[Andrew Szilvasy]

Hi all,

I was on an online reading run by a friend (Tom Snarsky) called Performance Anxiety. I queued it up to where I read. I definitely stumble a bit here or there, as I literally have never done a live reading of my own work, but if you want to hear me read 4 poems I workshopped here read by me, here I am: Performance Anxiety.

[Julie Steiner]

Well done! I remember enjoying the last three very much when you workshopped them. The first was new to me--I must have missed that one.

The points at which you paused to allow things to sink in were very helpful. I'm one of those folks who need more time for auditory processing when we can't see the text. Overall, slowing down a bit would have been good in that regard, too, and perhaps would have eliminated the few minor stumbles.

An auspicious start to a long and glorious career of readings!

[Andrew Frisardi]

I reaĺly enjoyed the reading, Andrew. The last poem especially struck me, and your reading of it seemed especially impassioned. Nice work!

[Mark McDonnell]

Well done Andrew, good to hear and see you. I enjoyed this.

[Andrew Szilvasy]

Thanks all!

Though I (used to be) in front of kids all day, I've never done a reading. Performance Anxiety was a nice medium for that. Tom is always looking for new people, especially since they're trying to do once a week because of Corona, so if you were interested in reading, let me know and I can put you in conversation with him.

[Chris O'Carroll]

So glad you had a good experience with that reading, Andrew. Last fall, I also enjoyed working with Tom and Kristin. As long as it's not safe for poets to be packed in a room with each other, I hope there will be many more online opportunities to whip up a batch of connection and community.
Earlier this week, I took part in a Poetry Salon of Boston reading via Zoom. I'm a hundred miles out of town, and some formerly Boston-based poets logged on from as far away as Ottawa and San Francisco. It was great to get that dose of audience interaction and fellowship with other writers. Isolation is good medicine for us these days, but we need something to deal with its side effects.