Tips, Tools & Techniques for Better Readings
Presenting Your Poetry
This workshop will instruct you on how to improve your poetry reading, how to prepare for reading and presenting, and how to do it more persuasively more compellingly, and more effectively.
About the Workshop
I present a poetry reading series and have participated in about 30 online readings in the past18 months. Historically, I’ve been reading my poetry in public since 1969 (my HS sweetheart played the bongos in accompaniment). So often I play a line someone has said in my head again and wondered why they garbled, swallowed, or muted it; why their emphasis was in strange or wrong places; why they killed their good words.
There are those who talk about the page versus the stage and say by way of excuse “I'm a page poet”. Which begs the question, why assault or insult listeners? You can improve the way you present your words. There’s no secret sauce, but I do have insights gained over decades of doing this, that I am eager to share.
Poetry began as an oral art. It was sung and said before it was written. Let us remember our origins and serve verse by saying it as well as we are able.
The Workshop will include a maximum of seven people and last about an hour and 15 minutes.
To participate, please submit two of your poems to akulezlihope@gmail.com and send $25 via PayPal to lezlihope@gmail.com.
Plan to have a working microphone, the latest version of Zoom installed, some non-alcoholic liquid refreshment and paper copies of your submitted poems at hand. Be ready to speak as well as listen.
I look forward to meeting you and working with you.
Joy in the making,
Akua Lezli Hope