|
|
|
February 23rd, 2007
 | 11:30 am - slam!
i was the doorguy, with heron[1], at an open mic / poetry slam at as220 last night. they can be spotty, qualitywise (especially open mics), but this one was actually really good. there were some amazing people there. this one guy, who went by the name alfonso rigatoni for reasons i'm sure made sense at the time, his poems weren't that good, but he had possibly the best delivery i have ever seen. his first poem was somewhat silly and the 2nd was sad/furious, and despite the words sucking he made them both so powerful. i was grinning, watching him perform. he's talking about aids and death and i was grinning from the pleasure of seeing someone so filled by their art. at the end of his second poem he was very deliberately stalking through the audience, shouting something about funerals i forget now, and right as he finished he burst out the door onto the sidewalk. if only he had better poems to perform, he would be poetry jesus.
also he was friends with kate, so wound up hanging out at the house with a bunch of people. we were talking a little bit in the kitchen and i pinky swore to him that i would perform something within a month. this was my first pinky swear in maybe 10 years. and well-timed, as right after leaving the slam i sat in my car and wrote down a poem that was rattling in my head. it's not great, but it's the first slammish poem (which, compared with how i normally write, means a poem that isn't just prose with weird line breaks) i've written that i don't hate.
[1] remember heron? my friend from unh who went off to peacecorps for a few years. she's back now and we're hanging out and it rules.
unrelatedly:
"the greater part of what my neighbors call good i believe in my soul to be bad, and if i repent of anything, it is very likely to be my good behavior. what demon possessed me that i behaved so well?" -thoreau
"absolutely unmixed attention is prayer." -simone weil
which i suppose means i don't know how to pray
and now i leave until tuesday night!
|
Aw I miss poetry slams. I attempted to break into the slam scene when I was like 16, and then got tired of the massive amount of drama that was revolving in the scene at the time. I still go to slams every once in a while and it's so nice to catch up with people that I haven't seen in so long.
Was that your first time at AS220? i've been to a bunch of open mics, but only one actual slam (in SF) before i moved here. they're neat
no i've been to a few slams there already, and 2 band shows. ![[User Picture]](https://l-userpic.livejournal.com/37297486/958862) | | From: |  kooncy |
|---|
| Date: | February 23rd, 2007 10:30 pm (UTC) |
|---|
| | | (Link) |
|
Poetry slams have a special place in my heart.
They can either make me smile, or cry, or just kind of smoke more.
The bad ones, those are the good ones.
I like how they have enough spunk in 'em to go up in the first place,
to unshield something they so bravely think should be heard. you would've loved tonight's, then. it was 90% dreadful. it did inspire me to write my own poems though, and if i wind up with 3 i don't hate i will slam them. i don't have anything particular i think should be heard; i just want the thrill of saying it. i'm a dilettante, i suppose i'd just like to say that i love that after your text last night (the one about watching the guy in the bath/stinky feet) it took me a full 30 seconds before i realized you were talking about work and not your house. i do live with a couple of gay guys. i'm sure theyll have me bathing with them one of these days |
|
|
|
|
LiveJournal.com |
