today’s fun word– foreordain
(To determine or appoint beforehand; predestine.)

current mood: hobbling. after one of the most fun days ever with the louderARTS fam, insane brunch, window shopping, looking at ugly ass shoes, a trip to the strand & catching up on some graphic novel reading (very much loving what DC is doing with both the Teen Titans & Outsiders); i start to feel an ache in my ankle which turns into the latest flare up of gout. had to cancel a baby sitting session with my godson which really puts my mood in the crapper. currently, working it out with some good food (thanks entirely to my roommate. you know, the one with the hair of an angel), a ton of water and some light blogging ;-)

speaking of real life getting in the way of best laid plans, i had to cancel my initial foray to AWP. a real bummer when you consider i was set to read alongside lorna dee cervantes & diana maria delgado for the con tinta reading. an awesome chance to meet up with other latino writers up in smoke cuz of work and that whole having to earn a livin thing that continually pops up and prevents me from being all poetry, all the time.

in some of the web announcements for the reading, i was listed as “Bronx spoken word champ Oscar Bermeo” which is a little funny in a couple of respects. first off, i aint no champ of anything. my slam win/loss record stands at 1-(a lot of attempts to win) and that lone victory comes via a cover slam so it wasnt even my own work that got me the nod. jus puttin it out for the record, ya know.

the next thing is that whole “Spoken Word” label. what a love/hate relationship i have had with this term because of how it is manipulated by those who scoff at midnight poetry readings and those who revel in it.

for the record, i do come from a poetic community that exists, thrives and seeks to remain outside of the hallowed halls that only reach a select few. we are out to bring poetry to the back of bars, elementary school auditoriums and just about anywhere we can find an audience. if it wasnt for this outlaw school of poetry, i may have never written any poems. i certainly would not have found a critical audience that encouraged me to work outside of myself and directed me to similar poets (such as whitman, neruda, baca & perdomo) that could help me find my way. notice that throughout the word “poet” stays consistent with little labeling or embellishment.

on the other hand, there is another group that loves the term “spoken word” so much that they exclude all the poetic tradition out of it. these are a lot of the same voices that you will hear at the same venues i haunt and promote. this is the necessary evil that will always exist when these events happen.

side note– people bemoan the amount of “bad poetry” at open mics but i will sit through an hour of open mic for just one good poem and when you start limiting or try to minimize this “bad poetry” you become the keeper of the ivory tower. gotta love the irony. end side note.

in the end, ima say that i am a poetry advocate and if that advocacy puts me into someone elses category of “spoken word” then cool beans. i have never felt that labels weigh me down or affect what i choose to title myself and that title remains poet.

all this may be just a bit hypocritical considering that my immediate plans involve me removing myself from that community which has raised and inspired me. more on that later, time to rest my ankle and watch wrestling.

there is a ton to blog about but not much time to really lay it all out. or, just maybe, i am pretty satisfied with the personal conversations i have in real life.

whatevahhhhhhhhhh

i had a feature this past friday night. why didnt i make mention of it? cuz i didnt know that i was going to be the feature until i actually arrived at the spot. previous to that revelation, i was under the impression that i was going to be a host. no worries, my precognitive abilities kicked in *oh, you didnt know about that? sheet, all south americans have them ;-)* and i printed out the Acentos set list right before leavin the jay.oh.bee and i was good to go.

back to the feature– the set went well. i mixed the order up a bit since the second to last poem (viewing the world from the back of a turtle) went over really well last time. in a fun fluke, the second to last poem of this set (menagerie) probably got the best reaction. go figure. the set in question went down at the downtown bronx bar & cagfe. a pretty tough room in terms of its narrow layout and the fact that it is a restuarant. any of you who have read at a food establishment know that it is one of THE biggest challenges in terms of commanding attention from the audience. this was no exception and, just to make it even more fun for me, i am reading to a group of folks who have spent the whole day at a teaching conference. oh yeah, mad fun. no, really. truth to tell, probably one of my best readings as i felt ultra-confident regarding the work and it came through in my performance. thank god, cuz the lady that decided to talk through the whole thing was not letting up and even though she didnt have a mich, she sure sounded like she did but i was able to make it all work and i left the podium feeling more like a poet than ever since i was able to to use my performance skills to make my poems come to life. i guess that makes me a a performance poet? or maybe, dare i say, spoken word?