Tuesday, June 23, 2009

JUST ADDED: The5thL PLUS Open Mic PLUS There's No Telling What You'll Hear When No Tell Motel Is Here

As I hoped, The5thL will be joining us Friday evening--these two poets need to be heard and seen to get the full effect, so come on out. From what I can tell, they won't be performing in DC again until the Capital Hip Hop Soul Festival, about a month from now, so now's the time. Everything starts at 9 pm. Lots of other mayhem Friday at the site, so it is guaranteed not to be dull as I must now apologize for feeling and sounding like after a long work day and a long run.

I'm really looking forward to hearing Reb Livingston read Friday. She publishes a lot of other people through the online poetry journal No Tell Motel, but what I've read of her own work is funny and makes me think, whether I want to or not. That is why I am not going to look at her work now, but you can, here.

And this is something she said about a month ago in an interview on the Writer's Center blog:

There were then (and are now) hundreds, if not thousands, of individuals contributing to the poetry community by supporting (i.e., publishing) the work of other poets. I wanted to be one of those contributors. To me it wasn't enough to just write my own poems. I wanted to do my small part to contribute. Poetry is a gift community. People who care about and are dedicated to poetry make sure poems get out there. They're not profiting, they're likely spending their own money and they're definitely donating their time and work. I do think that anyone who is serious about poetry is responsible to contribute in some way to the community, whether that be publishing/editing, curating a reading series, writing book reviews or essays, translating foreign-language poems, etc. That is how poetry thrives and I don't care what any studies or reports declare about poetry, it thrives and will continue to do so because it is not an industry. As other art forms come and go based on industry and market demands of the century, poetry will continue to exist because it does not fit into such models. Poetry won't become popular or profitable, but it will endure.

And now I come on like the big-hair lady on the PBS drive and add: You can also contribute by reading your poems and by buying CDs, books and magazines!

Photo: Not the most recent, but my favorite, being of simple tastes.

1 comment:

  1. I think there's capoeira right before Come Hear Poets. Not on the same stage, though.

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