Sharon Olds

Going to a poetry reading sounded like an awful way to spend my night. I never went to one before, and never planned on going to one either. However, after finally going to one and giving poetry a chance, I am pleased to say that I had a great time at Sharon Old’s poetry reading. I was shocked that her poetry was hysterical, relatable, and easy to understand. I was scared that she was going to ramble on and on using big words that I never heard of and saying things with meanings so deep that I would never be able to comprehend them.

She opened with a poem about how her mom took her to the doctor’s seeking a “diagnosis” for her child. The doctor’s “diagnosis” was that Sharon had a sense of humor. By opening on this note, I knew I was in for a treat and sure enough the rest of her readings kept me entertained and laughing.

I really enjoyed her poem “Self Portrait: Rear View”. It was so funny and the entire room was laughing while she was reading. In the poem, she talked about how she was in a hotel room traveling and looked in the mirror and saw her bottom and how it made her feel. She was talking about how the doughnuts and all of the food she ate went to it, and her word choice really made the poem. The topic was light, and appealed to people of all age groups. As I looked into the crowd, I saw people of all age groups engaged in her readings. There were children, students, and elders laughing and having a great time during readings.

At one point an outraged fan actually stood up and gave Sharon a round of applause and told her that she was her “mother of poetry” and was very inspirational. This was a very touchy moment that almost brought Sharon to tears, showing how divine and passionate Sharon really is.

Sharon shared that her favorite part of her poetry was her faults because they are secretly fun for her to write because she has wisdom now.  I thought that this was unique and in a way showed us that she has confidence. Sharon is able to get up in front of crowd and read poems she wrote pointing out negative things in her life that she said, did, or flaws and say them with a smile and soothing voice. She also offered lots of advice to those that aspire to be a poet. She offered them guidelines to follow so they can avoid the problem of miscommunication. Sharon said that it is important not to scare off the reader, and cautioned word choice and to pay attention to the way you say things.       

I really was amazed that the reading flew by. I felt like I was at the reading for only ten minutes and when I looked at my watch after her last poem, I was shocked by how much time went by. I would definitely go to another reading by her and now have gained a better understanding of poetry and realized that although there is deep, lengthy, wordy poetry, there are many different forms. I am glad I gave poetry a chance and can understand now why so many people came out to listen to her read.