Poetry Out Loud Performances

Forgetfulness
By: Billy Colins
Presented by Jackson Hille

Jackson Hille uses a very dry comedy, satirical type attitude when presenting this poem. He uses exactly the right timing when presenting this to give the poem a feeling of almost a comedy routine. He pauses to add dramatic effect to parts of the poem that may be funny to the audience, which portrays this poem to it's full potential. He uses his body language to show the audience a matter of fact attitude in the way he presents, he keeps both hands clasped together and moves in certain ways to emphasize separate parts of the poem.

This poem is a very wry interpretation of the forgetfulness that most everyone goes through. Colins makes the reader both think and laugh with lines like; "Whatever it is you are struggling to remember, it is not poised on the tip of your tongue, or even in some obscure corner of your spleen, it has drifted off down a dark mythological river which as far as you can remember begins with the letter "L." Lines like that leave the reader to interpret it for him/herself. It keeps you listening, fully intrigued and not wanting to miss a line with the fear of misinterpreting the next bit of comedy that comes along. Hille fully embraces this feeling the author has given to the poem by making definitive pauses where necessary for the reader to understand, and interpret each line for him/herself. Hille also grabs your attention at important moments of the poem by significant changes in tone or volume. All of these aspects from the poem and the expressions of the reader come together to create a very entertaining performance.