What Are You Reading?

When I see a new poet get on stage to read
I listen, hopeful at first that here might well
Be another curious case as faces look around
Trying to find eyes to connect with so as to
Exclaim, ‘where did this one come from?’

Sometimes we get a new great one, still finding
Their voice but comfortable with their words
Often read from paper or a phone. Occasionally
I will go and talk with them after, getting a
Better picture and to find out what they’re reading.

Then there are those who come and go, always
Smiling, always performing and never reading.
For them it’s all about the experience of being
On stage, the centre of attention for those few
Fleeting moments.

I tend to avoid those types, often reciting off
The cuff they’ll bore you for hours about what
Caused them to write their best poem but never
Will you know just what poetry it is that they
Bloody read because sadly they probably don’t.