Recently I’ve become hyper-aware of not being able to concentrate on readings by writers who stand or sit really badly. Is this a problem for anyone else? It seems to be particularly bad amongst poets although I also notice it with some fiction writers. I just can’t take in what someone reading their work is saying when they place way too much weight on one side of their body throughout their performance, or if they’re slumped really badly. Instead of paying attention to their work, I’m just fixated on the aesthetically unpleasing way in which they hold themselves!
Too many of the poets (in particular) who I see performing look like they spend all their time reading and writing – or else combining those activities with a university job (or some similar time wasting white collar employment). They either need to use a gym or get a labouring job, so that they shape up their bodies and gain better posture… and if more poets don’t start doing this then I’m going to boycott their readings!
And while you’re at it don’t forget to check – www.stewarthomesociety.org – you know it makes (no) sense!
Comments
Comment by Aye Tee on 2012-05-26 23:52:01 +0000
These peeps need my soon to be published magnum opus “Yoga For Poets”!
Comment by Cal Punter on 2012-05-27 15:55:28 +0000
So is a poet just a poseur with bad posture?
Comment by Maria Pérez-Pujazón on 2012-05-27 16:17:04 +0000
You know Bukowski in one of his readings ended up fighting an arm wrestling with someone from the public? he probably made that up but doesnt make a difference. Made me think of Artaud…
Comment by Robert Bond on 2012-05-27 16:51:25 +0000
Iain Sinclair started as a poet & his posture is okay.
Comment by Broken Dolls Fan on 2012-05-27 17:30:41 +0000
Bad posture turns me on!
Comment by Lynne Robinson on 2012-05-27 17:58:32 +0000
Good posture is poetry!
Comment by Raoul Meathead on 2012-05-27 18:26:44 +0000
The same people who are murdered slowly in the mechanized slaughterhouses of work are also arguing, singing, drinking, dancing, making love, holding the streets, picking up weapons and inventing a new poetry of bad posture!
Comment by Stuart Murphy on 2012-05-27 20:29:12 +0000
Maybe they should try standing on there head. . . . . . . I’ll get me coat.
Comment by Stuart Murphy on 2012-05-27 20:30:02 +0000
their*
Comment by mistertrippy on 2012-05-27 21:19:23 +0000
Yeah, they’d have to work up their arm and core muscles to do that so it would definitely help! Smart thinking!
Comment by The Ghost of Dorian Gray on 2012-05-27 23:10:59 +0000
These badly posturing poets are a complete write off!
Comment by Eric Zann on 2012-05-28 14:14:28 +0000
What about if rather than sitting or standing those poets with bad posture lay flat on their backs when they read in public? I think that would solve your problem.
Comment by Sidney Clarke on 2012-05-28 15:04:25 +0000
A poet’s place is on their back – with their legs spread!
Comment by Valerie Solanas on 2012-05-28 16:07:47 +0000
Yeah and since poetry has been dominated by men we’ll have those male poets lying dead on their backs with women standing proudly above them and reading way better verse than these biological abortions….
Comment by Frank Discussion on 2012-05-28 17:36:34 +0000
The difference between this blog post and the comments beneath it seems to be that between posture and posturing.
Comment by Kellie Gillespie-Wright on 2012-05-28 18:23:45 +0000
Slumping’s never a good thing – I recommend pilates or standing on your head…
Comment by Ignatious Pope on 2012-05-28 20:23:52 +0000
Those poets should get off their asses instead of sitting around reading all day!
Comment by Gary Grunt on 2012-05-28 22:27:25 +0000
Bring back Steven ‘Seething’ Wells! Now that’s what I call poetry!
Comment by Maria Pérez-Pujazón on 2012-05-28 23:03:55 +0000
poets need to stop being so attached to their brains and hearts…the best organ is always the stomach.
Comment by C. J. Aestheticus on 2012-05-29 00:29:09 +0000
Poets should learn to do variety not just rely on one thing when they perform….
Comment by Ha-Satan on 2012-06-03 18:43:13 +0000
difficile est proprie communia dicere; tuque
rectius Iliacum carmen deducis in actus
quam si proferres ignota indictaque primus.
publica materies priuati iuris erit, si
non circa uilem patulumque moraberis orbem,
nee uerbo uerbum curabis reddere fidus interpres,
nee desilies imitator in artum,
unde pedem proferre pudor uetet aut operis lex.
Comment by David Porter on 2012-06-09 13:30:49 +0000
That’s me written off then.
Comment by mistertrippy on 2012-06-09 14:22:09 +0000
Only if you write yourself off – it doesn’t take much effort to sort these things out, and you’ll feel better for it too if you do!