Well, this social distancing stay at home environment is getting old, but there are some fringe benefits. Hardly a day goes by when I don't find myself "invited" to a poetry reading or talk online. The Academy of American Poet's online marathon the other night was just one example.
And what do I find myself doing during these "virtual" readings, whereby readers and writers (and musicians and actors in some cases) convene via the Internet from the privacy of our homes? I find myself looking for glimpses of the participants' home lives.
The furniture, the decor, the art, and of course the libraries -- the most common backdrop people choose to show when they put their home on display via virtual meeting technology is the well stocked bookshop. Rarely, on my primitive laptop technology at any rate, is the image large enough that I can read many of the titles, but the books are on display. A few participants choose a blank wall backdrop or even drop some fabric behind them, but fortunately most authors and speakers are willing to give us a glimpse into their homes. I did find myself having pangs of apartment envy during the Academy's virtual event. (If memory serves, Naomi Shihab Nye had the apartment I think artists and writers should have -- cluttered, book and art strewn, and enviably cozy.)
On balance, despite the occasional technical glimpse, I've found these virtual readings to be refreshing and consoling. But I do long for the days when we can all reconvene in an actual room, even one with uncomfortable plastic folding chairs, to hear and face the presence of live authors addressing a live audience.
