| Author | Message | ||
     Cuba_va Newbie Poster Username: Cuba_va Post Number: 12 Registered: 10-2004 Rating: N/A |
Last week yall I went to attend what I thought to be a " Russel Simmons Def Poetry Jam " at the Beacon Theatre in Manhattan, and I was very very disappointed in the whole set up. For one I was under the impression that this ws the live Def Poetry jam which they advertised as such. There was no Russel Simmons, No Mos Def, yo there was no MC at all, the DJ was the MC, how ghetto this was. It was if I were at a Def Poetry on Broadway. It was false advertisement and there were no real passion in these poets. Every body had that same spoken word flow, that rap,talk,crap, what happened to just real poets man? Some of them some of yall try to be so deep with your poetry that ordinary listeners lose interest, and thats what most people were doing at this performance!!!! Not to mention shit, I though I was going to be on T.V! lol! | ||
| Rondall Moderator Username: Rondall Post Number: 51 Registered: 01-2004 Rating: N/A |
Having a tour of real poets on stage would be like putting real life situations on T.V. You can't market real poets, just like you can't market a reality T.V. show. Who wants to watch reality on... wait a minute!! {{[light bulb begins to dimly glow]}} | ||
| Chrishayden "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: Chrishayden Post Number: 870 Registered: 03-2004 Rating: N/A |
Cuba and Rondall: Who would you call a "real" poet? | ||
| Rondall Moderator Username: Rondall Post Number: 53 Registered: 01-2004 Rating: N/A |
Chris, Anyone could be a real poet...even those of whom regurgitate commercialized bile wrapped in the freshest ego-maniacal ghetto draperies embroidered with their pimp's brand on it... but I digress. The question of who is a "real" poet could be deliberated many different ways. It is a question that is akin to: "What is "real" Hip-hop?" I respect a lot of people who perform, teach, publish, and hype up poetry. Some of whom (living?): Mari Evans Yusef Komunyakaa Haki Madhubati Kwame Dawes Lyrae Van Clief-Stefanon Reggie Gibson (former Def poet) Kevin Young Steve Coleman (former Def poet) Lucille Clifton Mutabaruka and last but not least Suheir Hammad (and Black Ice) who are distinguished members of the Def Poetry cast from the very beginning. Any of these people represent "real" poets. But let's not forget the shy brother and sisters spilling their guts on wrappers and match book covers. And what about the mic troopers shoutin' out to echos off empty bar room walls just to have a voice. Before I fall off my rickety proselytism soap box, let me say that I suspect that the difference between "real and/or others" is not a damn thing. Yep, nothing at all...except the listeners or readers perception. nuff said | ||
| Chrishayden "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: Chrishayden Post Number: 872 Registered: 03-2004 Rating: N/A |
Rondall: Precisely. Anybody can be a poet. Anybody can write or create a poem. There are, of course different poetic forms and schools and theories. There are people who have matriculated and taught in some of the finest schools in the land and have written many volumes of "poetry" who are writing what I call "stanziated prose"--they have written a short prose piece and broken it into verses and stanzas but it is not a poem because it lacks the necessary rhythm of poetry that all great poets, learned and unlearned, have. "You'll never make it, son because you have a tin ear," the late Howard Nemerov is supposed to have said to a student. Folks thought he was being cruel but he was telling the truth in the sense that one must be able to "hear" the rhythms, in one's head--like a musician. An ear can be learned or developed, or one can have it naturally and use it-- People who I respect (living) are those above plus Eugene B. Redmond Kola Boof Qunicy Troupe K. Curtis Lyle Shirley LeFlore Michael Castro Lenard Moore Sapphire Paul Beatty Elizabeth Alexander Kevin Powell Amiri Baraka Michelle Clifton Patricia Smith Guy LeCharles Gonzalez Ron Chill Da Playa Williams Fofeet Hari Skye Campbell There are so many...I know I left somebody out | ||
| Cynique "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: Cynique Post Number: 1885 Registered: 01-2004 Rating: N/A |
Was the intent of you 2 guys to list obscure poets known only to the closed community of struggling poets? Why didn't Nikki Giovanni make either of your lists?? | ||
| Rondall Moderator Username: Rondall Post Number: 57 Registered: 01-2004 Rating: N/A |
Because Cynique I probably have every one of her books. I look up to her and the tenacity of her poems. And most of all, sometimes I can't see the sun that keeps me warm, but it is there. In other words... ooops!! Good call. | ||
| Chrishayden "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: Chrishayden Post Number: 878 Registered: 03-2004 Rating: N/A |
Cynique: Did I byte my keyboard? My intent was to name people that I dig. If you dig somebody I didn't mention, you can mention them. | ||
| Cuba_va Newbie Poster Username: Cuba_va Post Number: 14 Registered: 10-2004 Rating: N/A |
I feel you guys are mis interpreting my post. There you guys go getting too deep again, hence my post! I just wanted to warn you guys about this false advertisment thats going on with this " Def Poetry Jam ". Chris Hayden? my definition of a real poet? Are those of us who do it for the soul, for oneself, who could give a f less about the critics, and the lights and glitter ya know? For the ones of us that touch people wit our poems on accident not on purpose! Ya feel me? | ||
| Cynique "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: Cynique Post Number: 1889 Registered: 01-2004 Rating: N/A |
I feel you, cuba-va. That was a very profound statement you made in regard to having your poems touch people by accident and not on purpose! Any poem that is written to tell people what they want to hear is contrived. Inspiring a spontaneous reaction to a poem is what empowers a poet. | ||
| Chrishayden "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: Chrishayden Post Number: 882 Registered: 03-2004 Rating: N/A |
Cynique: And how do you feel about "If We Must Die" by Claude McKay? Pretty naked appeal to the audience, eh? So much so Winston Churchill, a known Negro hater, appropriated it for an address before parliament during the Battle of Britain. How about "Lift Evry Voice And Sing" by James Weldon Johnson. Not very subtle, eh? "Runagate, Runagate" or "Middle Passage" by Robert Hayden. I can name a million of em. One can paint in pastels or one can paint in primary colors. | ||
| Cynique "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: Cynique Post Number: 1891 Registered: 01-2004 Rating: N/A |
Do these poems tell the reader what they want to hear and are they an honest expression of what the poet feels? And, of course, a spontaneous reaction of anger is just as good as one of delight. "To thine ownself be true," seems to me to be very applicable when it comes to poetry. | ||
| Chrishayden "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: Chrishayden Post Number: 883 Registered: 03-2004 Rating: N/A |
Cynique: Both. And did you click on a banner ad? | ||
| Cynique "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: Cynique Post Number: 1892 Registered: 01-2004 Rating: N/A |
What the hell is a banner ad? | ||
| Chrishayden "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: Chrishayden Post Number: 888 Registered: 03-2004 Rating: N/A |
Cynique: Don't you read Troy's posts? |
