As you would invite a friend into your home, invite your audience into the body of your work. They want to know who you are and what is important to you, so begin with a poem or two written by a poet who inspires you. Maybe you have an absolute favorite poem, that whenever you read it you get goose bumps or you find it calls you to write your own story. This sets the emotional tone of your reading.
Try to remember your audience is a living, breathing body in and of itself, and they want to inhabit the images, metaphors, and situations you explore in your work, so don't leave them at the front door. Bring them in. Open the door.
The Guest House
This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows,who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.
The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,and invite them in.
Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sentas a guide from beyond.
The Essential Rumi
Translation by Coleman Barks with John Moyne
I love the idea of the audience as a living breathing presence, and the role of the poet to invite them into the world of the poem! I was just thinking of this Rumi poem last night when the storms were coming through.
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