Fairground Man by Annie Clarkson
I haven’t featured too many videos of poetry readings here, mostly because I haven’t taken the time to look for the ones that are well-filmed and edited with a listenable audio track. What I am saying is that at least 90 percent of the poetry-reading videos uploaded to YouTube and Vimeo suck. Here’s a great example of one that does not. It was brought to my attention by Christine Swint, in a post at Moving Poems’ news and discussion blog back in May. Christine wrote,
I’ve read her chapbook, Winter Hands, and it’s beautiful. Her video reading interests me because she first talks about her writing in general, as well as the authors who have influenced her. As she reads, she stands next to an antique lamp with tassel fringe, in front of a wall painted deep red. The sound of dishes clinking in the background gives the reading an immediacy. The filming is good, because normally when a reading is recorded the poet stands on a stage in front of a mike.
I doubt I would ever have a chance to hear Annie read live, so this recording is almost as good as hearing her in person.
For more on the poet, see her page at poetry p f — which includes the text of “Fairground Man.” The video was produced by the U.K.’s Literature North West — not a press, but “a promotional tool for the region’s independent presses and literature organisations.” This is one of 21 videos they’ve uploaded to YouTube.
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Dave Bonta is a poet, editor, and web publisher from the Appalachian mountains of central Pennsylvania.
