Kia ora,
Monday I went to the launch of 4th Floor, Whitireia’s online publication, this year edited by Lynn Jenner (Dear Sweet Harry).
Some of the contributors read their works. I was one.
Reading your poem or short story to an audience is not always a pleasure perhaps but in such a company I was very happy.
There were established poets, new poets, short story writers, and a contribution from the publishing team.
On display were two recent publications from Escalator Press (publishing arm of Whitireia), Adrienne’s Jansen’s, Score, and Janet Coulson’s, The Shark Party.
I realised all over again how good it is to listen to people reading aloud. As someone who was never read to as a child and who was always puzzled by how various people referred to the experience as one of great pleasure, it wasn’t until I began to attend poetry readings that I understood why they felt as they did.
You just have to lean back, listen, let the words and their meaning, settle in.
Maybe we don’t take this opportunity often enough. If you get the chance to hear someone read their poem or story, grab it. You won’t regret it. Your mind is opened to new ideas, different ways of seeing things, humour, sadness, the whole gamut. Satisfaction guaranteed.
Thanks to everyone who was there on Monday, thanks to anyone, especially Lynn, who organised the event, and to the readers – who made it such a rich, moving and fun treat. Kapai, tino pai, nga mihi mahana,
