Reading Poetry

I am fortunate to be able to read poetry, at some performances, and sing, accompanying myself on the guitar, at others, or
on some occasions, combining the two. Doing poetry readings I've found to be the easiest of these choices. I don't have to lug a guitar, to the venue involved, and most of all, I don't have to "get myself up" to read. All I need to do is to take some material with me, and just before I go on stage, make a final choice of what I'm going to read. After a few years of "reading" poetry, you hopefully learn to naturally interpret your material, as you read it. My personal preference, in the reading of others, providing the material is any good, is being "given the straight goods" by the reader. That is to say, being read to in a way that does not over dramatise the material, but allows it to "speak for itself", with some "natural" interpretation and force behind it. I've often heard other approaches to reading poetry, that I'm not crazy about, like hearing people go "Shakespearean", syrupy, pompous, or rave as they read. I think if the material is well written, and has something to say, that is what you go with, rather than with an over blown interpretation, push to give it, what it does not naturally possess. After singing and accompanying myself, for years, I find reading poetry or prose, to be a much easier proposition. With reading, there is much less that can go wrong. With singing, there is more that you have to sustain. You have to make sure you voice doesn't break, as you hit high or low notes...you have to play the right chords on the guitar and remember the song words...and be warmed up so that your voice is working, when you get on stage. Something that may escape the notice of
those who do not themselves sing...is that when you sing, on stage, you can't allow yourself to cough...when you read poetry...you can...then excuse yourself...and go on...just like all those people in audiences...who have a habit of coughing...when you sing.....................Quester.