I was walking home tonight after a drink with Karyna and Cyan at Ashley’s, and I had this thought. R__ Mc______’s voice annoys the fuck out of me. Ok. I’ll freely admit my bias: It is because of him, I broke up with Karyna. But here’s the thing: his introduction for Paisley Rekdal annoyed the shit out of me. It was his “I’m deliberately speaking from below my Adam’s apple voice” coupled with an intonation that indicates that he’s hiding something. Something like: “I really don’t know anything, so I’m bullshitting you all, pretending I sound smart.” Something where, he’s pretending that he’s too smart for his own good. His intonation conveyed that he doesn’t really believe a word he’s saying. It’s that he’s saying this in order to sound as if he knows what he’s talking about. But still, there’s still some disbelief there. It is obvious that he doesn’t believe what he’s saying. Hence, the “pretending he’s too smart for his own good.” And God, did this annoy me. Listening to what he actually said indicates competence and knowledge of what’s going on. But his delivery made it seem like he wasn’t.
Then I got to thinking about other poetical performances. For example, I don’t really care for Karyna’s reading style. Sometimes. it comes across as too consciously “performance.” Perhaps, it is the disconnect between the poetical voice and the poet. The poet is the one who crafts the poem, and thus, the poem sounds like that person. However, when the poet reads it, he reads it in a different voice. A voice that is not that of the poet who wrote the poem. As such, the poem does not come across as authentic. It lacks a certain, humanity to it. The reader brings forth his own personality, his own experiences, his interpretation to the piece when he reads it. But when the poet is performing the piece, as an actor would, there is something lost. The poem and the experience is filtered through this performance, this undefined character.
Indeed, this is what annoys me about some readings. When the poet talks normally, I am enthralled. I associate. I am part of the conversation. But when his voice changes to read a poem, I lose it. It is contrived and in-authentic. It lacks the humanity of that individual poet. It lacks his foibles, his follies. The tragic flaws, the spark of genius, gone.
When do poet’s learn this? Do all of them develop this? I’m inclined to think no. I went to the J. Edgar Edwards reading on Saturday. All thee—Kristie, Kody, and Sarah—came across as authentic. Even Richard Siken and Paisley Rekdal sounded authentic. Is this something that some poets develop? Perhaps the ones who have spent a reasonable time in theater? I know Karyna spent time at Cornish College of the Arts as a theater major. R__? I don’t know.
Update: I received a rather bitchy e-mail from someone whom I’ll just name as K. I will not take this post down, nor will I ‘lock’ it. It may be tactless, but I don’t feel any need to remove it. I have, however, removed most of R__’s name. I might change it back though.
