http://berlindomestic.wordpress.com/2012/08/30/going-down-swinging/
What a trip.
As a Performance Poet it's a weird feeling having work published or used in a way that has nothing to do with a stage.
So issue #33 of GDS is amazing for me not only because it features an audio recording of my piece If Jesus Was Born Again He Would Convert To Buddhism, but because there's something about GDS that just smells, looks, tastes (the pages are very crunchy) of quality. It's a big moment, and a nice milestone of 2012.
It's also been the first year I've been published, with my poem Thorn sitting in amongst the literary masterpieces from the QPF 2012 Anthology. Humbling indeed.
I have recently finished my self published chapbook too - Sinking/Floating. It's $7 if you want a copy! It has some old performance favourites as well as some pieces that seemed to find their way onto the pages without me ever performing them... very cool.
If you're a performer, and a bit of a wordsmith, does it look odd when you see your work in print? I know a script always seems a bit strange to me until it's been thought through and acted out.
What about poetry that sits on the page? There's been many an occasion when I've been bored out of my mind by a poet reading their work and wishing, dying, hoping, that they would just let me read their work in silence before they ruin the whole thing.
If you're curious about this kind of conversation, head to FreeVerse!, next Wednesday the 17th at the State Library of QLD. It features word queen, prose wizard and villanelle temptress Zenobia Frost versus ritual-shirt-tearing-pants-dropping-hold-on-tight performance poet Robin Archbold. It's hosted by the dynamic David Stavanger and should keep you thinking: Is there a difference? And do we really care?
