(If you rush through the piece too quickly or quietly, no one will be able to truly hear and experience all the time and effort you took to create your poem.)
- First, take a breath.
- Center yourself in the moment -- this moment.
- Remember that this is your poem. You created it out of thin air and brought it into the world. That. Is. Powerful. Remember, you did that!
- If there's a microphone, put your mouth very close to it before you speak and stay there.
- Speak slowly -- slower than what feels natural.
- Feel the words in your mouth as you say them. Accentuate words for emphasis, ride the rhythm, and carry the cadence of this particular piece.
- Feel the words in your body as they leave your mouth and recognize their strength.
- Feel the words through your hands as you speak them. Let your hands narrate in tandem with your words -- the words that you have lovingly, painstakingly crafted and drafted with intention and precision.
- Take. Your. Time. Savor the syllables and sentences and stanzas that you carefully curated.
- Hold the moments in your mouth and in your hands.
- Make eye contact with the listeners in order to increase your connection with them and their connection with you.
- Before you finish, give yourself permission to pause, resonate and ruminate in the wonderment that you created out of nothing for this moment -- this moment that you cultivated and carved out of time for this very purpose and this particular poem.
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