For poets, the audience is a varied group that usually depends on the type of poetry that is being performed. Audiences for beat poets tend to move a bit to the rhythm of the words and sometimes the musical accompaniment; audiences for spit poetry typically vocalize their approval by snapping their fingers. In terms of my poetry…well, you kinda just have to sit back and listen, just as if you were listening to a story.

Sometimes I do humorous poetry which can warrant a laugh here and there, but (more often than not) the audience just continues to listen. Personally, I don’t think audience really plays that big of a part in poetry; I think that poetry is best absorbed when read silently on your own, multiple times, and very slowly.