Poetic jitters lead to psycho pants...

Get back on stage sometime, Tonio!



The first two times I read my work in public, I didn't read my work in public. I mean somebody else read my work for me. I was the poetry editor of our high school literary magazine, somebody else read a poem by me at the launch party while I squirmed in the back. The second time came as a complete surprise, and went badly. A friend decided to read one my poems in addition to his own--without telling me about it first. He was trying to be helpful, or encouraging, or something. But I got so freaked out I ran from the club and actually hopped in my car and drove away. After that I skipped the oportunity to read at the launch reading of a journal (which had given me an award even) and sent a proxy to the announcement ceremony for an English department writing contest I'd been honored in. I sat in a bar across campus waiting for him to report back. Ridiculous.



I didn't read in public again until after I started the New School program. I was so terrified in workshops even that I would go into a kind of trance and not remember anything I said afterward. Ridiculous.



But hosting Frequency and events at the Bowery Poetry Club really helped me get used to being on stage. I've mentioned Karaoke + Poetry = Fun--it actually takes the pressure off. You're expected to kind of suck (or really suck) at the song, so the poem's a breeze.



Anyway, it gets better. Now I enjoy doing readings.