Check Out Charles Bernstein's "Thelonious Monk & the Performance of Poetry"

"Bernstein asks why poets would read their work aloud and what happens when they do. He views the performance of poetry as a "competing realization" of the written work and explores the possibilities for tonal, rhythmic, and phrasing dynamics that performance adds to poetry. That in turn suggests a comparison with jazz performance, and specifically that of Thelonious Monk for his pauses and silences."

Jazz Studies Online

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This poem/essay first appeared in Bernstein's book My Way (U of Chicago Press). A video of Charles Bernstein will appear in Altered Scale 1.