Farinelli and the King

Let me some up the best new play I've seen on broadway this year by saying this: I'll be shocked if Mark Rylance doesn't win a Tony Award for his portrayal of Spain's King Philippe V. For nearly the entire play, he is onstage, often deranged but always commanding attention. For that matter, the entire cast was great.
The play is Shakespearean in its scope and ambition. The fact that it's a historical play only makes it seem more timeless, though Farinelli and the King premiered in London in 2015. The music that accompanies the action lets the audience feel the way music can serve as a healing power even as we watch the king stammer in and out of sanity, with his bouts of reasonableness usually buoyed by the presence of the opera star Farinelli's music.
Playwright Claire van Kampen has done a magnificent job with a classic subject: an unhinged ruler presiding during perilous times. Many people see parallels between her King Philippe and the current U.S. President, but I see our current administration and his entire party as more corrupt and disingenuous than crazy (though there's certainly an element of that at play too). At any rate, the play is not so much a satire about our current times as a timeless meditation upon music's solace for the soul.

Frederico Garcia Lorca Comes to Town

I was very pleased that Alfred A. Kopf, The New School and the Poetry Society of America teamed up to host a reading of new translations by Sarah Arvio of the great Spanish poet. Some of the participants exclusively read the English translations, while others read Lorca's poems in both Spanish and English.
Readers included Cyrus Cassells, Rachel Eliza Griffiths, Nathalie Handal, Roberto Montes, Rowan Ricardo Phillips, Philip Schultz and Sarah Arvio herself.
I'm always taken aback when I realize how young Lorca was when he perished, and how much great work he created during what was essentially his youth. It was also interesting to hear stories about how his memory was not celebrated for a long time in Spain, though he is widely celebrated today. Minus the part about being presumably tortured and killed for his homosexuality and political stances, the arc of his billowing posthumous fame I think is kind of every writer's dream. Like I said, minus the Civil War discourtesy of his presumed assassination.

Cecilia Tan on Why Erotica Matters

One of the literary highlights of the year for me was attending an LBBT literature festival in Washington, D.C. this fall. And one of the highlights of the event was a keynote talk by Circlet Press publisher Cecilia Tan. Her talk largely reflected some inspiring thoughts she expressed just after last year's distressing election.
The money quote from her keynote: "Self expression is self preservation." It helps to explain why fiction, poetry, art and music that celebrate sexuality and particularly forbidden or marginalized sexual identities and experienced must be recorded, imagined, examined.
I can't do justice to Cecilia Tan's words, which are much more articulate than anything I can do to summarize her, so I'll just put a link to her initial election response right here. 

Brooks, Powers, Ashbury, Walcott

I have to credit the 92nd Street YMCA, known more for its cultural programming in New York City than it's athletic and aquatic activities (though they have plenty of dance and athletic activities as well), for celebrating the work of departed poets, many of then giants of 20th Century literature.
Earlier this month, I attended a celebration of Gwendolyn Brooks life and work, which featured some of the most prominent contemporary poets reading her work along with recordings of Brooks reading her own poetry. They saved the best for last, with Tyehimba Jess reading -- performing, really -- some Brooks poetry, which brought out plenty of Bravos and practically a standing ovation. (There's a lot of Jess reading/performing to be found on YouTube. I'm particularly fond of a Ted presentation he did about the McCoy sisters.) The 92nd Street Y is celebrating the work of John Ashbury tomorrow (12/13) and has a Derek Walcott event scheduled for January 18 of next year.
In an unrelated note, I also attended a reading at the KGB Bar recently, where I sat on a barstool sipping red wine and listened to Nicholas Powers read -- and compose -- his work. I was not previously familiar with Nicholas Powers, but I can tell you I'll be going to hear him again any chance I get. His poetry was socially engaged and engaging, but what really struck me was his extemporaneous work. He invited audience members to suggest topics/phrases/ideas, and just sort of riffed up poetry on the spot. Such an improv challenge would terrify me, I can assure you. I particularly remember the last one he did, which I'll call "elements" and "elephants," both of which figured prominently in his on the spot composition. I hope the KGB records their readings, so I can go back and hear it again.

Words and Music at Quinn Violins

For the life of me, I don't know why more poetry readings don't incorporate more live music. Of course, I have little experience in organizing readings, and I've never collaborated with musicians, so I'm part of the problem. But I've just returned from an inspiring trip to Quinn Violins in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Quinn Violins is more than just a music shop. The building includes studio space for musicians and some musicians offer classes there. Today's collaboration between poets and musicians featured the poets Ardie Medina, Michael Kiesow Moore, and Thomas R. Smith. They were joined by the Asiginaak Singers and cellist Lars Krogstad Ortiz.
In truth, more than collaboration was at play. Ardie Medina, in addition to reading her poetry, also sang with the two other members of the Asiginaak Singers. Robert Smith followed reading his own work by strapping a guitar over his shoulder and transforming himself into Jim Morrison and John Lennon.
But the highlight for me -- and I'm indebted to Michael Kiesow Moore for generously blurbing my chapbook -- was his collaboration with cellist Lars Krogstad Ortiz. Michael read, with Lars accompanying him on the cello with music that he must have composed with the poems in mind. The music added a degree of depth and texture that amplified the poetry rather than interfering with it.
It was perhaps the most entertaining and inspiring poetry events I've been to in long time.
The event took place in a small room lined with violins, appropriately enough. And isn't a rather poetically named music store -- Quinn Violins -- an appropriate setting for a musically infused poetry reading.

Gotham Gray is Out

As you can see below, my chapbook of poetry, Gotham Gray, has been published (thanks to Finishing Line Press for making that happen).
It's currently available from the Finishing Line Press website, Amazon, Barnes & Noble's website, and IndiBound, a website owned by independent bookstores that offers online book shopping.
By the way, in doing Web searches to find out just how easy it is to find my little book online, I discovered that there really is a paint color called Gotham Gray, though I can't remember which company makes it. At any rate, I'll check it out the next time I have a chance to remodel an apartment.

Gotham Gray