On Reading In Public

NYRSF reading, 2013. Photo by Sam J. Miller

Imagine yourself in a room filled with chairs, all pointed right at you. There’s a table with a sweating pitcher of water and an empty plastic cup, a box of leftover cookie crumbs, and, if you’re lucky, a table-tent with your name on it.

Welcome to your reading – one of many, you hope. What are you going to do now?

Actually, the first time I read my work aloud was nothing like this. Then, I clutched a handful of my poemsin a crowded basement bar in Bal...