ACENTOS RECAP
hell yeah, i still have to reflect back on the amazing ms karen jamie and the honor of having louis reyes rivera read for us a few weeks back but first i have to go farther back to the september b.c.a. reading and their feature jeff mcdaniel.
jeff is one of the best readers of poetry in the whole game and i just love hearing him. afterwards, we talked for a bit and i mentioned Acentos and our focus on latino poets… “ever heard of jorge monterossa?” asks jeff.
couple of hours later jorge’s one day reading to srah lawrence becomes a full nyc weekend of poetry. karen adds him to the friday slam (which he won!) and jeff gets louderARTS to give him an extended stay on the open mic (three piece and he killed ’em!)
last night started on the right foot as the blue ox was packed (for real! i leave the hyperoble to the Acentos Announcements) with kids from sarah lawrence college coming to see jorge. our regular audience was late, as always, but the open mic became a fuckin’ explosion of new & old voices. matt siegle came by and i hope he enjoyed his first foray into the boogie down, our biggest supporter– guy was up in the house, NYFA fellow ed garcia, paopleto melendez & sylvia jackson from the spanish harlem reading came through as did this cat from barcelona, spain droppin’ the illest political poem… in 100% spanish! di que si!
cess from nuyoclothing got to show the bx her increidble line of shirts and when she said. “we seek unification through diveristy,” i knew we had met a kindred soul.
louisa & jade from slc were very, very good, as well. i am sure i left some folks out but more latah on the actual Acentos Announcements.
let me say that the name jorge monterossa will be nationally famous in just a few short years. he dropped over 16 poems on the open mic in his 25 minute set. sixteen! and all off the charts. from the introspective to the cosmic metaphor- from intimate and low key to bombastic and angry-
jorge’s poetry covers it all. so how does someone do 16 poems in 25 minutes? easy, you dont talk about yuurself every chance you get.
you rock the poem, acknowledge the applause, and then hit em again with a new piece. the work was so personal and left me feeling like i have seen the west coast, for just a second, through jorge’s eyes. i’ve seen someone survive the first-generation american experience, like i have, with a similair love for this imperfect country. it is going to be fun writing up his review.
it’s really cool when everyone else sees what you see and guy, fish, paopleto, and rich all had that same look in their eyes.
in the end, i will sayt that this was another soul enriching edition of acentos.
metro– showing me that la poesia urbana is strong all over the world (and that all countries hat theri president)
papoleto– providing the brige between the generations
rich– finding new parts of his soul to bring to life on the page
phrase– stopping in his tracks as he walsk by the blue ox, droppin a poem, then leaving
jorge– giving me the chance to help be a part of someone’s new york experience. can’t wait to see you one day in l.a.
(shameless plug alert– cue the star wars music!) in a borough not that far away, raymond daniel medina will save the galaxy with music and poetry as he drops the thirty pound light saber (dont ask) on the blue ox! (thank you, john williams)
yes, RDM will bring the 505, guitar, drums, keyboards, and kazzo for his
Acentos feature.
act like ya know and come through!