Until last year, I rarely wrote a poem over a page long. Now, my current manuscript, The Weather in Normal, has four poems of 3+ pages, the longest being 'Scar', which also constitutes my chapbook of the same title from Shearsman Books. I've now read it for an audience twice: in Edinburgh in July, in my hometown of Normal, Illinois in September.
Reading the entire piece in a single go raises a number of difficulties, most significantly the alternation of multiple voices/perspectives with each new page. I try to use pacing and voice modulation to signal these changes, but it's hard to tell how successful those attempts have been.
Saturday I'll give Scar its official launch at the wonderful Free Verse Poetry Book Fair in London. I'm glad to be reading with former Poetry School student Geraldine Clarkson bringing out her first chapbook, Declare. Come hear us at 3 p.m.--it's free!