Geraldine Monk and Alan Halsey Reading / November 20, 2008
Event Report
On November 20, 2008, English poets Geraldine Monk and Alan Halsey read to an audience of about 60 people in the Soderberg Auditorium for the sixth and penultimate event of the Fall 2008 schedule. Halsey led off the event, and read from his book The Text of Shelley’s Death. Monk followed and read from her books Selected Poems and Ghost and Other Sonnets. Afterward, both Monk and Halsey took questions from audience members.
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Set List
Introduction by Steve Evans
Alan Halsey
four excerpts from the book The Text of Shelley’s Death
Geraldine Monk
the Monologues from Selected Poems, in the section titled “Out Thoughts”
Chattox
Demdike
Alice
Mouldheels
Squintin Lizzie
the Replies from Selected Poems, in the section titled “Out Thoughts”
Anne Whittle
Elizabeth Southern
Alice Nutter
Katherine Hewit
Elizabeth Device
two sonnets from Ghost and Other Sonnets
“It started with a tryst and a twist…”“Light a night light…”
Questions
Do you [Monk and Halsey] like performing together like this?
Do you ever influence each other’s set lists when you do a reading?
[for Monk] How does your performance play into your writing? Do you write in the voice you read in?
[In The Text of Shelley’s Death], one is made to feel almost sorry for Shelley since he seems to be something of a contestable territory, whereas in the witch monologues [in Selected Poems], there is a sense of irreverence and liveliness.
Do you each write from historical sources often?
[for Halsey] How do the other mediums of art you work in affect your poetry writing?
[for Monk] Do your line breaks come organically as you’re writing, or do you impose them on the poem later on?