Views and Mechanics Publisher's Note Editor's Note Review of Nickel and Dimed Review of Night Shade By Elizabeth Murray Radical Influence: Review of Spoken Word Revolution Redux By Romella D. Kitchens Creative Nonfiction Toiling in the Garden of Memory By Madonna Dries Christensen Poetry Homecoming By Nic Sebastian Maple Syrup Emergency By Paul Carlino Bathroom Visitor By Michael Lee Johnson Fiction A Job Well Done By Catherine Cheek Animal Man By R.B. Trout Watch Over By S.K. Tatiner The Frailty of Perfection By William R. Stoddart Eat Drink and Be Merry By Rebecca Barbush Cover Art "Riot of Flowers" By Dee Rimbaud About the Contributors © 2007, River Walk Journal and respective authors and artists. All rights reserved. Do not use or reproduce without permission. River Walk Journal, Inc. Board of Directors Chairman - Elizabeth Ross Vice Chairman - Joseph Koch Secretary/Treasurer - Geri Stock-Ross Editorial Director - Patti Kurtz, DA Literacy Director - Kenneth Weiss, Ed.D Policy Director - PA State Rep. Jess Stairs Advisory Board Chairman - Patti Kurtz, DA Asst. Chairman - Dan Lachenman, PhD Samuel Hazo Christopher Leland Edwin Yoder Joseph Bathanti Journal Staff Publisher - Elizabeth Ross Editor-In-Chief - Joseph Koch Senior Editor - Patti Kurtz Senior Editor - Neeldhara Misra Copyeditor - Kathy Skaggs Blog Contributing Editor - Maggie Koster Education Blog Contributing Editors - Jordan Wirfs-Brock, Kim Haynes Publicity Director (PA) - Geri Stock-Ross For information about submissions, visit http://www.riverwalkjournal.org/subs.html. Questions about promotions, subscribers' services, and advertising should be sent to publisher@riverwalkjournal.org. River Walk Journal, Inc. is a non-profit corporation run entirely by volunteers. For information about volunteer opportunities and internships, visit VolunteerMatch. |
Radical Influence: Words Set on Fire Review of Spoken Word Revolution Redux By Mark Eleveld ISBN-10: 1402208693 By Romella D. Kitchens You load poetic bullets into the chamber of society’s poetry pistol. Then, on a dark, urban evening, you walk on to the stage of a nightclub or a bar, the crowd expectant, the audience ready to crown you a king or a queen or rip you to shreds. You pull the trigger – naked except for the passion in you and, your belief in the words you have to say. All Spoken Word Poets know the feeling, the fear, the erotic desperation of taking up a weapon of words and wielding it. This is their kingdom, this is their art. Yet, still, some Spoken Word Poets long for the connection with mainstream poetry because the two poetics are twins, because being a Spoken Word poet is sometimes rather analogous to being the illegitimate child of a well-to-do, poised mother. You simply wish “Mother” would stop calling you a bastard. And, indeed, when Spoken Word started its time in the sunshine of modern oral tradition, much, much more than twenty years ago, there was a literary schism between the two modes of expression. But, poetry is a rapacious beast anyway and will roam where it pleases. Thus, there has been an appreciable percentile of acceptance generated for Spoken Word Poetry although the question is still asked in some Academic poetry circles: Is Spoken Word a rabbit trick or, can Spoken Word poets also create pieces which withstand scrutiny on the page? The answer to that tedious query seems clear in Spoken Word Revolution Redux (edited by Mark Eleved and published by Sourcebooks mediaFusion, Naperville, Illinois). Some pieces and the poets who wrote them can and some can’t. But, also, most aficionados of poetry know there are writers who are quite capable as Academic poets and can do standard academic readings, as well as craft pieces and then present them in a Spoken Word setting. Eleveld’s newest book (the first one, The Spoken Word Revolution, came out four years ago and, was excellent, as well) The Spoken Word Revolution, Redux has some of the best examples of poets who withstand the test of what is poetry, whether they are Academicians or Oral Griots. The CD is strong, vital and entertaining and is backed-up by page after page of poems which prove poetry is not a dead art, that in America and internationally, it is alive and well and producing more eclectic babies all of the time… Babies who, if placed in a time capsule in the form of this book would make human beings generations after ours weep with understanding of our humanity, times and “culture.” Dull poetry or staid poetry is not good poetry. Never let anyone convince you of that just because they have an MFA or feel that their acceptance of ennui should be universal. Eleveld spends no time on the dry and the predictable. He picks poets and poems, which can make the new acolytes to poetry enamored of it immediately and the already smitten even more completely taken with it. Some of the pieces on CD that stood out for this reviewer were: the actor, Ethan Hawke’s, wonderful voice and delivery as he reads Gregory Corso’s poem “Marriage;” the humorous edge and the intelligent voice of past poet laureate and tremendous poet, Ted Kooser reading his poem, “Selecting a Reader;” “THICK,” with Sonya Renee (National Poetry Individual Champion for 2004) sounding oh, so sultry and exhibiting the difference and yet the similarities in African American Spoken Word with a poem of self-praise – Praise poems in general being an aspect of African and other World cultures. “Love Put On Your Faces,” by E.E. Cummings holds its own most certainly, on the page but, Patricia Barber’s rendition of it on the CD is something which even we Performance Poets who have done poetry with bands and other musicians will simply have to accept as excellent. Other stand out tracks include, “Old Man Leaves Party,” by Mark Strand, palpably spiritual and real. “Tom Waites, I Hate You,” by Simone Muench is an aggressive, edgy piece it is nice to know came from a female poet instead of couplet lines about Forsythia. In general, this reviewer has listened to much poetry in her life on CD and other formats before CD and liked them but, can say that this may be one of the better ones in terms of poems, poets and readers… No eerie, wavy-voiced, scratchy, low quality, murmuring from down in a dank well over a whistling wind for these producers. You can hear the poet’s breaths in each pause, almost like a human percussion, the nuance in their variant voices, the moistness of their lips. But, “voice,” “tone” and “style” are what poetry can be about sometimes anyway, as well—even on the page. Great poets crate a palpable truth in some of their work on paper, images that the mind’s eye can see, emotions they can feel which are larger than life and existence. They show you the dream, which was behind the closed eye lid of their consciousness, the dream that led them to a truly wakened state and to the table to write. Their poems sometimes become movies and virtual reality rolled into one…The “clear view” of the mind caught mid-thought. This reviewer only has one concern about the CD. It is indexed with pieces in the book and numbers for each track but, it is still rather complicated flipping back and forth looking for poems that script the Spoken Word – even if you listen to the entire CD first or read the book in its entirety first. The impatient might tire of this process but, if they stick in there, they will be rewarded. Nonetheless; there is a “figuring out” aspect to it. It is wondered what wonderful reading and listening experiences will be lost in between “Legacy” and the fine line of “History,” even, though the tracks go through the book in numerical order. Some poems on the page that work in Spoken Word Revolution, Redux, include (but, not in exclusivity): “Eve’s Sestina For Adam,” by Lucy Anderton, “8 Fragments Of Kurt Cobain,” by Jim Carroll, “My Father’s Coat,” by Marc Smith. “When The Burning Begins,” by Patricia Smith, works on the page and sizzles like the “sweet salted butter” described in it on CD. Ms. Smith’s poem about family life reached further and succeeds, than some of the other poems in the book, which employ predictable rhymes and rifting to tell their “Urban Reality” story. Readers may disagree whether these rhyming, “I’m a poet. Don’t I know it,” style poems are of worth based upon their viewpoints on poetry in the face of great, free verse pieces like Smith’s but, if they look at them as poems that express culture and relationships and truth, they may see their intrinsic poetic worth. What poems do not work? The reviewer is not willing to hold up a score card and designate a point off here or a point on there, even though Slam Poetry is a part of this wonderful book. But, suffice it to say, that even poems which some might feel are “weak” belong in this book for a very, very important reason. Spoken Word is one of the first writing art forms to let people of varying levels of capability and skill step on stage and do their poems. In fact, it encourages it. And, someone out there, in that audience hears that poem, understands that poem, needs that poem, more often than not, when they do it. Delivery also matters. Some poems may seem skeletal on the page but when read aloud they take on flesh and pure muscle. Therefore, the works of those who have a varying aesthetic in their poetry or level of proficiency need to be included. Spoken Word is a part of the current popular culture. If you read some of the more cutting edge journals these days, for example: “Van Gogh’s Ear” published by Ian Ayres in France, actors and actresses, celebrities, everyone from Marilyn Monroe to the man around the corner who has only published one poem are included within its pages because their presence relates a multifaceted “world culture” and many interrelated subcultures. Poetry isn’t simply for the MFA anymore. The Public Poet and all of the other poets can participate, proudly or – poetry will become dull yet again, a room filled with old men in tweed jackets not in touch even with the essence of their select creativity. But, these days, many of those elderly men, who were influenced by “The Beat Era” and more can step up to the microphone with the best of them. In summary, The Spoken Word Revolution, Redux is well worth buying and reading and listening. It teaches about poetry through presenting it. Poets who wish to do Spoken Word on stage can learn how to do this “poetic bungee” jump by examining the structure, poetics and flow of many of the pieces included, if they take their time and extrapolate. It (as the first Eleveld book was four years ago) is an excellent compendium. But, it is wondered if the book will be easy for readers to discern as new due to the fact the cover is so similar to the old one. Nonetheless; the book is an equalizer even with most of those involved in its fruition being mainstream and male. It allows (in a non-token manner) female poets to be heard, be aggressive, not just cute, Hispanic poets (including Martin Espada and Luis J. Rodriguez) and many others can be heard like they are friends walking into a night club on a Saturday night, who can slap palms hello and then, take to the stage. Poetry prizes diversity, the differing voice and, this book is proof of that. Other publications about Spoken Word are available and are good, but this is a high quality, comprehensive publication – not your typical photocopy with saddle stitch or dime store glue. Of course, poetry can survive without “fancy clothing.” But, it is deserving of a nice suit, tie and polished shoes from time-to-time. And, it wears them well. |