I felt like that in the beginning. Its probably not the time you're up there as much as just being conscious of doing all the poems that you wanted to get to. Over the last year or so, I've been allowed to do a bit longer features, so now for me its flipped to, "am I doing enough varied work to not numb my audience."
But you're right, anything under 20 mins is going to probably feel short, especially if you're in a good rhythm and especially if you have the ability to banter between poems (which, everyone doesn't have).
Nah, I savor it - it always feels as long as it is. Unless I'm dying - which has happened twice at Urbana (which I still do not understand) and once at a hip-hop venue in Phoenix - then it feels longer.
I panic before I go on stage. Before my Vancouver feature, I was behind the Cafe Deux Soleis freaking out to the point where I smoked a pack of cloves and half a pack of Peter Jacksons.
I'm in agreement with Klute features only feel long if you're being received luke warm or less. Almost all my features have gone well but there was one where they wanted 20-25 and the audience was with me but stopping at 16 minutes would have just been a lot better idea.
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But you're right, anything under 20 mins is going to probably feel short, especially if you're in a good rhythm and especially if you have the ability to banter between poems (which, everyone doesn't have).
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I panic before I go on stage. Before my Vancouver feature, I was behind the Cafe Deux Soleis freaking out to the point where I smoked a pack of cloves and half a pack of Peter Jacksons.
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