalance when in reality it just makes you look unprepared and disrespectful of your audience. Similarly, don’t drop your pages to the floor as you finish reading the words on them unless your goal is to have your listeners stop listening to your words and look at the papers strewing the floor. (Most times this goal is applicable to the practitioners.)

Pleading with your audience.

If you have to continually ask your listeners “are you feeling me?” “Know what I mean?” or some other variation – chances are they don’t

“I just wrote this now…”

I have never heard a poem prefaced with this line that was not a self indulgent piece of garbage. I have no curiosity whatsoever in the scribbling you were doing while others were at the mic. Firstly, it most likely is going to sound as if it was just written – secondly it only shines a spotlight on your disrespect for every other person at the reading pointing up how you do not care to listen to others. Don’t tell me that you were “inspired” by something you heard either. Take a quick note if you have to – then write the piece when you have appropriate time to devote to it.

I HATE YOU - I HATE YOU - I HATE YOU

Stop screaming. Volume doesn’t denote importance. People scream when they are mad – are you mad at your listeners? If not, why are you yelling at them? While I’m at it – slow down, enunciate your words – you took the time to put them on page (I hope) – take the time to speak them clearly

Kooser did none of the above. Whatever one may feel about his writing, his presentation was gracious.

Okay – that’s my short list. Feel free to add to this. What are some of you least favorite reading faux pas or reader stereotypes?