“I hope you learn it note for note”

before acentos last night, i had my first creative writing class with

mind-builder’s positive youth troupe. it was more of a ‘let’s get to know each other session’ but it went well and i contributed some good ideas… so, we’re starting on the good foot.

unfortunately, the class went long and i had to call up fish to take over the hosting for me. i did luck out when i was able to acquire a car ride down to the blue ox and only missed a bit of the open mic. fish was in full host mode and handling things lovely which let me hide out in the back and make small talk with matt siegel, guy, ed garcia, and juan diaz.

ray asked if i would do “mercy…” with the music

o: ‘yell, ray i am really tryin’ to shy away from the piece and…’

r: “for my mom”

o: ‘ok’

the open mic got all synonymUS with ray lending musical support to holmes mchenry, rich, raul maldonado, and (in her final new yoek appearance till she gets back from the left coast) marty mcconnell. the open is also (emeril voice- on) bringing it up a notch (emeril voice- off) with jessica torres letting her voice bring out the contours of her written images and juan diaz making me feel like all this work is gonnz produce real special voices.

if i was still the same mofo i was a few months back, i would have been all over fish as to who is next on the mic and how the close is going to go… but i was so happy with the night i was ready to let it all happen as organically as possible. so when ray gets ready to feature i’m thinkin’ “if i hadnt shown up late i would be giving ray the best intro fuckin possible.” and thats when fish announces “i’m goona bring somebody up that can do this intro justice… oscar…” serendipity is a beautiful thing.

part of my intro had me bringing up the fact that ray is THE seminal Acentos feature…

-latino

-bronx born & bred

-excellent writer

-fantastic performer

-cutting edge in his work

-herald of a new movement

… so why hasnt he featured before? cuz it was TOO perfect to the point of cliche.

quote eric guerrieri– “what’s poetry without a few cliches?”

well said, eric. ray kicked it something fierce with the mutli-talented diva, abena koomson, bringin’ the trombone and vocals. all you got to know about ray is that he started off his set with a sonnet. say word!

add a dash of musical collabs, and a group piece and here is the recipe for an amazing Acentos feature and what will sure to be an incredible evening come the 25th at lehamn college with the Word! festival.

the waters are still smooth with the wind still firm at our backs…

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