This poem has confused some people, so let me provide some context. If you don't mind being confused, jump right in.
Since I was writing again, I began poking around the local / university poetry scene, attending readings and participating during the open-mike sections. I noticed that people who were waiting their turn to read would often talk to their friends while others were reading. Aside from the basic rudeness of this, I wondered if they thought anyone would be listening to them when they got to the mike. So I began speculating about the motives of people who perform, including me. (I tried to pay attention to the other readers, and learned a lot about bad college poetry by doing so.) There's certainly some exhibitionism involved, and that gave me the idea for this poem.
"Poetry Reading" has some things in common with this earlier poem and this more recent one. The first one also deals with ulterior motives in performers, and the second one also made some people in the audience squirm -- not so much, I think, because of their erotic explicitness (straight boys read work that was just as naughty), but because they were, like, totally gay. Some years later a friend I was visiting in another city took me to an open mike at a coffee shop. One kid read political poems with imagery like "Fuck Exxon-Mobil in the ass!" When my turn came, I picked up my guitar and sang some love songs to men, which caused uncomfortable silence at first. Talking about sex between men is fine as part of homophobic fag discourse, but not in a romantic mode.
From time to time someone would approach me after readings and ask if "Poetry Reading" was just an advertisement for sex. If it had been, it would have been a miserable failure, but then in those days the very concept of being openly gay read to many, straight or gay, as nothing but an advertisement. (I wonder what all the straight poets were advertising.) It struck me odd that people who were present either as poets or as appreciators of poetry couldn't grasp the metaphor announced by the title. And for the benefit of anyone who may wonder, the kinks listed in the metaphorical ad are poetical too.
Poetry ReadingSince I was writing again, I began poking around the local / university poetry scene, attending readings and participating during the open-mike sections. I noticed that people who were waiting their turn to read would often talk to their friends while others were reading. Aside from the basic rudeness of this, I wondered if they thought anyone would be listening to them when they got to the mike. So I began speculating about the motives of people who perform, including me. (I tried to pay attention to the other readers, and learned a lot about bad college poetry by doing so.) There's certainly some exhibitionism involved, and that gave me the idea for this poem.
"Poetry Reading" has some things in common with this earlier poem and this more recent one. The first one also deals with ulterior motives in performers, and the second one also made some people in the audience squirm -- not so much, I think, because of their erotic explicitness (straight boys read work that was just as naughty), but because they were, like, totally gay. Some years later a friend I was visiting in another city took me to an open mike at a coffee shop. One kid read political poems with imagery like "Fuck Exxon-Mobil in the ass!" When my turn came, I picked up my guitar and sang some love songs to men, which caused uncomfortable silence at first. Talking about sex between men is fine as part of homophobic fag discourse, but not in a romantic mode.
From time to time someone would approach me after readings and ask if "Poetry Reading" was just an advertisement for sex. If it had been, it would have been a miserable failure, but then in those days the very concept of being openly gay read to many, straight or gay, as nothing but an advertisement. (I wonder what all the straight poets were advertising.) It struck me odd that people who were present either as poets or as appreciators of poetry couldn't grasp the metaphor announced by the title. And for the benefit of anyone who may wonder, the kinks listed in the metaphorical ad are poetical too.
GWM, 27, 5'8", 135,
well-endowed and sensitive,
seeks audience for oral stimulation
and fantasy.
Light s/m, no b/d, some scat and w/s,
no drugs, no smokers,
your pleasure increases my turn-on,
will answer all letters,
sincere only please.
(Gay white male, 27, 5 feet 8, one hundred thirty-five pounds,
well-endowed and sensitive,
seeks audience
for aural stimulation and fantasy.
Light sadomasochism, no bondage and discipline,
some scat and water sports,
no drugs, no smokers,
your pleasure increases my turn-on,
will answer all letters,Light sadomasochism, no bondage and discipline,
some scat and water sports,
no drugs, no smokers,
your pleasure increases my turn-on,
sincere only please.
18 March1978
29 March 1978
Incidentally, this is one of three poems of mine that were published in Ian Young's anthology Son of the Male Muse (Crossing Press, 1982).
29 March 1978
Incidentally, this is one of three poems of mine that were published in Ian Young's anthology Son of the Male Muse (Crossing Press, 1982).