MUSELETTER #58
12/14/2000
We are sorry for the irregular delivery of Museletter to your mailbox this month -- getting connected to the Net while you're criss-crossing Europe in a rock'n'roll & spoken word circus caravan is a chancy proposition. So until January, Museletter will appear whenever I (Margy) have one ready and can get access to a phone line to send it out to you. With the new year, Museletter will return to its weekly publication schedule, on Wednesdays.
Since last week's letter from Switzerland, I've travelled to Rennes (Bretagne) for the Festival TransMusicales -- a 4-day event which brings thousands of listeners & partiers to the cobblestone streets of Rennes' old central quarter for an eclectic program of festival headliners (this year including poet Saul Williams of Slam! fame), plus a series of events called Bars en Trans at smaller clubs, plus spontaneous performances in the streets, at the train station, wherever the indie musicians who want to be seen can gather & play. It's festive & genial scene inside the performance venues -- quite amazing, in fact, to see how the French-speaking audiences are captivated by spoken word performances, whether in English or French. I've heard it said over & over again since we arrived in Europe that the Francophone poets are looking to the burgeoning Anglophone perfpo/spoken word scene for models, as they are just beginning to get “off the page.”
After Rennes we returned to Switzerland to prepare for the main event of this journey: the tour of Le Cirque Electrique December 7 - 30 through France, Belgium, Germany, Austria, Slovenia & Switzerland. You can read my account of the Cirque tour of 2 years ago, entirely within Switzerland, on the About Poetry site:
- All Together Now! Touring Switzerland with Le Cirque Electrique:
The story of two American poets who ran away to join a Swiss rock'n'roll circus.
- Larry Jaffe, who also has been on the road lately, brings news of poetry events in Los Angeles, Las Vegas & Oklahoma.
- Ian Ferrier focuses on the performance & video incarnations of poetry in Vancouver & Montreal.
- Gary Glazner offers a special report on Roni Horn's poetry + photography exhibition at Site Santa Fe: “Still Water (The River Thames For Example)”
- Marj Hahne has a many-faceted update on the burgeoning Philly poetry scene.
Margy Snyder (on the autoroute outside Paris) & Bob Holman (in New York)
Poetry Guides
LOS ANGELES, LAS VEGAS & OKLAHOMA
Your brave and courageous Museletter poetspondent has done more roadwork than Mohammed Ali. I'm gonna change my name to Larry Blacktop. And the world of poetry inches on. Much is happening in La La Land right now, plus I'll give you a couple of perks about that Las Vegas poetry scene where not only did your fave poetry commuter/migrant poet get to feature but our omnipotent leader Bob Holman did the same a couple of Friday nights ago. I also have an update on that Oklahoma poetry scene, since they don't have anybody locally to write for `em here and always deserve mention. But first, the news from LA:
RETURN OF FATLANDS?
Jeff Jurgens and Estelle Childers of Fatlands fame are back hosting again. They are doing a weekly reading in Studio City at Java Joy, 11288 Ventura Blvd. #538, 818.845.4885. It's at 8 pm and they are doing a very comfortable roundtable poetry reading type thing. Check it out!
PETE JUSTUS RISES FROM MIDNIGHT SPECIAL ASHES
As some of you may know, one of the best hosts at Midnight Special bookstore in Santa Monica was relieved of his duties due to conflicts with the owner. This came as a shock to those of us who felt that Midnight Special finally had a host worthy of respect who also supported the SoCal poetry community. Anyway, long story short, Pete is out of there and hosting a new reading in Santa Monica. Starting last Saturday night, The Rapp Saloon Poetry venue is now open for business. The Rapp Saloon is part of the International Youth Hostel located at 1436 2nd Street, on the west side of the street between Broadway and Santa Monica Blvd. If you have questions email Pete or call 310.326.4246. Sign up starts at 7 and the reading starts at 7:30. Pete says: “We assume each poet will get about five minutes. Time limitations will depend on the number of poets. Please respect the requirements of our hosts at the International Youth Hostel. No food or drink is allowed in the room. Because young people stay at the hostel our hosts have asked us not to use obscenity in our work. We will be reading poetry there every Saturday night!”
POETRY IN EXILE IS NOW KILLER POETRY
Amelie Frank & Richard Modiano are back in the poetry biz! If you thought the closing of Exile Books and Music was a crime, well, it was. And now, fittingly, a new bookstore has opened in its place: Mysteries, Movies & Mayhem. But the plot thickens: Poetry in Exile has picked up a brand new alias: Killer Poetry! Both featured poets and the usual open reading lunacy presided over by our Lord High Executioner Richard Modiano. Yes! The weird-ass prizes are back. Open reading welcomes all shady characters, from the usual suspects to first-time offenders. Join us for Killer Poetry at Mysteries, Movies & Mayhem, 14925 Magnolia Blvd. (at Kester), Sherman Oaks, 818.905.9191, 7:30 pm sign-up for the open reading, 8:00 pm, reading kicks off 8:32 pm.
IT'S WORDELICIOUS SO IT'S GOT TO BE GOOD!
The Wordelicious Poetry Series is held the second and fourth Thursdays of the month at 8 pm, at The Espress Y'self Coffeehouse in Pasadena. The evening consists of an open mike followed by a featured performer. Wordelicious is hosted and produced by local writer, artist and educator Emma Rosenthal.
DA POETRY LOUNGE CONTINUES TO PACK `EM IN
Da Poetry Lounge is open mic spoken word poetry, sponsored by Dante, Gimel, Shihan, and Poetri, is probably the hottest read in Los Angeles with regular crowds over well over 150 every week. Tuesday nights at 9 pm (be sure to be there early for the sign-up list), free admission, donation accepted. 544 N. Fairfax Blvd., LA (cross street is Melrose) .
SPEAK ON IT GOES INTO 3RD YEAR
“Speak On It” began its 3rd year of production on Saturday, November 24th at 7 pm with a show celebrating this important landmark. The show was held at Uncle Al's Seafood Restaurant, 400 East 1st Street (at Elm) in Long Beach. “Speak On It” has been a wonderful venue to witness creative expression through poetry, music and other art forms. The Urban Folk Collective is more than just a group of performing artists -- they are part of a non-profit organization created to support themselves as artists.
LUMMOX LUMBERS ON
Our good friend R.D. Armstrong (Raindog) continues to march forth in publishing -- he would not dare think of it, but he deserves special commendation for keepin' on keepin' on. In 2001, look for two LRBs (Little Red Books) from long-time poet & bon-vivant John Thomas and his equally renowned wife, Philomene Long. Also Bakersfield 99 by Lindsay Wilson, a split book from Gerry Locklin and Trisha Cheron, and another installment of Todd Moore's epic poem, Dillinger. There will be other titles as well. Raindog is working on interviews with T. Kilgore Splake, Harry Northup, Rachel Rosenthal, Larry Jaffe, Bill Merkens, Wade Hammond, Shelley RiggThorp and a few other oddballs for The Lummox Journal. If you are looking for holiday gifts, check Lummox out.
UCLA HAMMER MUSEUM PRESENTS URBAN POETRY / SPOKEN WORD
I was privileged to read on Friday, December 1 at UCLA's Hammer Museum, as part of an evening of Urban Poetry and Spoken Word (“Witness lyricists confronting everyday triumph, rage and anxiety, through contemporary rhymes”). Included in the reading were Los Angeles poetic luminaries Ife Ohun, Jeffrey McDaniel and Jerry Quickley.
POETIC LICENSE @ ZEN ROCKS THE POETIC NIGHT
The Poetic License series had some incredible features in November. Unfortunately some very special guests like Patricia Smith and Lyn Lifshin had to cancel, but nevertheless those dates got filled in by poets from the community and elsewhere. Two nights of special note were Pat Payne's feature and Xennia coming home from Virginia before she moves there. (Lots of moving in the Poetic License community -- Mike Grover moved to Florida.) December is cooking up some great features:
- December 5th, Tracy Townsend
- December 12th, Marlene Pearson & guest poet Glenn A. Fenster
- December 19th, Donn Deedon Annual Birthday Bash
- December 26th, dark
HOLMAN & JAFFE HEADLINERS IN LAS VEGAS?
Believe it or not, Bob and I featured on successive weeks in Las Vegas -- and I want to tell you that doing poetry there is not what you might think. I have watched the LV poetry scene over the last couple years, since my daughter moved there, and I never felt a desire to read in that city. But that has all changed now, thanks to the work of a few individuals. I am reading in Las Vegas and have been enjoying myself more than I thought possible. I was the one who cringed at the thought of Sin City, a place where Disney meets the Godfather and plans to take over the world. But a few individuals have wrought change in this dragon's den: Danna Botwick along with her friends Karen Lumos, Patti Morello and Stephan Balley have made reading in LV a special experience. You can check out their schedule at the Vegas Poets Society site.
And I have to say this and no he did not pay me: Bob Holman was incredible in his Las Vegas appearance. He created a warm & intimate setting with a great deal of interaction with the audience. He was inspiring to everyone -- including the rather jaded poet writing this column.
OKLAHOMA OK!
The following information regarding the Oklahoma poetry scene comes to you from Carol Koss, the poetry mistress extraordinaire.
- Full Circle Bookstore, Sunday, November 26th
(Third floor, 50 Penn Place) Hosted by Tim Bradford: “After a fantastic summer and fall series of readers, this month featured an all open-mike session beside the fire. Thanks to all the great poets and lovers of poetry who have supported these readings. Happy Thanksgiving.” - Java Dave's, Thursday, November 30th
(2802 North Kickapoo, Shawnee, OK) Hosted by Jim Spurr, this intimate reading in Java Dave's private space offered coffee, a purring fire, and the opportunity to read and hear original poetry and other written work by your favorite writers -- living, dead, and somewhere in between. - Sandman's, Tuesday, December 5th
(2416 NW 23rd Street) Hosted by Carol Davis Koss and featuring Joyce Wakefield. If you missed Joyce at Full Circle or if you want to hear more, stop by Sandman's on our regular first Tuesday in December. (January will feature Tara Seawright.) - The Bean and Berry Bistro, Thursday, December 7th
(2035 N. Kickapoo, Shawnee) Hosted by Tara Seawright, this open-mike cafe offers the perfect place to hear and be heard. - Diversity, Friday, December 8th, 8 pm
(1739 NW 16th Street) Hosted by Kaylan Head and featuring Tapestry. Diversity is under new owner/management and has a new look, a new (somewhat) menu, and the same old warm welcoming feeling.
MONTREAL/CANADA
WINTER IS THE POET'S SEASON
This Museletter comes from deep cover in Montreal, where last week -- in a hail of flurries -- motorcycle season came to an early and ignominious end. Usually I get to ride into December in style here, but when the snow's on the streets, things get slippery quick, and the result is poets chained to their desks instead of biking. It's called creativity.
(Anyway, the word is that Margery Snyder is braving a deeper freeze in the Swiss Alps, so I shouldn't feel singled out. Or should I? Switzerland sounds pretty interesting actually, even if it is cold....)
SEE OR BE SEEN, THE VANCOUVER VIDEOPOEM FESTIVAL
A short 30 days ago the weather was warmer and I was flying back from one of the finer poetry events we saw in Canada this year, Vancouver's Edgewise Videopoem Festival. The two-night show screened 34 videos on poets and poetry, and included some excellent live performances too. Adeena Karasick was in from New York, and Vancouver's own individual slam champ Shane Koyczan performed with me at the Saturday night gala. In from her digs on Gabriola Island was Hilary Peach, whose words slip over into song, and who is currently working on her own CD.
The video experts were some of the best we have: Jill Battson, Kurt Heintz and San Francisco's Ian Moore. The most interesting part of the discussions centered on the question of what a poetry video is. No one seems to be sure quite yet, although Jill Battson had the most provocative definition: “A poetry video is what I make,” she said.
All of this searching is a healthy situation as far as I'm concerned, and the best of the videos defined new ground for the form. These included monologue, film fragments, found film and various mixes of text and image. For me the finest complete project was Wista, a monologue spoken by an obviously damaged young woman, whose body -- out of focus throughout the piece -- becomes the page for the text she speaks. The creator is an RJ Tuna, and his (or her) fine work picked up one of the festival's awards.
WIRED ON WORDS & MUSIC
Back here in Montreal we just finished the third edition of Words&Music at the Casa: it was standing room only for Corey Frost's updated Tale of Genji and the release of his new chapbook, I Feel Perfectly Fine. As usual, Frost finished creating the book he was launching minutes before the show.
This month begins with a poetry/music/monologue night at a jazz club called “Upstairs” on December 3rd. That show will feature the return of another fine Montreal performer, Debby Young, from her stay in London, England. Words&Music will feature the return of poet Todd Swift, author of Budavox, from Hungary to his roots on the Montreal stage, an event that will be held at 4873 St. Laurent on the 17th of December.
JAILHOUSE BENEFIT FOR TINGUELY & STANTON
Another great event that should be mentioned happened this fall. It was a benefit for Vince Tinguely and Victoria Stanton, both of whom have been toiling for months on their documentary book on the Montreal performance scene. The money they had to write the book ran out months ago, and a dozen different acts showed up at the Jailhouse to see if they could raise some more. It was nice to see so much community support for two people who have meant so much to the scene here. In their disguise as members of Fluffy Pagan Echoes, the two performed over 200 times in the mid-nineties, and since that time have hosted radio shows, written about performance, and pushed the scene into the fine arts galleries which were part of its roots here.
SWEET TASTE OF LIGHTNING
2000 has been a strong season here, bringing new faces and extending the range of work from the people we know already. It has taken me halfway around the world -- to a lot of places where people respect poetry and poets -- and it has left me with a lot of questions about this form we call performance lit -- about where it begins and ends, about how it mixes with film, music, television and other media, about how it stands up to the best work we find in books.
Listening to Sweet Taste of Lightning, the new CD by Calgary's Sheri-D Wilson, reminded me of the wild, irreverent, kick-ass spirit that got me interested in this genre in the first place. I'm pushing for 2001 to take me to work that is just as good, and show me more about how to do it better myself....
NEW MEXICO/SOUTHWEST
RONI HORN: STILL WATER (THE RIVER THAMES FOR EXAMPLE)
Roni Horn's work Still Water (The River Thames for Example) consists of a suite of fifteen large-scale photographs with text, showing at Site Santa Fe until January 14th, 2001. Each image depicts the surface of the River Thames in central London.The many aspects of river are shown, various colors & qualities of light, flow and shape. Numbers are placed on the images, correlating to footnotes at the bottom of the prints. Another Water is a version of the project in book form, including more images of the Thames. The numbers are absent from the photographs in the book, so that the footnotes stand alone. Interspersed with the images are police reports of suicides that have taken place in the river.
By blending factual examples of suicide cases with her poetic, philosophical & abstract writings and images of water, Horn reveals the possibilities of the suicide's state of mind. She makes me wonder how close we all are to water and death. She makes me want to sit and watch water, to understand and watch thoughts sing by. It is wonderful when a writer can make you want to fulfill something in your own experience: literary bondage. She tickles me, and I laugh at the meaning of her. She flows. How I want to jump in and swim! How she wrings, as I towel off. The dry skin of her.
Horn is a mastermind, a great monster of knowledge. There she goes gurgling away. There she is giving faucet to all. Grabbing the check, showing the way. Meandering and good, rapid and churning. Horn cares about water. Horn dares the inside of her mind like the back of your hand -- she's that quick.
By looking into the soul of the River Thames, she kicks thought's ass into shape. The Thames becomes a mind ever flowing to death. What happens then? The river goes on. What about dirty water? It's all there, the reflection and the answer of the reflection. Seek her out. Paddle around the rocks, into her cove. She has a calm side. She gives it up.
Horn is a blaster. She's calling all the time. A constant cry and hue. Want to wonder? Want to jump in? Get your suit on or off. Your hair won't turn green. She's a winner. She knows all the strokes. Thirsty? Let me remind you, this is a review of a piece and a piece of writing, a slice of river, a delicious drop, the sky coming down, a flood of melting want, a fountain of prime and sex. Rivers are kisses. Hold the chin, look into her eyes, tell her she smells good, brush against her lips lightly. See Horn. Read Horn. I know I am a sieve; still I can't stop now.
Start the water in the bath; make it hot, just this side of too hot. Climb in, hold the book above the water. Careful. Open the pages, swift your eyes over the words. Let your fingers scent the texture of her mind. Let your mouth hold her thinking. Say it out loud -- no one is listening; take your time. Tell how you feel. How you want her. She is breath. Ask her permission to journey inside. Tell her you crave babies. Ask her if this book is her baby? Ask her if she is inside you? Do you feel clean? Ask after her favorite soap. Horn's show/book is a gift: the anthropomorphism of the River Thames and how it draws people in need of death.
PHILADELPHIA/SOUTH JERSEY/DELAWARE
UP-WRITE WOMEN WIELD WORDS TO FIGHT DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
On Saturday, October 21, at the Walt Whitman Cultural Arts Center, (2nd and Cooper Streets, Camden, NJ, 856.964.8300), Sandra Turner Barnes' UP-WRITE (United Poets Writing and Reaching In Order To Emerge) and Linda Stehling's The Cavalcade of Poetry presented a gala poetry and jazz fundraiser in recognition of Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Featured performers included Barnes, Stehling, Eileen D'Angelo, Lori Benton, Oni Lasana, and Stephanie Renee, with live jazz by Cruise Control. Proceeds benefited Solace, a 36-bed, battered women's shelter in New Jersey, and contributions may be directed to Up-Write, c/o Sandra Turner Barnes, President, P.O. Box 52, Gibbstown, NJ 08027, 888.421.4608. Barnes and Stehling are major players on the South Jersey poetry scene, information about which can be found on The Calvacade of Poetry Web site.
NOTHING LIKE POETRY ON A SUNDAY AT THE NOTCOFFEEHOUSE
Requesting only a $1 donation, Jeff Loo and Richard Frey bring some pretty decent voices to their (NOTcoffeeHouse) Poetry and Performance Series, held at 1 pm on the first or second Sunday of each month, at the First Unitarian Church (2125 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, 215.563.3980). On November 5th, Villanova prof Lisa Sewell read new work plus poems from her first book, The Way Out (Alice James Books, 1998). Also reading was Community College of Philadelphia prof Simone Zelitch from her new novel Louisa (Putnam, 2000), which retells the biblical tale of Ruth and Naomi through the story of a Holocaust survivor and her German daughter-in-law bound together by their shared experiences of Hungary under the Nazis and Israel after WWII.
Upcoming poetry event at NOTcoffeeHouse:
- Sunday, December 10, 1 pm
Lamont Steptoe, Danny Romero, and Marj Hahne (me!)
Poet, publisher, photographer, and Vietnam vet Lamont Steptoe has written nine books, and has been published in literary magazines, journals, and anthologies. Danny Romero teaches creative writing at Temple University and runs the poetry reading series at Robin's Bookstore. He is author of the novel Calle 10 and a widely published poet whose work has been translated into Spanish.
EXPLORING JORIE: AMERICAN POETRY REVIEW'S FALL 2000 DISTINGUISHED POETS RESIDENCY
“It was like something being played in the key my soul recognized,” said the Rome-raised Jorie Graham to interviewer Stephen Schiff about the first time she had heard poetry spoken in English (The New Yorker, July 14, 1997, p. 64). That article was the first time I'd heard of Jorie Graham, seen that mass of black hair, her thin closed-lipped mouth, those dark appraising eyes tolerating the camera taking her posed photo in her then-Iowa home. The second time I encountered her name was at the first People's Poetry Gathering when a panel of likeable well-known poets and critics poked fun at how Graham and her academic cohorts convening up at Barnard College that very same weekend probably hadn't the faintest idea or care that the people's poets were gathered down at Cooper Union. Hey, I knew where my loyalty stood, so from that day forward, I didn't seek out Jorie Graham's work, and when it did pass my eyes, I quickly dismissed it as “too academic” for me. Even when I decided to explore her poetry to prep myself for her recent reading as part of APR's Fall 2000 Distinguished Poets Residency, I found most of her poems impenetrable and thus unsatisfying, overwhelming the few breakthroughs I did make. But it was those surprising breakthroughs and a personal distaste for uninformed conclusions that pushed me to attend her Thursday, November 2nd reading, reception, and booksigning at the Philadelphia Ethical Society (1906 Rittenhouse Square, 215.735.3456). There's so much more to Jorie than meets the eye, and the page for that matter. What a difference her deliberate, soul-invested reading made to my appreciation of her poetry. “Difficult poems allow us,” she said, “to use our senses to understand a poem, not to revert to our consciousness.” And speak to my senses, she did – lines like “there is no deep enough” and “uselessness is the last form love takes.” Graham was vulnerable, humble, funny, her reading organized around the “aggressive, beautiful, dangerous sensation of desire as it inhabits us and the syntax of language.” Also as part of her weeklong APR residency, Graham delivered on Wednesday, November 1, an absorbing and passionate lecture entitled “On Reading Basho, Dickinson, and Mandelstam.” If “[o]ne is left to live purely by analogy,” then Jorie Graham's words are to poetry what sherry is to wine – best savored slowly.
LEONARD GONTAREK AND THE ART OF POETRY AT ROBIN'S BOOKSTORE
On Wednesday, November 8, at 7 pm, at Robin's Bookstore (108 S. 13th Street, Philadelphia, 215.735.9600), Leonard Gontarek read poems from his latest book, Zen For Beginners (Green Bean Press, 2000), as well as some of his “somewhat newer, weirder, longer stuff” and very funny non sequitur-like observations such as “I have high standards I apply randomly – that's my zen.” Gontarek's poetry is always carefully observant, yet often appears dispassionate on the surface, as in this excerpt from “Graffiti” in Zen For Beginners: “I am counting the shovelfuls of / snow my neighbor removes / from his sidewalk. You are wrong, / I have nothing better to do.” Gontarek tends to give himself away gradually, as his poems unfold (“I wake to my wife in lavender / underwear”), and to surrender to complete self-disclosure in the poems' final lines: “I am / filled with sadness and I do / not know why I am crying / for images flickering on a screen.” Gontarek's deliveries are wryly dispassionate, too, but I'm not fooled, Leonard. Your Buddha belly is showing.
Upcoming poetry/literary events at Robin's Bookstore:
- Sunday, December 10, 3 pm
Women's Ink: Celebrating Writing by Women, featuring both Philadelphia and visiting writers, each of whom will speak for five minutes. Refreshments will be served.
- Thursday, December 14, 7 pm
Dave Steel will be reading new poems and works from his second collection entitled Two Worlds Within (Forepaw Press, 2000). Steel's first collection, Lost But Found: Scattered Poems (1997), will also be available for sale.
- Sunday, December 17, 3 pm
Philadelphia Ink: Celebrating Writing by Philadelphia-Based Authors in the Year 2000, featuring some of the 100+ local authors who published this year, each of whom will speak for five minutes. Refreshments will be served.
- February 16-18, 2001
17th Annual Celebration of Black Writing, featuring Cave Canem on Friday night, the panel and workshops on Saturday, and the Book Fair on Sunday. Refreshments will be served.
- Sunday, March 25, 2001, 11:am
Poetry Philadelphia: 6th Annual 100 Poets Read, with six hours of non-stop poetry, food, and conversation.
EILEEN MYLES IS TOO COOL FOR WORDS
On Monday, November 6, Giovanni's Room (1145 Pine Street, Philadelphia, 215.923.2960, “The World's Biggest, Best & Most Beautiful Gay, Lesbian & Feminist Bookstore”) hosted Eileen Myles, one of the world's best, coolest, lesbian & feminist, straight-talking (no pun intended) writers... “I have such a burden. I don't know, but something. I think a writer,” Myles read from her latest book entitled Cool for You (Soft Skull Press), an autobiographical look at this New York poet's Irish-American, downbeat girlhood. Jonathan Lethem's back-cover review says, “Cool is hot, a poet's thrilling invention of the novel as though from Mars or some distant body. She cruises her own life from this platform of language-vernacular, glinting, gestural-making art of everything she brings aboard.” In the Q&A following her reading, Myles said that the hardest part about writing a novel was editing something that required many more “takes” than a poem and then trying to get it published by a mainstream publisher. She had been rejected 35-40 times before Soft Skull Press accepted it, likely, she said, because she is a dyke, the novel is unconventional (“a sort of zapping around”), and the experiences depicted are not redemptive. When I asked her if writing the book revised her life's memories, that is, rewrote her history, she replied that “being a writer is kind of like being a mom to my own life.” Myles is also the author of Not Me (Semiotext(e) Press, 1991), which The Village Voice called “the most poignantly tough-minded collection of visionary smut ever published,” Chelsea Girls (Black Sparrow Press), and School of Fish (Black Sparrow Press). Perhaps more fascinating than Myles' childhood dream to be an astronaut was her 1992 presidential campaign as a write-in candidate – “it was about freedom of speech.” Still, in a recent Time Out New York article, she says, “It's a challenge to make an art life out of such quote-unquote mundane material as me,” and it is this genuinely unassuming demeanor that makes Eileen Myles so cool in my book.
JIM CORY AND DAVID TRINIDAD READ AT GIOVANNI'S ROOM
Later that week, on Saturday, November 11, David Trinidad came down from New York to read with local poet and editor, Jim Cory, whose most staggering piece of writing may be his work-in-progress about architect Louis Sullivan. To honor Sullivan's 190 buildings, Cory is structuring the poem in 190 sections, some of which are written in the styles of his favorite poets. “I like intense, passionate people with mixed-up ideas,” Cory explained his fascination with Sullivan. Also telling is this Sullivan quote from Kindergarten Chats, which Cory submitted to CAConrad's FINDINGTHEWORD e-magazine: “When you accumulate, accumulate abundantly, absorb totalities, not fragments. Grasp the largeness of things, not the petty isolated aspects. Lay hold upon the warm significance of realities, not the mere cold currency passing from hand to hand. Seize upon the drift, the color, the intensity, the what-you-may-call-it of the moving, teeming life about you, not merely upon its broken facts of definition, and follow, follow, follow every path, every trail that leads toward emotional and spiritual riches — paths hidden alike to the heedless and the oversure — and then, when you give, give of your abundance: and this it is to live.” I admire Cory's spirit to tackle so enormous a project, to grasp, via his poetry, the largeness of someone he admires.
Others might call Cory's fascination a fixation, sort of like David Trinidad's cult classic Answer Song, based on the film Valley of the Dolls. I heard only a smidgen of Trinidad's idiosyncratic brand of poetry from his long-awaited new book entitled Plasticville: Poems (Turtle Point). I stepped out to catch the end of Kevin Powell's presentation of his new anthology at Borders several blocks away.
STEPPING INTO A WORLD OF WORDS IN KEVIN POWELL'S NEW ANTHOLOGY
On Saturday, November 11, Kevin Powell, Willie Perdomo, Ras Baraka, and Marco Villalobos hip-hopped into Borders (1727 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, 215.568.7400), to celebrate the release of Step Into a World: A Global Anthology of the New Black Literature (Wiley & Sons, 2000), which is divided into six sections — essays, hip-hop journalism, criticism, fiction, poetry, and dialogue. After a spoken-word session (which I missed because I was listening to Jim Cory at Giovanni's Room), editor Powell facilitated a provocative discussion with the 75+ crowd about hip-hop's place in black sociocultural history as well as in the larger American and global histories. His basic argument is that “hip-hop, once vibrant, edgy, fresh and def, is now as materialistic, hedonistic, misogynistic, shallow and violent as some of the films and TV shows launched from Hollywood…that hip-hop is at a crossroads, struggling for control over its creativity.” In the face of some potentially hot topics, Powell was remarkably composed, fair, and perceptive, particularly for someone in his early 30s, having to clarify twice that he was “not against the white man but rather the system of white racism.” Likewise, Perdomo, Villalobos, and most notably Baraka communicated a genuine commitment to their words as a means to educate and raise consciousness. I was heartened to see no posturing or ego from these four young guys, even when Powell was challenged for some of his statements in his October 9, 2000 Newsweek article entitled “Hip-Hop… My Culture at the Crossroads.” In fact, Powell managed the discussion right up until closing, forfeiting time for book sales and signing, which spoke most loudly his commitment. Ever a gentleman, Powell invited folks to email him at kevinpowe@aol.com if they wish to continue the conversation. In his review of Step Into a World, Jerry W. Ward, Jr. commends Powell's latest endeavor: “As an intelligent and socially responsible editor, Powell has no illusions about the limits and promises of his anthology. While Step Into a World certainly does not recommend hard and ready solutions to our plethora of concerns, it does, because of the brilliance of so many of these writers, offer interpretations, joys, sorrows, songs, sermons, and, at the end of the day, possibilities that there is something beneath our words — and beyond these pages. The beyond is a matter of focused reading and discussion of the pages. This anthology invites all generations of black folk to a truth-telling conversation. Read Step into a World and let the palaver begin.”
On Sunday November 12, at the Manayunk Art Center (419 Green Lane, rear, Philadelphia, 215.482.3363), representatives of The Word Works, a small press from Washington, DC, read in celebration of their recent anthology, a retrospective of the work of the press and of its annual Washington Prize winners. Tom Lux calls this prize “one of the most distinguished of its type in the country,” and Agha Shahid Ali's book-jacket review says, “Here one hears America singing — indeed one does — in voices that are continually moving, beguiling, and stunning.” Those visiting Philadelphia for this reading included editors and readers for the press — Karren Alenier, Patricia Garfinkel, Miles Moore, and Hilary Tham — and Washington Prize winners Peter Blair and Nathalie Anderson.
On another poetic note, the Manayunk Art Center is offering a monthly poetry workshop conducted by Harriet Levin, on these Sundays from noon to 3:00 pm — December 10, January 21, February 25, March 25, April 29 and June 3. The cost is $100 for MAC members and $110 for non-members. The workshop will be limited to 15 participants, who will be notified by December 9. Anyone wishing to be considered at this late date can arrange to submit a manuscript of 7 to 10 pages by contacting Poetry Director Peter Krok at 215.482.3363 or MacPoet1@aol.com, or Harriet Levin, Director of the University Writing Program at Drexel University, at 215.895.6485. Levin presently teaches literature and creative writing at Drexel University, and has taught at the Iowa Summer Writing Festival, the Catskill Writers' conference, and Rosemont College. Her book, The Christmas Show, won the 1996 Barnard New Women Poets Prize, and Levin also won the Alice Fay diCastagnola Award from the Poetry Society of America.
CA CONRAD AND SANDRA EVANS FALCONER READ AT FREE LIBRARY OF PHILADELPHIA
On Monday, November 13, at the Central Library (1901 Vine Street) CAConrad and Sandra Evans Falconer read as part of the Monday Poets Reading Series, moderated by Alexandra Grilikhes, which includes an open reading after the featured readers. Conrad read from his Frank series, evaporate again, and a forthcoming collaboration with Frank Sherlock. His voice is easy, his phrases, ethereal: “It's too sinister how one experience is quietly consumed by the next”; “with just a touch of lipstick death disappears”; “A brain takes the world at a word when spoken in water.” A recent Baltimore transplant, Sandra Evans Falconer read from her second collection, Imagining the World (Gateway Press). She read poems about sibling rivalry and her ancestry: “At midlife… I need a living story still inventing itself.” The crowd-pleaser may have been “What Happened to Glinda,” about her “most deeply superficial wish” to wear the good witch's dress if they ever remake The Wizard of Oz. Evans is a 1999 recipient of an Individual Artists Award in Poetry, and she teaches poetry workshops for the Community Living Room.
Upcoming poetry events at the Central Library:
- Monday, January 8, 2001
ShulamithWechter Caine and Kenneth Pobo - Monday, March 12, 2001
Lamont Dixon (aka Napalm) and Janet Mason
THERE IS POETRY IN OUR FUTURE FROM POETS & PROPHETS
Founded in 1983 by Bob Small to present poetry readings locally, Poets & Prophets, 610.328.POET, currently runs these four reading series:
- Borders (1727 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, 215.568.7400), 4th Monday of every other month, 7:30 pm, feature only, free admission.
- Philadelphia Ethical Society (basement, 1906 Rittenhouse Square, Philadelphia), 3rd Thursday of every month, 7 pm, feature plus open, $4 admission
- Borders (1001 Baltimore Pike, Springfield Square South, Springfield, PA), 2nd Thursday of every month, 7:30 pm, feature plus open, free admission
- Booksource (15 S. Chester Road, Swarthmore, PA), 1st Saturday of every month, 7 pm, feature plus open, $2 admission
On Thursday, November 16, Vic Compher, Mario Howell, and Tom Torosian read poetic meditations on life and spirit at the Philadelphia Ethical Society, followed by a Q&A with the poets. Compher often draws on the natural world or his sensory experience of “people, places, and objects that I especially appreciate” as metaphors for “the deeper mystery.” Extraordinary at 80, Howell “labored long in the delivery room of life” before she and her older sister began writing poetry several years ago: “In my ninth decade of life, I feel the full force of my power return… and launch my poems into the world to do their work.” She read from her chapbook, Going on Eighty: A Work in Progress, poems about reunions, restoration, walking the labyrinth, her son Pete's death. Like Compher, Howell experiences in nature “a deep sense of the holy… how healing it is to write.” The final reader, Torosian, read in a deep, resonant voice his rich, often amusing, mini-memoirs about “personalities I have known” and his restless years as a first-generation Armenian growing up in the east Bronx. A former Presbyterian minister, he responded to the question about spirituality in his poetry this way: “Most of the time I don't believe, but when I do, that's when good things happen.” Torosian, like Compher and Howell, most of the time “transform[s] hollowness into transcendence.”
MAD POETS REVIEW HOT OFF THE PRESS
On Wednesday, November 29, at the Hunt Club Mansion (Rose Tree Park, Route 252, Media, PA), thirty journal contributors, including 14th Annual Mad Poets Competition winners and Judge's Choice awardees, read their poems published in this year's annual issue of Mad Poets Review. Its tireless co-editors, Eileen D'Angelo and Camelia Nocella, hosted the standing-room-only event with humor, generosity, and warmth. For a rewarding network of poet-pals and an exceptionally comprehensive newsletter listing poetry happenings in the tri-state area, join the Mad Poets Society by visiting their Web site.
DEF POETRY JAM JAMS IN ILLADELPH
Birthed last year by Bruce George, a poet and one of its three executive producers, “to lend a voice to the voiceless,” The Def Poetry Jam, a multi-media poetry/spoken-word campaign launched by Def Jam Records Co-Founder and Chairman Russell Simmons, visits Philadelphia the weekend of December 9 –10 as part of its national 12-city poetry/spoken word tour.
Danny Simmons, a painter and also an executive producer of the project, says the campaign's significance lies in the notion that spoken word is one of the most powerful forces for social change today, and thus it is imperative that these spoken word artists be catapulted to the mainstream and be recognized. In addition to the Def Poetry Jam Finals, from which three poets will win prizes ranging from cash to recording contracts, there will be a spoken-word CD compilation on Nomenclature Records, Inc./Def Jam Records; an anthology of new and veteran poets co-edited by Tony Medina, Luis Reyes Rivera, and Sonia Sanchez (scheduled to be published in early Spring 2001 by Random House); and an HBO Def Poetry Jam special featuring some of the country's most gifted poets. For more information, contact the event's local producers, Writer's Focus, at 215.722.6565.
CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIANS: CHECK OUT THE LEBANON POETRY PROJECT
The Lebanon Poetry Project held their Fall 2000 Festival, nine days of spoken-word performance in venues around Lebanon County, from Saturday, October 14 through Sunday, October 22. Allen Coffeehouse hosted Lebanon's first and biggest poetry slam, with a $100 prize. Other venues included the LaserDome in Manheim, Bube's Brewery in Mount Joy, the Lebanon Community Library, Paddy O'Sheehan's Pub in Richland, the Lebanon Campus of HACC, Lebanon Picture Frame and Fine Art Gallery, and the Lebanon Community Theatre. The Lebanon Poetry Project is a not-for-profit group founded by prominent poets and journal editors in Lebanon and Berks Counties, with the intent of creating an enriching, entertaining, and original experience for everyone in Central Pennsylvania to enjoy. More information about Central Pennsylvania poetry events can be found at Berks Bards or the Lebanon Poetry Project, or by contacting Penny Talbert at 610.670.7017 or Ptalbert@aol.com.
RAZOR REVOLUTIONARY ART FOR CULTURAL REVOLUTION AT BARAKA'S
The only time I went to Kimako's Blues People, a jazz-poetry venue named after Amiri Baraka's slain sister, in the basement of his home (808 S. 10th Street, Newark, NJ, 973.242.1346, AB11@erols.com), I saw the great poet himself bent over, his gray head inside an old wooden cupboard, cursing 'cause he couldn't find napkins for his wife Amina's blue-plate meals of rice and beans, which come with the $7 admission. That last Saturday in April, quite a while after the starting time of 8 pm, with a no-show from the jazz act, I saw Pedro Pietri spit poetic sarcasm and local poets Lamont Steptoe and Aaren Yeatts Perry grace the open mic, among some twenty-somethings reading their ill-contrived political poetry. On the last Saturday of this month, December 30, Malachi Reggae from “Jamdown” will appear, and John Farris will perform his poetry. You can also count on Baraka to speak his brilliant mind about recent political goings-on, with an open mic to close out the night.
READER-SUBMITTED POETRY NEWS BRIEFS
From Kevin Walzer:
Word Press seeks submissions for the first annual Word Press Poetry Prize. Poets should submit full length book manuscripts (at least 48 pages). Contest open to any poet writing in English, whether previously published or not. Winner receives $1,000 and 25 copies of published book. Administrative fee: $25 (add $5 for copy of winning book) payable to Word Press. Deadline:January 15, 2001. Submit to Editor, Word Press Poetry Prize, P.O. Box 541106, Cincinnati, OH 45254-1106. For more information, see our Web site
From Dale Harris:
Call for poets to come to rural central New Mexico on New Year's Day, 2001 for a poetry and drumming circle on “The Land,” a 10-acre art site located 1-1/2 hours southeast of Albuquerque off Route 60, west of Mountainair in an area known as Loma Parda. This wooded setting has several unusual outdoor art installations in place as a permanent gallery and has periodically had group shows of artists using the land as inspiration. The New Years Day event will feature bonfires, an organic lunch and joyful noise (bring your own drum or other noisemaker) and dress warmly. Donation of $20 to become a Friend of The Land and support this worthwhile art site. Contact Dale for more info or Tom and Edit Cates at theland@earthlink.net.
From kim c:
Celebrate the holidays with a little poetry and music on Saturday, December 16th from 8:30 pm 'til they kick us out! Come out for coffee and confections at Oscar's Creamery, 1201 Westheimer (in between Hollywood Video & Copy.com). [Ed. note -- Is this in Houston, kim?] Bring canned goods to be donated to Stone Soup food pantry and if you have any books to give away, please bring those to donate to kids in youth detention centers. For more info, call Kim Cotton at 713.529.1672 or send email. Wishing all a peaceful holiday season!
