poetry reading

So I went to the poetry reading this past Friday at the Yoga place above the Black Bird Cafe. There were about 12 people there, all adults and largely over 30. There were four readers that night but unfortunately I couldn't stay for all four presenters. However, the first reader made enough of an impression on me and my two other friends that accompanied me that night. Sadly, I did not have a very good review for the first poet nor was it a good impression he left us with. When he first presented his topics for his poems, I was slightly intrigued and excited because they seemed to all have a lot to do with nature and his observations of his surroundings; and by title they seemed semi-interesting. However, unfortunately he lost all three of our interests and some what attention once he opened his mouth and read his 5 poems. I was very surprised to see that he very much lacked a distinct presence when he spoke and read his poetry. He didn't have any real enthusiasm or passion or emotion when he read. He also greatly lacked eye contact and interaction with the audience when presenting his poetry. He would always just read it from his paper and I was surprised that he made no real effort to memorize or even occasionally look up when he was reading. As we've learned in class, engaging the reader or audience is critical! So I was extremely surprised and disappointed when I realized his performance was lacking this.
Also, his poetry was nothing to really be desired either. None of his poems were truly captivating or interesting, nor did they have any unique style. They were more of journal entries and occasionally he would try to be abstract but it was more of a failed attempt. When I left the poetry reading I was disappointed and felt that a lot of the poems I have read in class from my peers would have been better presented than his.