FNI 4: Reading a Poem

This is a classic Keith Johnstone exercise, and here is how you do it.

Reach out and take a book from the shelf, an imaginary book. Hold it, turn it over and look at it, feel the cover. What colour is it? How large and heavy is it? Then flip to a page number and open it. Look at the imaginary page- there is a poem at the top. Read out the title, let the words appear letter by letter as you look at it.

Then once you have the title, read out the poem in the same way. Look at it letter by letter until a word appears. Skip to the next line when one has finished.

You will know when you have got to the end of the poem, because you won't see any more words on the page. You can read as many poems as you like, just flip to another page, read another title and let the rest of the poem.

Tips

Don't think. If you are thinking then you are not seeing. Turn off the clever part of the brain and attend to the imaginary page until you see a letter appear, then see the rest of the word.