mission: rewrite has proven to be a success. 18 months after i laid down the first draft, ‘Brooklyn Back Break Beat’ is about 90% done. all thats left is some actual onstage reading which will help me nail down the words and pauses but that wont be affecting the final written version so much since i’m laying it down as a prose poem. the break through happened when i finally let go of ALL the lines that come from its birth as a poem commenting on gentrification which quickly became an unexpected love poem.
after some off the hook ratatouile (sp?) over angel hair we shared our rewrites and got back some final feedbacks. not all the rewrites came out better than the original. some were, some werent, some were a mix. all mad poetry nerd fun though as this group has gelled quickly and the trust is very high. a certain poet (who loves to yell WEPA!) that we all know & love has a kick.ASS rewrite that almost qualifies as a completely different poem.
also on the list was one of the best rundowns on Nuyorican Poets Cafe history (circa 1992-96) i ever done heard as we got the serious bonchiche on the scene back then.
soon may come the submission party where we make a whole day of figuring out where each individual poets work should go to. its a hustle, to say the least, but not much different than the PR power you put into the slam/performance scene.
in the “power of language” dept- i explained to folks the difference between the words ‘descend’ and ‘plummet’
:: passengers, the plane is about to descend into JFK
:: passengers, the plane is about to plummet into JFK
guess which one causes releif and which one instills panic… (ding!)… she guessed right! tell her what shes won, bob!
time to crash and try to get up in time to meet then sun and maybe squeeze one more piece of hotness from this trip.
love ya like icicles on windchimes