As expected, Rich’s feature was la bomba
The Acentos crowd came through like gang busters as well fully appreciating his set of introspective, eclectic work. The intimacy of the Blue Ox has become the oft-mentioned two-sided sword in that it is a homey down to earth spot to read (big plus) that also lets you get the most face-to-face with the audience as possible (potential big drawback). Carlito’s Cafe is a close second but the low lights make it hard to see ALL the faces (but you can sure hear the groans when you don’t bring it). There is also Tribes, which I only recently discovered, but you already have Steve Cannon in the house so I can see how folks already are a bit intimidated.
Last week, I had a sit-down with my moms. It’s been a while since me and the old lady have hashed it out and I really miss it. If my dad is the “great un-communicator,†my moms is the “amazing empath.†She can break it all down into a few sentences and knows exactly what I am trying to duck when I get on the defensive.
Funny part of the convo- my moms did not know she had a major role in one of my pieces (Sorta-Rican: Prelude 2). I am hella private with my work outside of the scene (kinda private inside the scene too as I only trust maybe six or so scattas opinion) which explains why it took her this long to find out. I got to read her the piece and did a pretty good job of on the fly translation which means I may have to call in some favors and get a translation under way. Well, moms got a kick out of it and 100% remembers the conversation that birthed the poem. There are a few liberties that I took (McDonalds never came up) because the facts and the truth in the poem are two totally different things (endless debate #357) in my eyes but for the most part it is a fact which is rare in my work.
Other “real†people that appear in my work
::John P is the actual two-stepper in MotB
::Eric F makes a metaphoric appearance in Capicu
::Dad is in ultimo canto and The Great Un-Communicator
::Tina is the inspiration and co-star of both Ceviche and Brooklyn Back Break Beat
::Leticia is actually about two women- (duh!) Leticia (the one that I always felt “got away†in Ecuador) but is actually based upon a conversation with a girlfriend in Ecua, Jenny. Sorry, truth.in.poetry.lovers, Oda para Jenny does NOT have the same ring
::Star is the real deal as are the names of Corona, Munequita, and Spider and I really wanted to include a reference to an exotic dancer by the name of February in there but didn’t quite get the chance though I have a feeling that Cartography is not the last of the 3AM series.
::Speaking of, my maternal grandfather is named Oscar and he did die at sea.
::Oh lord! My Mom is also in that poem and she makes a big apperance in ultimo canto a piece that hasn’t gotten much airplay this year on W.E.R.D. radio
Oh, my Mom and “my moms†are two different people as my mom passed away when I was 13 and then my Dad came back from Ecua to take care of us and brought with him my baby sister, Diana, and my step-mom, Alexandra. For the longest I would call her just Ale but then when I had to make reference of her outside of the house I would just call her my moms since the issue of my mother’s death was (and remains) a serious subject and one I didn’t always want to talk about.
Thanks to my moms and some recent convos with El Profe it looks like I may have to write an all espanol piece since the only one my moms prefers to keep it real old school when it comes to conversation.
A nice challenge for sure and a chance to study some more of my “Obra Completa de Julia de Burgos†but not till I finish all of Patrick Rosal’s “Uprock Headspin Scramble and Diveâ€