Broad License for Body Language

I can't stress enough how important I think it is to read one's poetry aloud, especially for the purpose of revision.  You just never know whether a poem works until you bounce it off of an audience.  Until you see their reactions line by line, you just don't know.

I was once reading a series of poems from my Conversations with the Virgin series to a large group.  I started with a couple of the shorter, what I thought were the most powerful pieces, and finished with a longer, more relaxed, more narrative poem.  Without exception, every comment made to me that night was along the lines of, "Well, I guess you saved the best for last."  This reminded me just how much people like to be told a story.

Sometimes poems work beautifully on the page but when you read them aloud, you can readily find every glitch.  In my experience this often has to do with rhythmic issues.

Of course, some poems truly present better on the page.  Sometimes ambiguity, even when it is intentional, makes the listener stumble, as though they lose their place when they mentally pause to consider your intent.

The following illustrates what I am talking about:

MOVING VIOLATION

when I read about fire

and settled agrarian societies

I am reminded not to think of you

when I drive at night

my fingers find my mouth

I go too fast and desire leaves me soft

as the inside of a knee

and unable to grip the wheel

Short poems like this one often just don't have what it takes to sustain the listener but are recursive enough to lure the reader back for a second look at line breaks, word choices, maybe the title.

Speaking of titles, the title of the poem posted below is my favorite.  Unfortunately, it doesn't make sense until you have read the poem.  So, ironically, while this poem is about having the courage to read your poems aloud to an audience, I have always thought that this is a poem that works better on paper.

BROAD LICENSE

FOR BODY LANGUAGE

and I wanted to say

to the young girl reading her poems

go ahead and talk all you want to

about cool fingers

against your mouth

against your skin

against the ends of limitation

and don't pull your parameters in

until the space between your lips

and your limbic edge

become as thin

as these worn down fingers...

don't let yourself

get bogged down

in the language

dare to go beyond the body

because quickly, easily, variously

all gesture, all posture, all facial expression,

all coded message out of line

somehow transcends logic naturally

as though movement

like music

is timed

like intention

when internal drive gives rise to display

and in the end, remember,

you are never truly accessible 

to ignorance, curiosity,

or random erotic scanning

... then she caught their insensitivities like stones,

polished them between her lines

and readied them to be thrown

the next time

and the next time

and the next