A SLIVER OF OUR POETRY WEEKEND

I don’t know if I’ll have it in me to attend anything this weekend, but dang the venue hosts are making it tough! 

Today (Friday) Linda Trott Dickman and the NorthportArts Coalition are serving up JulianMatthews on a silver platter for you. Actually, that platter has to be platinum! Now, this ain’t no finger food we’re talking about here, this is some stick-to-your-bones-and-you-don’t-even-need-dessert kinda offering. If carrots and celery with some dip is your preference, you might want to just come for open mic, because Julian combines an uncommon mind with innovative word weaving to deliver a rich multicourse experience. If you don’t believe me, check this out.

If you aren’t totally wrung out or couldn’t make the above, E. Lynn Alexander and Collapse Press are presenting the virtual book launch of Lynn’s FIND ME IN THE IRIS tonight as well. I was fortunate enough to stumble across Lynn’s and Cleveland Wall’s wordsmithing at a recent SpoFest event and four other word artists (Karen Lillis, K.R. Morrison, Chansonette Buck, and Taneesh Kaur) will be sharing the mic. Sounds promising to me!  

If you didn’t get enough richness with Julian and the Collapse crew, Poetry Streeton the Road  is going international tomorrow with Zimbabwe’s Takudzwa “VaChikepethe Poet” Chikepe and Trinidad & Tobago’s Marsha M. Nelson. Don’t worry, there’ll be plenty of homegrown cheeba for you with ChipWilliford, Maggie Bloomfield and the open mic participants who usually scorch Poetry Street’s asphalt. If you haven’t strolled down this broad thoroughfare yet, you might want to take a detour from your usual travels. Your voice to share and your ears to absorb poetic fare is the only toll. And if you’d like a sample platter of that poetic fare, there are videos of past events for you to nibble on if you scroll down on the homepage.

And on Sunday (12pm PDT) CultivatingVoices Live with hosts SandyYannone, Kim Ports Parsons, and Don Krieger are presenting their 3^rd Annual Pride Poetry Parade with a plethora of featured poets along with open mic.

There’s plenty coming up next week as well, but I wanna get this posted.

RESPONSE TO THURSDAY NIGHT FEATURE READING EXPLAINED

Usually, publications put retractions and corrections at the bottom of articles, but I think the following thoughts should precede the original text.

After chatting with the host in question:

Sometimes emotions can run away with you…I should probably say “with me,” and I suspect that was the case when I posted my sad post yesterday.

In my response to Thursday’s event, I mentioned “inconsideration,” despite not really exercising much myself…at least not toward the host. I can’t let me off the hook for that.

I’ve spoken with the host, and our chat made me realize that I didn’t consider the challenges of their situation, and in failing to do so, I may have been even more inconsiderate than I “accused” the host of being!

As I have made clear to more than one individual, I am in no way knocking the good things that the venue provides to its participants on a weekly basis and would suggest checking out the venue to experience it directly and not through my jaded eyes and ears.

I’ve tried to express that my perspective is a limited one and usually different from the perspectives of others I’ve encountered. I don’t discount my own experience, but I don’t want the experiences of the venue host or regulars to be discounted either.

There is value to be had in our varied experiences and I am reminded, once again, that emotional responses can short circuit the brain and result in having to write follow-ups like this!

Initial Post

I did something yesterday that surprises even me: I posted on Facebook an emotional response to an experience I had the night before...including a teary photo. I did something similar once before (no teary photo 😏) when I posted a rant after being "Trumped" back in 2017. 

I'm not usually a fan of public bleeding, yet there I was, leaking red all over Facebook. I'm a little embarrassed about that, but that's just ego talking. It is what it is, and now I feel compelled to explain.

The level of inconsideration displayed by the host of the poetry reading event on Zoom, at which I was the feature reader on Thursday, was unconscionable from where I sit. Had the level of inconsideration not been relatively consistent across the board, my conclusion that “race” played a role would be far less tentative. As it is, I can only surmise that "race" played a role.

Stephanie and I might call my response an “over reaction” and that over reaction laid me low yesterday. You would probably need to know my perspective on the “racialization” of human beings along with my antipathy to the lack of consideration we show each other as beings to understand my  response.

Below is my perspective (always subject to re-examination) of Thursday night’s experience. I’ve also included some excerpts of a paper I wrote back in the 90s, before realizing that “academia” was no less hostile an environment than any other domain of social existence. The excerpts might shed some light on the foundation and precursors of my response. Nothing I have seen, heard, or experienced in other ways since the writing invalidates the premises and positions laid out in the paper.

My response to Thursday night’s experience, however much of an overaction it might be, reflects the impact of a lifelong struggle to exist in a world that represents a hostile environment for one with perspectives such as mine.

The Experience from My Perspective

The host asked me to be the feature reader and didn’t inform me that there was a theme: “Black Music.” Did the host know that I wouldn’t have agreed to feature had I known what it was? Did they simply forget to inform me? It really doesn’t matter because it demonstrates a lack of consideration, which is the primary and essential issue for me.

The event began at 10pm EDT, and knowing that if anyone came specifically to hear me read it would more than likely be people from the east coast, here’s what I asked: “This might be a big ask, and I'm prepared for a no, but your event seems to as flexible as any I've been to, so I wonder if you would consider putting east coast attendees on first and maybe let me read a little earlier than usual?” It is a level of consideration that Billy Brown uses at his Fixed and Free open mic event. The response I got was a “Sure let’s talk about it tonight,” tonight being the night of the reading.

When I logged on shortly before 10pm EDT, there were already several people in the room, including at least a few people from the east coast who were there because I had asked them to be there. To shorten the long story a tad, I’ll just say it was evident that the request to consider the east coast folks who had extended themselves to be there was not exactly granted. Troubling, but not totally unexpected given our world.

When I became so troubled that I was seriously considering logging off the call (I private messaged a few letting them know that I would totally understand if they wanted to log off), was when I noticed that the host was calling on people to read who were logging onto the call well into the proceedings, passing people by who had been there before the event had officially begun.

We can chalk this up to coincidence, cronyism, whatever, but it seemed to me that skin color was playing a role in who was being called on to read. There’s no way to confirm this, but that was how it appeared to me. 

Yep, I was incensed, and it took as much resolve as I could muster to argue myself out of bailing. Had people not shown up specifically because of my presence, I would have. I am critiquing myself for not addressing the situation immediately and directly. 

My only indirect acknowledgement was the following post in the chat: "20:52:34- From  T. A. Niles  to  Everyone:  Fascinating. Judy were you planning on reading? How about you Phynne, Madison, Shaun, C.C.?"  Every one of the above-listed people had been in the room prior to multiple others who were called to read before them. I’m sure I’ll find a way to be okay with the decision not to be more direct and to stay and read. Note: Notice the MDT time...10:52 EDT and I hadn't started yet. Not unusual for this venue.

The Context

You would probably have to know my perspective on the “racialization” of human beings along with my antipathy to the lack of consideration we show each other as beings to understand my “over reaction.” However much of an overaction it might be, my response reflects the impact of a lifelong struggle to exist in a world that represents a hostile environment for one with perspectives such as mine.

Below are some excerpts of a paper I wrote back in the 90s before realizing that “academia” was no less a hostile environment than any other domain of social existence. Nothing I have seen, heard, experienced invalidates the premises of the paper. The paper is entitled, Reconceptualizing the “Isms” of Social Groupings: Tracking the Beasts to Their Common Lair.

Paper Excerpts

From the Intro (citations removed): 

The historical development of the terms, ‘race’ and ‘racism,’ their various past and present understandings and manifestations have been discussed at length in numerous works. Most seem to agree that there is a nasty beast out there that preys upon human societies and answers to the name ‘Racism.’ 

Many in various academic disciplines have answered the call to hunt down and put to sleep this horrid beast. Armed with large caliber computers, amphibious keyboards, intensive and comprehensive statistical preparation, highly tuned rational acumen, high powered research methods, and decades of the finest education and training that money can buy, these noble soldiers of academe march onward in this almost holy war. 

They saturate the social perimeter with ideological grenades and launch salvo after salvo of verbal shrapnel…yet this thing called racism continues to elude all attacks, and to wreak havoc on societies around the globe.

One difficulty encountered by those attempting to track down and eliminate this beast is that many entities seem to answer when the name ‘racism’ is called. As such, much of the work on racism, especially the historical treatises, apportion considerable space and time to attempting to identify this elusive and ultimately threatening. 

In addition to identifying the beast itself, these soldiers of academe have addressed causes and effects of racism, have outlined strategies to defeat the beast, and have sought to identify and explicate the relationships shared by racism and other social constructs.  

Other Excerpts:

I think it important to emphasize that by resources I mean anything, tangible or otherwise, that one would consider desirable for his/her continued well‑being, or that might be construed as contributing to the satisfaction of basic human needs. Social phenomena such as power (as in ability to influence environment), esteem of others, self‑esteem, respect, etc., are considered resources. No less important, such things as spiritual development, or the opportunity for same, physical health, mental health, [etc.] are all considered resources from this perspective.

To deny a human being any of the above-mentioned resources, or access to same, because of perceived racial group membership is to cause harm, is to engage in racism, and is to act immorally.

In sum, Race is a socially constructed means of differentiation and evaluation utilized to assist individuals and groups of individuals in meeting their first-through-fourth-order needs.

Race, as an attempt to differentiate the self from the other (second-order need), benign in and of itself, becomes malignant when combined with other needs, such as the need to enhance self-esteem (third-order need), and when encompassed in a worldview which stipulates an environment of finite resources, which fosters an “us versus them” orientation.

...it seems safe to say that using “race” as a means of identifying and evaluating self and other is the spawning ground for racism.

It will take a complete revolution in the way humankind perceives itself and its environment before we can make any progress in the war against the isms. I question whether even those struggling against the chains of the isms can see how, in their very struggle, they reify the very essence of and need for the struggle.

And the epigraph that opens the paper:

A human being is part of the whole, called by us 'universe,' a part limited in time and space. He [/she] experiences himself, his/her thoughts and feelings, as something separate from the rest‑ a kind of optical delusion of his [/her] consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal decisions and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole nature in its beauty (Albert Einstein).

My response to Thursday night was/is a reflection of the cumulative effect of existing in a world of people who perceive human existence and relations in vastly different ways that are contradictory to my own…ways that I believe are detrimental to the human condition. It also reflects the belief that those ways are so ubiquitous and ingrained that there is little-to-no hope of humanity charting a different course…a course that might result in more opportunity for the maximization of each living being. 

As for the reading itself, I just pulled up the chat for the first time and it appears that it was well-received for the most part. I will be uncomfortable approaching tomorrow's feature reading, but I will honor the invitation and attendant commitment. Thanks for hanging in there with me on this!🙏

POETIC WORLD BLOSSOMING: 6/12 - 6/19/2022

Note: Click on photos to enlarge & apologies. Looks fine on my laptop, but on my phone? Not so much. Can't figure it out 😒.

 

Cobalt 6/14/2022

I believe the adrenaline from Tuesday night's incredible session at the Cobalt is finally wearing off. So many tremendous expressions to stir your inner soup! Don't take my word for it. You can check out the video:   https://www.facebook.com/RickPoet/videos/740084943802643. I appear at 32:33 of the video, but I'm hoping you'll check out the other expressions. 

Lynda V. Crawford

I think you especially don't want to miss Sandy Yannone's reading. I was moved by quite a few, but was absolutely blown away by Sandy's expressions (2:29:25 of video). Her Requiem for Orlando (in Glass Poetry Press) should get equal air time to every sick slaughter we're media fed, and her Untitled piece is a gem! Both gave me chills. I feel a tad odd highlighting one artist here, because so many (Lynda V. Crawford, Julian Matthews, Dayna Leslie Hodges among others) offered expressions worthy of highlighting. Time, space, energy- my limitations 😒.

Anyway, I'm sure the adrenalin will be barreling through my system again tonight (Thur. 8pm MDT) as I join host Katerina Canyon and others as the feature reader in the intimate space of Canyon Poets (Register here: https://www.poetickat.com/.../the-canyon-poets-feature-t...).

The overload of adrenalin is likely to continue through the weekend because I've also accepted the generous offer of host James Borders to do the same on Sunday (4:30pm MDT) with the Peripatetic Poets (https://www.facebook.com/2020andforward/).

Martina McGowan's latest

As I mentioned on FB, even if you don't care to make either of the above, for a reading overflowing with poetic talent, you'll want to check out Cultivating Voices (CV) on Sunday afternoon (1pm MDT)! Every single one of the featured poets (Rawle Iam James, Martina McGowan, Teresa E. Gallion, Michael Anthony Ingram, and Dee Allen) presenting on CV this Sunday fills the virtual room with ferocious energy, and I'm hoping host Sandy Yannone-who, as noted above, lit up the room at Cobalt on Tuesday- will add her voice to the mix.

Image courtesy of depositphotos.com

I'm torn about attending Sunday's event myself. Missing the expressions of these tremendous artists will be a loss for me in one sense. Yet, my perspective and stance on "race-based" themes and social celebrations in general make it difficult for me to join the mix. Sunday's theme at CV is Juneteenth, an important celebration for those who identify as African American, and if you believe in celebrating, perhaps an important celebration for all people.

But that's my struggle. Perhaps my desire to support and absorb the work of the talented feature readers will override my perspective and value system. Most likely, I won't know until Sunday. Unless you're a fringe-dwelling freak (can't help my affinity for alliteration) like me, you'll probably be thrilled with Sunday's fare.

TSR Issue 59

Oh! There's no way I can post this without mentioning The Sailor's Review, and not just because one of my pieces appears in it. You can skip my portion altogether and you would be greatly enriched by TSR's vibrant pages. Ok, gotta go get ready for Canyon Poets tonight. I'll be ready Kat!

A BUSY JUNE: FEATURES, ARTICLES, VIDEOS, TRANSLATIONS & MORE!

 Note: Click on images to enlarge for better viewing

A Rick Lupert Creation

Wow! I don’t know how people keep up with so many things! Guess they must have bigger brains and more energy than I.

A busy week for me. I’ll be the feature reader twice this week: Tuesday night at Cobalt Poets hosted by Rick Lupert, and Thursday at Canyon Poets hosted by Katerina Canyon. These are terrific opportunities to read poetic expressions I typically can’t read in open mic settings and I’m grateful to Rick and Katerina for giving me these opportunities.

My favorite musical offering thus far

Chip Williford, Co-host of Poetry Street has confirmed that Takudzwa “Taku” Chikepe (AKA VaChikepe the Poet) will be the featured reader on Poetry Street’s open mic on Saturday, June 25, from 2 – 4pm EDT. Taku will also join Chip on The Heart of the East End radio show hosted by Gianna Volpe on NPR’s WLIW 88.3FM on June 20 at 10:25am EDT.

Cover of TSR #59

You may know that Taku is also the founder and publisher of The Sailors Review (TSR) and both Mr. Williford and I appear in the most recent issue (June 2022) of TSR. And, VaChikepe the Poet has a newly released musical cut which you can check out on YouTube. There are apparently no limits to this man’s talent! You might have to change the name to “VaChikepe and the 101 Sailors,” Taku 😉.

Eric Epstein signing Hiram
Larew's Magic from Mud Ajar

Other things that have sparked my interest include Eric Epstein’s captivating American Sign Language (ASL) translation of Hiram Larew’s poem, Magic, the first poem in Hiram’s Mud Ajar collection. I’m not a good enough singer to sing Eric’s praises adequately, nor a good enough writer to do what he did justice in written word. I will only say that I am hoping that Eric will translate at least one of my pieces and strongly suggest that you check it out! There is also a video detailing Eric’s process of translating Magic that I found enlightening as well.

I have to thank Heidi Kasa who was kind enough to collaborate with me on creating a video (3 mins) of her poem Current and Never Events. It’s a poem that complements a piece a wrote, Moment-Us Decision, and both address the abortion issue. Both of these videos will be highlighted in the Free Speech Individual playlists of The Human RoomOpen Voice (THROV) initiative spearheaded by C.C. Arshagra with a heavy duty assist from Kathleen Hulser.

Speaking of collaborations, almost all who attended the May 31^st

edition of SpoFest’s Writing Prompt and Rough Draft (WPRD) collaborated on creating an exquisite corpse poem, which SpoFest and O I C Studios founder James Bryant and I, then, collaborated on converting to video format (see video here). Somehow, Lee Eric Freedman managed to handle his co-host duties AND compile the exquisite corpse simultaneously! We had a great time and will be doing another exquisite corpse at the Tuesday,June 28 edition of SpoFest’s WPRD!

Angela Yuriko Smith has agreed to administer the exquisite corpse going forward, and James and I are planning a little “Wake” for the following day where we unveil the lovely body live on Facebook. More details on that later but come join the fun and help create some of the most exquisite corpses the poetry graveyard has ever seen!

Ok, the old man is out of gas and if there’s something I forgot- highly likely-just chalk it up to my failing mind. Until next…Think it, feel it, write it, speak it, revel in it....

Art by Caleb Chisha

Wait! This just in: I’m no art critic, but if you check out and like Caleb Chisha’s work (begins p.36 of TSR) and you feel like taking a moment or two to further his efforts, you can nominate him for the Best PaintingArtist of the year here or at https://www.zikomoawards.com/. HisFacebook also has some wonderful work!

THE POETRY STREET EXPERIENCE: THE FUTURE IS NOW

 

Remember your first love? Your first time…experiencing something that jellied your insides and now moves your mouth corners upward in reminiscence? Well, that kinda sums up my first experience as a featured reader at Poetry Street on May 28, 2022, and I wouldn’t have had that experience without the [insert preferred superlative here] folks at Poetry Street. Chip, Maggie, Susan, Bubbie (and betting you had something to do with it too Judy), I’ll be ever grateful.

photo courtesy of istock

I’m still trying to tuck sharing a mic with Brie Onishea and the other open mic poets in my first extended reading into my treasure chest. But the experience is so HUGE, and the chest is dang near full! Maybe there’s something down near the bottom of the chest I can shift to another location. But enough about my experience (which I’m hoping to be able to share in video soon).

Takudzwa Chikepe

June 25^th promises to be another treasure-chest experience with Takudzwa “Taku” Chikepe, AKA VaChikepe the Poet, bringing the heat straight from the motherland-Zimbabwe tobe specific-and Marsha Nelson’s tingling tropical breezes blowing through the Poetry Street Zoom room. Marsha just happens to hail from Trinidad & Tobago, the same soil from which I sprouted. What are the odds that two Trinis would be featured readers in consecutive months at any non-island venue? Those odds are probably of Jack-Spratian proportions. But at Poetry Street the odds are definitely defiable. 

Marsha Nelson

You can find out more about the 25^th’s feature readers at the Poetry Street website (https://poetrystreetontheroad.com/our-poets-page-3). You can also find videos of past Poetry Street readings by scrolling down a bit on the “HOME” page. But if you really wanna know more, show up on the 25^th. Looking forward to seeing you there.

JAMES BRYANT'S DARK HAIKU SERIES: A RESPONSE

James Bryant’s Dark Haiku series is dead-on (pun intended) in title and content. This is no reading for those in search of fluff and lightness. Being one who is familiar with dwelling in darkness, reading In the Dead of Night (James Bryant’s Dark Haiku Book 1) and You Dark Up My Life (James Bryant’s Dark Haiku Book 2) was just like visiting my familiar vacation cabin without turning on the lights when I got there. Don’t need lights to make your way around Bryant’s Haiku. 

Bryant sticks with the 5-7-5 format of the “original” Haiku form, but that is the only restriction he appears to put on himself. Contrary to direction from my poetry Guru, J R Turek, Bryant names his Haiku, he rhymes his Haiku, peppers them with punctuation, and middle-fingers other conventions. I came across a few references to seasons and climate—perhaps an unintentional nod to the original form. Here’s one from In the Dead of Night:

Hurricane laughter

into the eye of my storm

there is no shelter

And

Niagara falls

from my eyes, the perfect storm

inundating me

My take? The atmosphere is doom, the climate is gloom, and thunderous emotions crash. Yes, in Dead of Night, you’ll bump starkly into Bryant’s naked crystalline longing in the glariness of his core expressions:

Connecting the dots

Because they’re lonely like me

No one to turn to

If you’re a teenager or older, you’ve probably suffered from the fabled broken heart, with fractures from multiple falls that fail to heal. Okay, okay, so shoot me because I like alliteration. Bryant doesn’t mind your scoffing either and rips his chest open with dirty fingernails for you to glimpse the pulsing. He makes it quite plain in the very first Haiku in You Dark Up My Life:

Reach in and tear out

my beating heart, stomp it flat

ground it underfoot

And would you perhaps write something like this if you’d lost your queen somewhere near February 14?

A festering sore

cancer eating at my heart

bloody Valentine

It seems to have become fashionable to drop a large rock into the well of our despair and allow the blood to spill over the side. Some may slip and slide in our viscous fluid. Others may bring a pail for subsequent plasmapheresis. You can only know which you are if/when you embrace James Bryant’s Dark Haiku like your shadow on a sunny day.