At least with formal/rhyming poems you (and often the audience) have a damn good idea about what's coming next as you read perform the poem.
At the VERY WORST 'reading' I ever went to, the guy had his hands in his pockets, looked ceiling-wards most of the time (in mock profound concentration) and I would absolutely swear he was just making up the free verse as he went along! (Well, how would we have known if he went wrong as he 'recited' it?)
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