tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post49099532874013225..comments2023-10-03T11:41:21.191+01:00Comments on The Truth About Lies: #532Jim Murdochhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12786388638146471193noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-74599222350633104352015-05-27T10:23:43.887+01:002015-05-27T10:23:43.887+01:00Hate’s a strong word, Kass. I didn’t hate it. I fe...Hate’s a strong word, <b>Kass</b>. I didn’t hate it. I felt uncomfortable. I had no expectations but I didn’t expect to feel like I was invisible. And that’s how I felt. I didn’t want to be welcomed with open arms but I thought I might be acknowledged. And I wasn’t. And I let that hurt me. And I didn’t want to go through that again. So I didn’t. Not until Marion published her book and I decided to make the effort. And it was an effort. But at least she talked to me and introduced me to a couple of others so it wasn’t as painful but I still left as soon as it was over. Well, I said my goodbyes and got my hug. Hugs always help. As far as the reading went at least this time I was familiar with the poems—her set anyway—and that made a difference. What I hated about that first reading was the fact I was getting one shot at each poem and then it was gone. Marion and I talked about the difference between poems on a page and the same poems read aloud and about how the poem when recited becomes as thing in itself separate from the written word. As I’m writing this I’m watching a recording of David Gilmour live in Gdańsk. He’s performing <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqXD5NKj4d4" rel="nofollow">‘Shine On You Crazy Diamond’</a> but it’s not quite the same as the album version, the definitive version, it’s an interpretation of the piece. I remember the first time I read Larkin read ‘Mr Bleaney’ thinking, <i>That’s not right</i>, but even <i>he</i> admitted that his reading was only illustrative of how it <i>could</i> be read not how it <i>should</i> be read. He said, in an <a href="http://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/3153/the-art-of-poetry-no-30-philip-larkin" rel="nofollow">interview</a> in <i>The Paris Review</i>, “I don’t give readings, no, although I have recorded three of my collections, just to show how <i>I</i> should read them. Hearing a poem, as opposed to reading it on the page, means you miss so much—the shape, the punctuation, the italics, even knowing how far you are from the end. Reading it on the page means you can go your own pace, taking it in properly; hearing it means you’re dragged along at the speaker’s own rate, missing things, not taking it in, confusing “there” and “their” and things like that. And the speaker may interpose his own personality between you and the poem, for better or worse.”Jim Murdochhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12786388638146471193noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-51104922201402209282015-05-26T16:29:04.475+01:002015-05-26T16:29:04.475+01:00Strong feelings make good writers. "I hated t...Strong feelings make good writers. "I hated that 1980 poetry reading with a vengeance."Kasshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05233330248952156754noreply@blogger.com