Well, this social distancing stay at home environment is getting old, but there are some fringe benefits. Hardly a day goes by when I don't find myself "invited" to a poetry reading or talk online. The Academy of American Poet's online marathon the other night was just one example.
And what do I find myself doing during these "virtual" readings, whereby readers and writers (and musicians and actors in some cases) convene via the Internet from the privacy of our homes? I find myself looking for glimpses of the participants' home lives.
The furniture, the decor, the art, and of course the libraries -- the most common backdrop people choose to show when they put their home on display via virtual meeting technology is the well stocked bookshop. Rarely, on my primitive laptop technology at any rate, is the image large enough that I can read many of the titles, but the books are on display. A few participants choose a blank wall backdrop or even drop some fabric behind them, but fortunately most authors and speakers are willing to give us a glimpse into their homes. I did find myself having pangs of apartment envy during the Academy's virtual event. (If memory serves, Naomi Shihab Nye had the apartment I think artists and writers should have -- cluttered, book and art strewn, and enviably cozy.)
On balance, despite the occasional technical glimpse, I've found these virtual readings to be refreshing and consoling. But I do long for the days when we can all reconvene in an actual room, even one with uncomfortable plastic folding chairs, to hear and face the presence of live authors addressing a live audience.
Saturday, May 2, 2020
Saturday, February 15, 2020
Long Time No Chat
Here's a post from last fall that I abandoned as a draft without posting, and I can't recall why. So I'll post it now.
I practically forgot about this blog of mine -- time to start making a record of my poetic or literary musings and adventures again.
Recent outings included another excellent poetry performance produced by Emotive Fruition that featured a variety of actors reading a staged presentation of poetry highlighting women's voices. Like all Emotive Fruition productions, this one really highlighted the dramatic element of poetry and the power invoked by layering multiple voices together.
Also, out at the music venue National Sawdust in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, Paul Muldoon convened another combination of music and literature, this time uniting a classical trio (flute, violin, cello) with a Ukranian novelist and the American poet, and memoirist and human rights activist Carolyn Forche.
And, most importantly of all, I partook in a four week master class poetry workshop at the 92Y in New York City. The class was led by the inspiring and amazing poet Rowan Ricardo Phillips, and I'd encourage any poet who has a chance to do a workshop or class with him to take advantage of the opportunity. The class brought together one of my favorite groups of writers I've shared a workshop with, and I think many of us were sad that the workshop only lasted for four weeks.
Also, in addition to Rowan's poetry (Heaven is his most recent volume, and he has another highly anticipated collection coming out next year), he's also written a very entertaining and compelling nonfiction book about teens, The Circuit. The book follows the professional tennis tournament during the 2017 season, with many digressions about the nature of the sport and its followers (the piece about the origins of clay court tennis is worth the price of the book).
I practically forgot about this blog of mine -- time to start making a record of my poetic or literary musings and adventures again.
Recent outings included another excellent poetry performance produced by Emotive Fruition that featured a variety of actors reading a staged presentation of poetry highlighting women's voices. Like all Emotive Fruition productions, this one really highlighted the dramatic element of poetry and the power invoked by layering multiple voices together.
Also, out at the music venue National Sawdust in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, Paul Muldoon convened another combination of music and literature, this time uniting a classical trio (flute, violin, cello) with a Ukranian novelist and the American poet, and memoirist and human rights activist Carolyn Forche.
And, most importantly of all, I partook in a four week master class poetry workshop at the 92Y in New York City. The class was led by the inspiring and amazing poet Rowan Ricardo Phillips, and I'd encourage any poet who has a chance to do a workshop or class with him to take advantage of the opportunity. The class brought together one of my favorite groups of writers I've shared a workshop with, and I think many of us were sad that the workshop only lasted for four weeks.
Also, in addition to Rowan's poetry (Heaven is his most recent volume, and he has another highly anticipated collection coming out next year), he's also written a very entertaining and compelling nonfiction book about teens, The Circuit. The book follows the professional tennis tournament during the 2017 season, with many digressions about the nature of the sport and its followers (the piece about the origins of clay court tennis is worth the price of the book).
Danez and Friends at the NYPL
For a long time, I tended to write poetry in isolation, which had its benefits but also more drawbacks than I realized. I'd participated in several writing groups over the years, but to a large extent I plugged away at writing poetry and fiction on my own, viewing it as a solitary avocation.
As I've aged, I've come to recognize the fellowship and community in poetry. Nowhere was that sense of poetry as fellowship on display more than at Danez Smith's reading, along with two of his poet-friends, at the New York Public Library last week. Smith was celebrating the publication of Homie, his latest poetry collection which is a tribute to friendships that have helped shape him.
His fellow poets, Shira Erlichman and Angel Nafis, read before Danez and both are now on my gotta have their books list. But what struck me most about the reading was the sense of comradeship and camaraderie among the three writers. (Danez shared a story about sneaking into open mic readings at an Ethiopian restaurant in Minneapolis -- they were underage at the time and had to arrive when the restaurant was still open to avoid getting carded -- and then stay until the open mic started after restaurant hours). So often group or multiple reader poetry events evoke an undercurrent of friction, or perhaps a sense of competition between readers. Not so with Danez and his homies -- love was all around at this wonderful event.
If you have a chance to hear any of these three writers share their work, just go. You won't regret it.
As I've aged, I've come to recognize the fellowship and community in poetry. Nowhere was that sense of poetry as fellowship on display more than at Danez Smith's reading, along with two of his poet-friends, at the New York Public Library last week. Smith was celebrating the publication of Homie, his latest poetry collection which is a tribute to friendships that have helped shape him.
His fellow poets, Shira Erlichman and Angel Nafis, read before Danez and both are now on my gotta have their books list. But what struck me most about the reading was the sense of comradeship and camaraderie among the three writers. (Danez shared a story about sneaking into open mic readings at an Ethiopian restaurant in Minneapolis -- they were underage at the time and had to arrive when the restaurant was still open to avoid getting carded -- and then stay until the open mic started after restaurant hours). So often group or multiple reader poetry events evoke an undercurrent of friction, or perhaps a sense of competition between readers. Not so with Danez and his homies -- love was all around at this wonderful event.
If you have a chance to hear any of these three writers share their work, just go. You won't regret it.
Friday, July 5, 2019
Friday Night Lights in Manhattan
Well, I'm not much of a football fan, but I couldn't resist the opportunity to employ a 'Friday Night Lights' headline.
Actually, the dance performance I attended at Madison Square Park tonight took place under mostly natural light, this being the time of long days and late sunsets in the northern hemisphere. Tonights performance featured dancers from David Dorfman Dance, the Francesca Harper Project, URBAN/TRIBE, and Earl Moseley's Institute for the Arts.
And on my walk home I took advantage of the Friday night free admission at the Morgan Library to take in their Walt Whitman exhibit. This year being the 200th anniversary of Whitman's birth, there have been a lot of Whitman events and exhibits happening. Unfortunately, I keep finding myself in the wrong place at the wrong time and so I miss the readings and tribute events. But the Morgan exhibit, while modest in scope, was a delight to see.
It complements another Whitman exhibit at the New York Public Library's main building right beside Bryant Park. (free all the time!) Both exhibits focus heavily on Leaves of Grass, and both include manuscripts and some handwritten letters and drafts by Whitman. Both also devote space to Whitman's influence on other writers and artists.
So now that I've whetted my appetite, I think I should commit myself to reading aloud the entire Leaves of Grass manuscript, something I don't think I've ever done.
Actually, the dance performance I attended at Madison Square Park tonight took place under mostly natural light, this being the time of long days and late sunsets in the northern hemisphere. Tonights performance featured dancers from David Dorfman Dance, the Francesca Harper Project, URBAN/TRIBE, and Earl Moseley's Institute for the Arts.
And on my walk home I took advantage of the Friday night free admission at the Morgan Library to take in their Walt Whitman exhibit. This year being the 200th anniversary of Whitman's birth, there have been a lot of Whitman events and exhibits happening. Unfortunately, I keep finding myself in the wrong place at the wrong time and so I miss the readings and tribute events. But the Morgan exhibit, while modest in scope, was a delight to see.
It complements another Whitman exhibit at the New York Public Library's main building right beside Bryant Park. (free all the time!) Both exhibits focus heavily on Leaves of Grass, and both include manuscripts and some handwritten letters and drafts by Whitman. Both also devote space to Whitman's influence on other writers and artists.
So now that I've whetted my appetite, I think I should commit myself to reading aloud the entire Leaves of Grass manuscript, something I don't think I've ever done.
Sunday, June 16, 2019
To Let Go and Fall
If you happen to be in the Twin Cities between now and the end of June, I'd highly recommend seeing "To Let Go and Fall," a new play with music produced by Theater Latte Da at the Ritz Theatre.
The show centers on a gay romance between two young, and occasionally confused, dance proteges in New York starting at the height of the AIDS epidemic and extends to basically the present day through a series of encounters between the two men. The action takes place beside a fountain near Lincoln Center in New York City, home of the American Ballet Theatre.
The play, by Harrison David Rivers, examines how the AIDS epidemic sparked fear and flight and sometimes had the power to sever relationships. Rivers has said the play was inspired by the love letters composer John Cage sent to dancer/choreographer Merce Cunningham. Young love is tough enough in any environment, against the backdrop of a harrowing health crisis, it can become poisonous. The show is directed by Sherri Eden Barber with choreography by Penelope Freeh. And not to be overlooked is the music. Cellists Jacqueline Ultan and Michelle Kinney wrote and performed the music that accompanies the players on the stage. /Overall, "To Let Go and Fall" is one of the best premieres I've seen in long time.
The play stars Mark Benninghofen, Austen Fisher, JuCoby Johnson, Tyler Michael King, Andre Shoals and Jon-Michael Reese, with Conner Horak and Da'Rius Malone providing dance scenes.
The show centers on a gay romance between two young, and occasionally confused, dance proteges in New York starting at the height of the AIDS epidemic and extends to basically the present day through a series of encounters between the two men. The action takes place beside a fountain near Lincoln Center in New York City, home of the American Ballet Theatre.
The play, by Harrison David Rivers, examines how the AIDS epidemic sparked fear and flight and sometimes had the power to sever relationships. Rivers has said the play was inspired by the love letters composer John Cage sent to dancer/choreographer Merce Cunningham. Young love is tough enough in any environment, against the backdrop of a harrowing health crisis, it can become poisonous. The show is directed by Sherri Eden Barber with choreography by Penelope Freeh. And not to be overlooked is the music. Cellists Jacqueline Ultan and Michelle Kinney wrote and performed the music that accompanies the players on the stage. /Overall, "To Let Go and Fall" is one of the best premieres I've seen in long time.
The play stars Mark Benninghofen, Austen Fisher, JuCoby Johnson, Tyler Michael King, Andre Shoals and Jon-Michael Reese, with Conner Horak and Da'Rius Malone providing dance scenes.
Tuesday, May 14, 2019
Poetry as Sustenance and Salve
As someone who's happiness has been enhanced and amplified by poetry, as well as by arts like music and film and painting in which I'm not a practitioner, I know that extra special feeling one gets when you get to see and feel an audience appreciating your work.
When I went to NYU this afternoon for a poetry reading, I was prepared to hear Deborah Landau read from her new and compelling collection, Soft Targets. I didn't realize I was going to a reading with a larger purpose, culminating the Goldwater Writing Project, which brings together mentors from NYU's acclaimed graduate program in creative writing and long-term patients a New York City municipal hospital that serves people with disabilities that make it difficult for them to live independently. As expected, guest poet Landau was excellent, but the lion's share of at the reading belonged to the participants in the writing program, who also published an anthology of their work titled, "The Golden Writers Anthology."
Many were not able to read their poems aloud, so their NYU mentors read for them. But they each wrote work that embraced optimism, hope, humor, and awareness. It was quite an enlivening afternoon. It was great to see the smiles on the authors faces as they read or sat on stage hearing one of the NYU writers read their work. I think we need to provide people in supportive housing or medical facilities more opportunities to express their creativity. It clearly enhances not only their own lives but also those of the people who encounter their work.
The Golden Writers participating in the reading were Linda Cumming, Zahra Dhaka, Barbara Graham, Frank Hegeman, William Holder, Richard Hurley, Eartha Kitt (yes, that was her real name), Joseph Richter, Antonis Tsikitas, and Kenneth York. The Goldwater Teaching fellows from NYU were Gbenga Adesina, John Daniel Debski, Raven Leilani, Alia Perisco-Shammas, Kyle Lopez, Natasha Rao, Wo Chan, and Crystal Valentine. The reading participants were introduced by graduate program manager Zachary Sussman and student coordinator Hannah Hirsh.
When I went to NYU this afternoon for a poetry reading, I was prepared to hear Deborah Landau read from her new and compelling collection, Soft Targets. I didn't realize I was going to a reading with a larger purpose, culminating the Goldwater Writing Project, which brings together mentors from NYU's acclaimed graduate program in creative writing and long-term patients a New York City municipal hospital that serves people with disabilities that make it difficult for them to live independently. As expected, guest poet Landau was excellent, but the lion's share of at the reading belonged to the participants in the writing program, who also published an anthology of their work titled, "The Golden Writers Anthology."
Many were not able to read their poems aloud, so their NYU mentors read for them. But they each wrote work that embraced optimism, hope, humor, and awareness. It was quite an enlivening afternoon. It was great to see the smiles on the authors faces as they read or sat on stage hearing one of the NYU writers read their work. I think we need to provide people in supportive housing or medical facilities more opportunities to express their creativity. It clearly enhances not only their own lives but also those of the people who encounter their work.
The Golden Writers participating in the reading were Linda Cumming, Zahra Dhaka, Barbara Graham, Frank Hegeman, William Holder, Richard Hurley, Eartha Kitt (yes, that was her real name), Joseph Richter, Antonis Tsikitas, and Kenneth York. The Goldwater Teaching fellows from NYU were Gbenga Adesina, John Daniel Debski, Raven Leilani, Alia Perisco-Shammas, Kyle Lopez, Natasha Rao, Wo Chan, and Crystal Valentine. The reading participants were introduced by graduate program manager Zachary Sussman and student coordinator Hannah Hirsh.
Tuesday, April 9, 2019
Returning from Saints & Sinners
Ah, how exhilarating and exhausting a week in New Orleans can be, especially if you're doing a conference by day and still sneaking out at night to enjoy the Big Easy nightlife.
The Saints & Sinners literary festival, one of my favorite LGBT annual events, coincides with the Tennessee Williams and New Orleans Literary Festival. This year their were quite a few poets on the official reading program and more poetry representation on panels than at some of the past festivals, which was fun for me -- especially since I got to be one of the readers.
Since I do public readings rarely, I'm still, despite hotel room rehearsing, a little nervous beforehand, and about midway through my eight minutes in the spotlight I found myself trying to rush through my reading, a mistake I've made before. But then I calmed down and managed to make more eye contact with the audience and add a little extemporaneous conversation between poems, and I think my work was fairly well received by people in the room. It was a mix of fiction, nonfiction and poetry folks, so the audience was perhaps more diverse in terms of literary tastes than at most poetry readings. I read exclusively poetry from my chapbook, Gotham Gray, and my general perception was that the poetry that had narrative content was more well received than my more abstract musings. I had the good fortune of reading with some very accomplished writers, namely Christian Baines, Kimberly Dark, Sven Davisson, Sukie de la Croix, J.M. Redmann and Jeffrey Round. Other poets participating in the festival included the amazing Justin Phillip Read, who was on a joint Saints & Sinners/Tennessee Williams festival panel with Garth Greenwell talking about what they write about when they write about sex; Brian Riggs, Steven Sanchez, Steven Riel, Brad Richard, Franklin Abbott, Louis Flint Ceci, and Gregg Shapiro. And Judy Grahn received a lifetime achievement recognition from the festival.
At any rate, I read a good article via Facebook recently that had some tips for doing public poetry readings, the most important of which is to remember that it is a performance, you are a performer, and you have to embrace that role. (I'm paraphrasing, of course, if I can find the link I'll share it here later. And I remember hearing the distinguished poet Timothy Liu say at a reading one time that the most important advice he'd received about doing readings was to always show up on time and be in a good mood, no matter how small the audience. (That was several years ago, so I hope my recollection is accurate.)
At any rate, I think I should seek out more reading opportunities, including open mikes and whatnot, if I want to improve. Hotel room rehearsing only goes so far -- in the end, that experience of speaking to or with an audience is what makes a reading a reading.
The Saints & Sinners literary festival, one of my favorite LGBT annual events, coincides with the Tennessee Williams and New Orleans Literary Festival. This year their were quite a few poets on the official reading program and more poetry representation on panels than at some of the past festivals, which was fun for me -- especially since I got to be one of the readers.
Since I do public readings rarely, I'm still, despite hotel room rehearsing, a little nervous beforehand, and about midway through my eight minutes in the spotlight I found myself trying to rush through my reading, a mistake I've made before. But then I calmed down and managed to make more eye contact with the audience and add a little extemporaneous conversation between poems, and I think my work was fairly well received by people in the room. It was a mix of fiction, nonfiction and poetry folks, so the audience was perhaps more diverse in terms of literary tastes than at most poetry readings. I read exclusively poetry from my chapbook, Gotham Gray, and my general perception was that the poetry that had narrative content was more well received than my more abstract musings. I had the good fortune of reading with some very accomplished writers, namely Christian Baines, Kimberly Dark, Sven Davisson, Sukie de la Croix, J.M. Redmann and Jeffrey Round. Other poets participating in the festival included the amazing Justin Phillip Read, who was on a joint Saints & Sinners/Tennessee Williams festival panel with Garth Greenwell talking about what they write about when they write about sex; Brian Riggs, Steven Sanchez, Steven Riel, Brad Richard, Franklin Abbott, Louis Flint Ceci, and Gregg Shapiro. And Judy Grahn received a lifetime achievement recognition from the festival.
At any rate, I read a good article via Facebook recently that had some tips for doing public poetry readings, the most important of which is to remember that it is a performance, you are a performer, and you have to embrace that role. (I'm paraphrasing, of course, if I can find the link I'll share it here later. And I remember hearing the distinguished poet Timothy Liu say at a reading one time that the most important advice he'd received about doing readings was to always show up on time and be in a good mood, no matter how small the audience. (That was several years ago, so I hope my recollection is accurate.)
At any rate, I think I should seek out more reading opportunities, including open mikes and whatnot, if I want to improve. Hotel room rehearsing only goes so far -- in the end, that experience of speaking to or with an audience is what makes a reading a reading.
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