Ledbury Poetry Festival
I so enjoyed reading at the Ledbury Poetry Festival yesterday. It was the first poetry festival I have been to and people had told me how friendly and welcoming it was. There were poets everywhere. Lesser-spotted and rare breeds along with champions, veterans and young bucks.
And there was a warm, appreciative audience of readers and writers and listeners flowing between venues across this ridiculously pretty Herefordshire market town.
Sadly I was only there for a few hours and didn't go to any other readings but I plan to come back next year instead.
On a personal level, this was the first poetry reading where I began to actually enjoy myself. I could feel the audience listening and responding and rather than rattle through my poems, I began to relax and address the audience as listening people, rather than a threatening block of potentially judgmental faces.
It was lovely to chat to some poetry friends such as Nichola Deane, Sarah James and to meet poets like Penny Shuttle who bought a copy of Slant Light (thank you) and a guy called Gerald (not him of Voodoo Ray fame) who told me how he was interested in the intersection of biology and poetry.
Enjoying being up on stage and sharing my work is a break-through for me and I can't wait to put my nascent performing skills into action later in the year. I would love to do more readings! Anyone out there care to offer me one?!
And there was a warm, appreciative audience of readers and writers and listeners flowing between venues across this ridiculously pretty Herefordshire market town.
Sadly I was only there for a few hours and didn't go to any other readings but I plan to come back next year instead.
On a personal level, this was the first poetry reading where I began to actually enjoy myself. I could feel the audience listening and responding and rather than rattle through my poems, I began to relax and address the audience as listening people, rather than a threatening block of potentially judgmental faces.
It was lovely to chat to some poetry friends such as Nichola Deane, Sarah James and to meet poets like Penny Shuttle who bought a copy of Slant Light (thank you) and a guy called Gerald (not him of Voodoo Ray fame) who told me how he was interested in the intersection of biology and poetry.
Enjoying being up on stage and sharing my work is a break-through for me and I can't wait to put my nascent performing skills into action later in the year. I would love to do more readings! Anyone out there care to offer me one?!
Comments
Post a Comment