PAUL +1 (-1) presents POEMS

Amongst all the multitudinous variants of performance the most maligned is the vocal presentation of a poem (or poems).  
And justifiably so. 
The reading of poetry (aloud) to an individual (generally) or groups of people (rarely) is seen by many (in the profession of the Arts) as the most self-serving, shallow, egotistically vapid, puerile and purposeless of pursuits.  

Poetry is dead.  It has been dead for years.  It cannot be resuscitated.  

And it should not be performed live as an entertainment as – IT IS NOT ENTERTAINING. 

It is the sad pony in the empty field.  The public reading of poetry only elicits pity.

Poetry lacks the immediacy, audience engagement, and free-wheeling imaginative associations of stand-up.  It lacks the excitement of a play or solo performance.  It lacks the rhythmic pulse of a song, or the colourful costumes, toe tapping hits and emotional highs of a musical, the pageantry of a panto and the complexity and passion of classical music.  And neither does it display the torturous years of dedication and practice to perfect the “art” of tossing things about with precision for coins. 

It is an isolating art form, the domain of the self-absorbed introvert.  Poetry duos do not exist, there are no two-handers, trios or teams of poets - for poets are people best avoided.  And public readings, dear god, readings are the empty vessel a lonely scribe howls into to amplify themselves.  To take to the stage and read from your self-published, soft-cover, micro-book/pamphlet of desperately sad verses displays a disregard for the audience and a supreme arrogance.  

With this in mind - Paul McDermott will be presenting, for the first time, recent works of rhyme.