The poet in the room
I've already talked about publishing your poetry in the past. So far, I've mostly recommended you to wait, hold back, edit, and re-edit. Now, I ask you to do precisely the opposite. After you have done everything I have suggested, dug into the rock of your creativity, and extracted all the diamonds waiting for you in it, now, it is your turn to make your voice heard and make your poetry public.
Many writers need help at this stage. They are afraid to publish, afraid to expose themselves to criticism, fearful of what people will say, of the reaction of those close to them, and many other things. This concern is real and justified, but it is not the end of the subject.
Because the truth is, everyone who reads these lines now has a significant advantage over all the greatest poets in the history of poetry who ever walked upon the earth. You may not believe it, but this advantage makes your poetry much more attractive than theirs.
This post is to expose you to this advantage.
Putting poetry onstage
There are an incredible number of poetry-reading events, both in America, where I live, and other places worldwide. When I lived in Israel (until February 2023), I had the privilege of participating in dozens of such poetry events, and as for most of them, I left with an exciting and empowering feeling after they ended.
There is something uplifting about reading your poetry in front of an audience. Reading your poetry onstage allows you to experience how your poems affect other people directly, see their faces, hear them laugh at the funny line in the poem, or see them shed a tear at the heartbreaking one. The encounter of poetry and listeners is one of my most unique experiences.
Among my other activities over the years, I also produced poetry-reading events as part of the organization "Shirat HaKrach," which I founded with Michael Shiloh. As part of the dozens of poetry events I produced, I had the privilege of hosting many poetry-reading events with people from all corners of society: secular and religious, LGBTQ and straight, from the periphery and the center, adults and young. Knowing that these talented poets could expose their poetry to the audience, thanks to me, gave me tremendous satisfaction. This experience taught me the immense power of hearing poetry when the poets themselves read it, those who wrote these lines.
And this is the advantage you have over all the greatest poets in history:
It doesn't matter how good or bad a poet you are, how talented or untalented you are, how diligent you are, or how lazy you are. You have a significant advantage over Whitman, Shakespeare, Wordsworth, Plath, Keats, Berryman, Yeats, Thomas, and all the poets who once were and now are not: you are still here, you are still writing, and people can still hear your poetry in your own voice!
Why not Facebook?
One of the first places writers choose to publish their poems is on Facebook and social media. I also started posting my poetry on Facebook before sharing it face-to-face in front of an audience.
Social media have some significant advantages in this regard: you can publish the poems anonymously (for those who have trouble publishing the poems under their name), you can get feedback from friends and acquaintances, and, of course, those who like the poems can share them and pass them on, thus increasing their exposure.
However, there is a significant drawback to posting poetry on social media: the scrolling action. When you write your poem on Facebook, readers will find them by scrolling through their feed. Therefore, for the audience to enjoy your poem, your poems should catch the eye of your readers while scrolling. It means they mostly have to be short, simple, and catchy. Long, complex, or unusual poems will not make a reader who scrolls through their feed stop and read your poem.
Facebook (and any other social network, actually) encourages you to publish specific types of poems and abandon other styles, even if they are good! It's a great shame because it makes everyone write the same poems.
When you read your poems in front of an audience on a live stage, what keeps your audience engaged is the quality of the poem, not how simple or simplistic the poem is. This possibility of getting honest feedback on your poems directly from the audience is something not to be missed.
Reading your poetry despite the fear
I know that reading poetry in front of an audience can be very intimidating. It is clear to me that those who do this for the first time and read poems he wrote about their most private experiences may feel helpless onstage. Many thoughts may arise: "What if they don't understand? What if they laugh at me? What if someone I know will be in the audience?" All these concerns are understandable and justified.
However, you can do a few things to make the experience pleasant, empowering, and exciting, and I would be delighted to help you get there.
On March 17th, 2024, Sunday, I will give a one-and-a-half-hour workshop on Zoom on reading poetry in front of an audience. In this workshop, we will talk about everything: how to prepare before the reading, how to stand on stage, how to introduce yourself, how to read a poem in a way that will move the audience, how to deal with blackouts and other things that will make your reading experience the most positive experience possible.
Since this is the first time I have conducted a workshop of this type, the workshop is entirely free and conditional on filling out a feedback survey at the end. Everyone who is now reading this post can benefit a lot from such a workshop, even if they have participated in reading events in the past.
The workshop will be entirely in Hebrew. Poetry-reading workshops in English are scheduled for later this year. Stay tuned!
Thank you very much for reading the post. If you have come this far, it means that you love writing, are looking to share your writing with others, and want to challenge yourself with new ideas. I invite you to subscribe to my site for updates on posts like this, workshops, lectures, and many other things.
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