martin_nyc wrote:
Public speaking is hard for lots of people. Reading your own work is hard for all but the most brash among us -- you're exposing a lot of yourself. It gets easier as you do it more. You can try reciting other people's poetry if reading your own makes you nervous.
Don't think too much about intonation. That stuff's for actors, not poets. I heard some old recording of T.S. Eliot reading The Hollow Men and it was terrible. The whole "Not with a bang but a whimper" was PAINFULLY bad.
good point...
Actually, I would never read my poems in the presence of someone else...I would read my poems to them only if I felt really really comfortable with them...I have tried reciting my poems when I was by myself, and I sounded awkward and clumsy...
I like to read poems out loud, whether it was written by me or by others, however when I read them out loud I realize that they sounded so much better in my head...in my head I can hear the rhythm and the rhymes...In my head I can capture the intonation and the flow...however the moment the sounds leave my lips the spirit is gone...