Thanks goes out to the editors of Ozone Park—a new journal from the MFA Program in Creative Writing and Literary Translation at Queens College, The City University of New York—for accepting one of my poems in their premiere issue.
You can find “Fire Escape” in the Poetry section or view/print it by downloading this PDF.
Saeed Jones has a great post where he shares a list of poetry and non-poetry books that have shaped his writing. The conversation moves forward with other writers contributing their own group of influences.
To keep the dialogue going, I offer is my own list plus a bonus list of readings that have changed my writing.
Books of Poetry that Have Influenced My Poetry (in no particular order)
1. Aloud: Voices from the Nuyorican Poets Cafe edited by Miguel AlgarÃn and Bob Holman
2. MartÃn & Meditations on the South Valley by Jimmy Santiago Baca
3. Alabanza: New and Selected Poems 1982-2002 by MartÃn Espada
4. The Latin Deli by Judith Ortiz Cofer
5. Poeta en San Francisco by Barbara Jane Reyes
6. Sonnets from the Puerto Rican by Jack Agüeros
7. Poeta en Nueva York by Federico GarcÃa Lorca
8. Smoking Lovely by Willie Perdomo
9. The Iceworker Sings and Other Poems by Andrés Montoya
10. Life According to Motown by Patricia Smith
To Understand My Writing Understand These Books (in no particular order)
1. Can’t Stop Won’t Stop : A History of the Hip Hop Generation by Jeff Chang
2. Random Family: Love, Drugs, Trouble, and Coming of Age in the Bronx by Adrian Nicole LeBlanc
3. In the South Bronx of America by Mel Rosenthal
4. A Place to Stand by Jimmy Santiago Baca
5. Drown by Junot Diaz
6. The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York by Robert A. Caro
7. Miles by Miles Davis
8. Last Night a DJ Saved My Life by Bill Brewster and Frank Broughton
9. Down These Mean Streets by Piri Thomas
10. The Sandman series by Neil Gaiman
Live Poetry Readings That Have Shaped My Poetics (in no particular order)
1. Open Mic at “a lil bit louder†(Bar13, NYC) August 13, 2001
2. MartÃn Espada at the Acentos Bronx Poetry Showcase (Bruckner Bar & Grill, the Bronx) October 13, 2005
3. Jimmy Santiago Baca at the Alameda Juvenile Justice Center (San Leandro) and the Cesar Chavez Library (Salinas) November 6 & 8, 2008
4. Robert Bly, John Hammond, Alan Kushan, Elizabeth Bassford, John Rodriguez, Raymond Daniel Medina, Mara Jebsen and Abena Koomson at the WORD Festival (Lehman College, the Bronx) October 25, 2003
5. Nathaniel Mackey and Hafez Modirzadeh at the deYoung Poetry Series (deYoung Museum, SF) September 7, 2007
6. In The Grove: Pákatelas, Book Release Party and Homage to Andrés Montoya (Arte Américas, Fresno) April 10, 2008
7. Willie Perdomo’s Smoking Lovely book release tour (Various venues throughout NYC) October-November, 2003
8. The National Poetry Slam 2002 (Minneapolis, MN) August 13-17, 2002
9. Amiri Baraka at the Holloway Series, Lunch Poems, and Cave Canem/Poetry for the People readings (UC Berkeley) October 31 & November 1, 2008
10. Pink Pony West featuring Oscar Bermeo and Rich Villar (Cornelia Street Café, NYC) August 26, 2005
Havana Harbor
Masons, cart drivers and occasional fisherman
are walking in the sunlight
along Havana’s shore
the blue and unaccustomed sea already covers the bare wall
little Gabriel squeezes a mango
far away
a rum drinker kills himself
with a poised knife
far away
a boat sets out to pierce
the center of the sky
there ruddy-faced men keep walking,
carrying black asphalt
on their backs
while the sea remains unaccustomed and blue
I found myself having to answer this hundreds of time. My usual answer is “Every poem I read aloud is spoken word poetry, and every poem I write down is page poetry.”
A standard response that I hope tries to dispel the tropes connected to “spoken word” and (hopefully) begins a conversation around the oral/aural aspects of poetry.
I don’t know if I always do a good job in trying to create that dialogue and help the curious individual flesh out their expectation for “spoken word” poetry, but I do push them to read and listen to poets who successfully bridge the divide between “poetry” and “spoken word.” One of those poets is Willie Perdomo.
Willie’s ability to enrapture an audience, any audience, with a straight forward style that involves sitting down on a comfortable stool, reciting the work straight from the book, and letting the deep narrative descriptors, captured conversations, and the musicality of his verse, do the work has been the measure I’ve aspired to for years.
For a little more thought on his writing process and his personal definition of spoken word, check this interview.
[haiku url=”http://www.arts.cornell.edu/reading/perdomo300807.mp3″ Title”Writers at Cornell: Interview with Willie Perdomo”]
MP3 is courtesy of the Writers at Cornell blog.
Immigrant mourned by thousands
Seven suburban youths from Patchogue-Medford High School on Long Island decided to go out in their SUV on Saturday night, Nov. 8, and “f _ _ _ up a Mexican.†When they came across Ecuadorian immigrant Marcelo Lucero on his way to a friend’s house, they jumped him and beat him. Jeffrey Conroy, a local high school athlete, has been charged with first-degree manslaughter in the stabbing death of Lucero.
Long Island vigil where Ecuadorian
immigrant was murdered.On a rainy Friday night following the murder, more than 2,000 people gathered at the site of Lucero’s killing for a memorial vigil. Religious and government officials counseled peacefulness and reconciliation, but many people held signs asking for a reckoning.
Full story here.
[no hay mucho que puedo ofrecer para la familia de marcello lucero o para los activista que van a la oficina del gobernador de ny pidiendo mas acción contra los crÃmenes del odio.
pero si ofrece las poemas de martÃn espada para que pueden oÃr lo que ellos saben en su corazón: que sus vidas tienen honor y que ellos merecen justicia como todos. no la justicia de linchadores (que es lo mismo que sufro marcello), pero la justicia propia que no viene fácil pero que es la mas necesaria.]
Martin Espada – The Other USA
Poem Texts
• En la calle San Sebastián
• Coca-Cola and Coco FrÃo
• Return
