Poetry — The Joy of Life + My First Job

To read poems well you must fully grasp what the poet was trying to say. You are the middle man between the poet and the listener. You do some of the work the listener would have to do to GET anything from the poem. You are a facilitator. You are a guide. You are a Curator.

My work included poems by Shakespeare, and also by various beat poets like EE Cummings, and Lawrence Ferlinghetti.

There was a spotlight on my face, from 15 feet away, and I wore a black turtleneck shirt. I knew the poems by heart, so I could look up at the audience while reciting them.

My audience was drinking coffee at the Cafe Basement, in Greenwich Village, on McDougal Street. My work was done before some of today’s poets came to be. About half my rent was paid for by my collections in the basket, mostly dimes and quarters, with a few dollar bills. I also have a job at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on 82nd Street stacking quarters that people sent in to get Catalogs. I stacked about $200 worth of quarters per day. And kept the letters so people could get their Catalogs. The cafe at the Museum had GREAT hot food. The Village had zero decent food. So, my meals were on 82nd street and my work was at Washington Square.