third time is the charm with the nuyo. willie perdomo’s set was fucking excellent!

reading from both Where a Nickel Costs a Dime and Smoking Lovely, willie opened up with “Reflections from the Metro North (1990)” and then proceeds to drop another seven poems from the new book. Smoking Lovely is a combo of old and new work so, as if he was reading this blog, willie also did “Spotlight at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe” with the added bonus of steve cannon taking his usual place at the end of the bar.

the full set was– “You pay for what you get but you never get what you pay for,” “seesaw,” “Word to Everything I Love,” “French Roast,” “Stop Signs,” “10 lb Draw,” “The New Bugaloo,” “Spotlight… ,” and book ended the set with “Reflections on the Metro North (Spring 1997)”

reading from the stool, never rushed, staying loose and entertaining with a touch of righteous indignation (“Word to Everything…” & “Spotlight…” disses the shit out of every slam wannabe), classic willie perdomo.

the slam continues to impress me as right from the jump i saw it was going to be a two way battle between t’ai freedom ford and desiree marshall. i met big dez last year at the nuyo when she WOOPED my ass in the slam with three well performed poems dealing with three completely different situations viewed from different perspectives. losing in slam isnt so bad when the poet is clearly coming with good shit. a year later, dez has only gotten better and was able to beat out t’ai (no small task) as well as prolific & krosswords (who were in over their heads). good thing i stuck around as i got to be the break poet and dropped the original version of “Capicu.” a poem that i am starting to fall in love with more and more as of late.

curious to see the october calendar as i am quickly getting used to seeing julio, pepe, and karen. hell, maybe i’ll even stick around and drop something at the open room mic.

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