I walked into the elevator with a group of new acquaintances after a class. As we briefly introduced ourselves to each other I told them I was a poet. “Really!” One lady exclaimed, “I didn’t know they exist.”
Even in San Francisco poets are an obscure breed. Unlike musicians who can generate an audience, there is a general lack of interest in listening to words. Few of my relatives have come to my readings. My sister went to one and would not go again. In cafes and restaurants poets read to their own kind. Once in a while we capture a few accidental listeners but we just can’t get people hooked.
Four years ago H.D.Moe and three other poets went to France and Italy to promote the Baby Beat Generation Anthology (published in France). Moe was heartened to find a real audience in the places he read. They came to hear the poets, not to read their own poems. He sold all his books before coming home. A musician friend once said we must go to where the audience is. I don’t think he meant France.
Photo by Steve Wilson.
