What can we do to make a reading series more fun?

(The password is poetry.)

Hold readings in non-academic or unusual places. Have a reading on a subway car, in a barn, on an island, have readings online or at your neighbor's bbq.

Have a PoetryMob, announce some elements that have to be included in a poem—24 hours to write & everyone converge the next day to read their poems.

Give out free materials or include the newest issue of your in with the cover price.

Mix hypermedia, visual poetry, performance poetry & spoken word.

Have a poetry circus ala Cage's "musicircus"

Combine poetry with food / poetry & pizza / poetry & sushi / etc

& don't forget the College of Complexes!

~mIEKAL

i like the idea of a PoetryMob that writes quickly and then comes to read, but somehow i'd like to mix that with kane's vision of a reformed chorus (see his discussion under Auditempus). in that way, the audience would be actively brought in to the mix as well.

but then again, how many audiences want actively to be brought into the performance? if i'm in a good mood, i usually don't mind, but that's not always the case.

--Bill A

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I think we should hold a reading on the sidewalk...Jen Karmin had it right but I'd like to do without the walking. Read to passersby and engage the populace with abstraction ... I'd like to experiment more with readings involving numerous readers all reading at the same time as well...

-Larry Sawyer

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I agree with mIEKAL’S suggestions.

I very much like the idea of finding alternatives to lectern readings. How about rooftops, street corners, between sets of your favorite local band? Frame a reading as a ritual; get others to play important roles.

Form a group of people willing to investigate this question and enact some suggestions.

Write a manifesto for New Centurial Poetry.

New publications: Self-publish a poem on a billboard, the side of a bus.

Audience participation: Get the audience to co-author a poem with you during a reading.

In class: This has been very effective. I have students give a poem as a gift to someone notable. They must read it aloud and hand them a copy of the poem.

Cheryl P