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a preview of the cover for “12 Ways” (the intergenerational writers lab chapbook) can be found over at wasabipress.blogspot.com

current mood: gettin anxious to read for this event!

Continuing the (Mis) Education

Thanks to the comments (Props to Craig & Guy) and talking it out loud with Barb, I can see that while Ms Hill can have her final say, she is still not acknowledging that she broke a basic contract – unspoken as it is – with her fan base which is “As an artist I have every right to expand and seek a broader different fan base but that doesn’t give me the right to bait-n-switch my loyal audience.”

The issue of contract, spoken and unspoken, is a theme I go back to often in my head. When we pick up a poetry book, what is it that we expect from the writer? When we attend a reading, what is it that we want from the reader?

I know some people can live without readings. They got no problem just picking up the book and letting the words take them places. I’m not one of those people. The experience of having the poem read aloud brings it back to a place of storytelling for me and I love that. I also look for other little things that add some pacing and tone to the poems that is not easily transferred to the page alone. (Not that we shouldn’t strive to put that texture into our poems.)

As for the book, I love being able to examine a poem or line a dozen times over to see what is making it so alive. I am also a fan of reading other folks stuff out loud in big spaces to see what the words and phrases sound like when they echo off walls.

Yeah, I ask for a lot from poetry but I try to give a lil back to keep the equation balanced. (Can ya tell I’m an algebra head?)

THINGS I WANT (AND DON’T WANT) AT A POETRY READING
– Poems. Not monologues, not a history of how you & the curator are friends from back when Moses was a baby, not rants, not a laundry list and not a list of personal gripes. Straight up: I’m asking for a command of language with a sense of story (you gotta be sayin sumthin).
– No Disclaimers. If you have reservations or need to over explain your poem
(Example: If you have to say this next poem is about a purple rooster who can tap dance to the collected essays of Carl Jung and its called “A Purple Rooster Tap Dances to the Words of Jung.”) then work it out somewhere else.
– Intros/Banter. Not necessary but if there is a good short story about the poem (which doesn’t give away the whole poem- see above) then I am down to hear it. Banter is cool when it lets the audience in, when it doesn’t it is called Talking At People and I really don’t need it.
– Clear Speaking Voice. I don’t need every poem to sing, or to be dramatized. I just need it to be relayed so that I can hear everything. If there is a mic present I say use it. If you are someone who gets riled up when you read- step away from the mic. Please.
– Tone. I might be contradicting myself here on the dramatization tip but if you have a poem that is riding on some kind of emotional current then please follow it.
– Cover poem. Not essential but I sure appreciate it.
– New work. Again, not an absolute essential but I sure like hearing poems develop over time.
– Body Language. I love it when a poem is so charged a poet has to move to it. Hands keeping time, feet tapping to an internal metronome, facial expressions responding to surprises in the text. It is a real wonder to experience this kind of poem. On the flip side, a flurry of knee jerk body convulsions masking shallow writing is whack. Ditto with body movements that mimic precisely what you are saying.
– Respect the clock. Twenty minutes seems to be the median attention span of most poetry audiences. This is subject to change per poet but another good rule is Always Leave Em Wanting More.
– Inspiration. Make me say, “Damn, I wish I wrote that.”

THINGS I WANT (AND DON’T WANT) FROM A BOOK OF POETRY
– Poems. My concept of this is broadening as I read different work so my only real marker is that I have to feel that the writer is taking me down a set road, destination may be unknown to reader, but I have to feel that the writer has at least some idea what that destination is.
– Voice. If I can cover the by-line of the poems and still know the writer, that is an impressive distinct voice (Martín Espada and Ai come to mind.) If I cover the by-line and don’t know who the writer is, then we are on a path of discovery. If I cover the by-line and think it’s someone else’s poem that could be a problem.
Reality Check Time: I am seriously struggling with the above issue in my current work so Pot meet Kettle.
– Narrative. What can I say, I love a good story and it is the bomb when I can find one in poetry. This is not a hard and fast rule as much as it’s a preference.
– Commitment. If the book says we are going to the depths of hell and back, then do it. No detours, please.
– Form not formula. I don’t mind seeing the poems stick to a game plan but I don’t want to feel that the poems are on a predicable path.
– Inspiration. Make me say, “Damn, I wish I wrote that.”

Uhhmm, can ya tell how many live events I’ve experienced versus how many books I’ve critically analyzed? ;-)

No worries, I’m reading more all the time and this post alone speaks to how I am developing a personal rubric of poetic excellence. I could still use some help so if anyone has anything to add or subtract, feel free.

During VONA I approached a nationally recognized writer and asked if they were going to do some new stuff for their reading. Writer looked a bit surprise and responded that normally all folks ask for is older work that they are more familiar with, the stuff that they loved when they first read it and (I’m guessin here) the stuff that will keep inspiring them.

I’m all for this but it brings up a complicated question: When does the artist put what the public wants to the curb? When does the artist say to the public: I know what you want to do with my art but what about what I want to do with my art?

In a perfect world, there should be some balance in that equation but a perfect world it ain’t.

Case in point: Late start, new approach disappoint Lauryn Hill fans at Oakland concert

I know this is popular music, a world which is galaxies away from poetry, but it is a wild situation to look at. On one hand, we have folks payin real money to be entertained and getting disappointed. Is it really that different from folks buying a book and having all their expectations for what a book could do (inspire, entertain, educate, etc.) and having all those individual expectations deflated?

The article mentions that that show was late, a bad sound system and off pitch singing which are all valid markers for disapproval but it also goes to mention Ms Hill’s attire and literally tripping over her own feet which is audience nitpicking at its finest. Let’s say the show started on time, the sound was clear and the singing was right on, would it then be OK for the artist to dress like they want and to experience some human error on stage?

Lauryn Hill gets the last word and they are very specific, “I can’t fit into a stereotype that makes me comfortable for you. If that makes me feel uncomfortable to you, I need to find some new company.”

I’m still not sure if it is entirely fair for her to say this after folks have shelled out time and money to see her but i do appreciate that she is laying it out on the line like that.

Wonder if the audience will have any words for this or will they just let their neglect be a substitute for an actual response?

Here is the candid fun group shot of the workshop group.

The W stands for what you want it to: word, warriors, whatever, witness, writing, workin’ but for the faculty reading the night before it stood for Willie as all the workshoppers (cept for me, I had a reading at la Peña) and about 60 high school kids thru the W in the air for the man who kept the discussion movin when it came to responsibility in our chosen art, eliminating the spare parts in our poems, releasing the music in our language and trusting our voices.

In the practical department: I got three first drafts workin’ and an idea for maybe two more poems that will let us hear the sounds in the street and little bits of God in Anywhere Ave.

In the Its-About-Me department: I got to have a one-on-one talk with a poetic hero and ended up talkin pana-a-pana, two jibaros talkin life/fam/work over lunch and all that has me walkin away feelin like I’m gettin closer to the big story I want to tell.

In the Its-About-Him department: I also feel like I want to write more to that little nerd kid living in the Bronx, with all this craziness happening right outisde his door, but all he wants to do is read a book so he can do good in school and makes his mom and dad proud cuz if he ever got caught up in some shit his dad would kick his ass and his mom would cry (or the other way around) which isnt to say he really wants to get mixed up in dirt cuz hes too chicken shit to run with the tough boys and too street to hang with the nerds and that kid wherever he is is looking for a book that will speak to that.

Palabra.

More pics here

Just finished breakin bread with the Fiction fellows here at VONA. Not only was the discussion fruitful (mad talk on what we’re reading and how we are goin to infiltrate the system) but it also proved profitable in that I sold two chapbooks which equals free meal which equals a moment of poetic happiness.

It has been an interesting workshop environment that I would like to emulate in the future- first we have an open mic (poems that we were assigned to write the night before based on another poem), then we go over an interview of a poet-of-color regarding politics and/or process and then we start workshopping poems. What I really dig is how the middle discussion tends to exhaust personal political tangents so that when we talk about the poem in workshop we are focusing on language, intent and emotion instead. Good stuff, for sure.

To back track for a second, the interviews also tend to revolve around what (if any) responsibility a writer has and more and more I keep coming back to this conclusion- My responsibility is to make the best art I possibly can and present it in a professional manner.

Well, at least that’s how I feel today and I am looking forward to seeing how I feel aout this in 10 years or even 10 hours.

Palabra.