Reading reportlets

So I caught two really great readings this week, which is a 200% increase from recent weeks. Nice to be out from under the workload a little so I can get out and listen.



Tuesday night, Judith Hall read at the New School for a MFA poetry forum. She read from two of her books, and then presented a "plem" (a cross between poem and play) written especially for the occasion.



At the time, the plem appealed more than the straight poems, being a short play read by Judith and David Lehman (who played themselves) and accompanied by a Power Point presentation of collages by Judith. The collages were great--in one, W. H. Auden is grabbing the boob of either Louise Bogan or some similar personage. Many featured DL repeating the line "I write everyday," which he famously does do, and Judith humorously lamented that she can't manage. I didn't take notes, but the impression I'm left with several days later is that the plem was as lofty in places as it was silly in others, and the collages were both beautiful and cartoonish.



Afterwards, I introduced myself to Judith and bought a copy of The Promised Folly, which I began reading on the train trip home. The poems on the page (to my mind at least) are more successful than they were aloud. For instance, "White Bottom Blues," which garnered few titters at the reading, had me laughing outright when I read it myself. Another poem she'd read took the form of a mini play in several voices and was difficult to follow when recited, but perfectly enjoyable in the book. And the poems "Worship of Venus" and "Worship of Mars" (which she did not read) just blew me away, frankly. (And you can read them in Jacket, here.) I'm looking forward to the rest of the book.



Yesterday, Shawn & I met Charlie, Maureen & Mark, Erica, Dan & Maisie, Shafer, [expurgated], Aaron Kiely, Brendan & Tracey, and well, just everybody, at the Liar for Tracey's reading with Cynthia Cruz and Chad Davidson. Tracey rocked--I especially loved her poem written from language borrowed from Earthmovers, a construction-industry magazine somebody left at her house. I also enjoyed Cynthia's love poems--though I was in the back so I truthfully missed a lot because she was rather soft-spoken. Chad was great--he had some of his poems memorized and near-memorized, so could really focus on the performance, which was a real treat. I particularly liked his performance of "A" and the aplomb with which he handled a bevy of ladies who entered the bar during his reading, not realizing they should wait to order drinks until he finished. We lined up afterwards to get copies of Consolation Miracle, which is just beautifully designed. The flying house on the cover resonated with a poem he'd read featuring the Scarecrow from the Wizard of Oz. I look forward to reading that too.



Don't forget Shafer's reading tomorrow at Pete's & then Jen & [expurgated] on Tuesday at Kili. Both are not-to-be-missed events!



Anybody got a report from the Free Radicals party?