I’ve spent the last few days at various community literary/arts/performance events; I’ve seen and heard a mix of poetry and performance, both quite wonderful and quite lamentable, and here is is the most recent episode:
Yesterday, at an event which became an open mic, one older gentleman got on the mic, stated he had four poems, then monopolized the mic and prowled the stage for what felt like at least 15+ minutes, rambling like some kind of anachronistic hepcat, over-explaining some cultural and historical terms rather cosmically and nonsensically, with this Dennis Hopper in Apocalypse Now kind of demeanor about him.
So that’s the first thing; 15+ minutes on an open mic I’d really have to place that on the organizers for not enforcing time limits. But what offput me most of all was the blatant misogyny of his work, posing as bravado, which I am thinking is not necessarily always “bad.” That is, don’t some capable MC’s perform bravado in well-handled ways.
He started mildly with, “My mother / was a BITCH. And I / am a son of a BITCH,” and veering into seducing and having intercourse with a white woman in the back of a truck or large car, borderline non-consensual-style, and then finally, some wordplay/mispronunciation stuff which left him hissing the word “pussy” over and over again, while continuing to prowl the stage.
My friend had already left the room. I followed.
* * *
But let me not end on a sour note here. Thanks so much folks, for all your lovely notes about Diwata. I am very pleased that it has found a good home at BOA Editions. It’s been a good minute since I’ve looked at Diwata, and so I am hoping this means I can have some fresh perspective as I start some serious, intensive editing.
As well, Sunny and I were able to have some celebratory scotch at Nihon Lounge on Folsom Street. He started with a Dalwhinnie 16 year, and I with a Talisker 15 year. We both ended with a Lagavulin 16 year, which was like both caramel and fine leather. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful.
27 July 2008 at 9:49 pm |
OMG, I agree. Though I am against censorship of any kind, as a general principle, I think the organizers should have been more proactive and kept the guy to his time. And if material is becoming gratuitously violent, sexist, mysogynistic, homophobic, heterophobic, whatever, then they should have a large hook by which to pull the reader offstage.
28 July 2008 at 2:17 am |
Yeah, unfortunately, I’ve had to walk away a few times, not just because the organizers can’t handle that kind of thing, but I can’t handle it. I think it’s unfair for 2-3 people who could have read in the extra time he took AND for the people who had to be battered with that poor use of language, period.
28 July 2008 at 5:11 pm |
Hey folks, thanks for your comments.
You know, this kind of problematic crap is one of the reasons why I tend to steer clear of open mics. And whereas some poets I really respect reassure me that some emerging talented poets are to be found at open mics (which I do believe), I also believe that men with dominating personalities are the ones who thrive on the open mic scene, and that perhaps the sincere but shy emerging poet will suffer this dominating person’s shadow.
I also do not believe I need to subject myself to misogynistic poets and poetry just to find the one emerging promising poet. I believe I will find this one emerging poet elsewhere, i.e. at other arts events/venues/spaces.
In fact I feel that with this specific incident I’ve brought up here, that to try not to use the term, “rapist” (non-consensual sex = rape, no?) is just being too kind. And if I don’t feel not even comfortable, but straight up safe in a space, then chances are I am not the only one in the room feeling this way.
1 August 2008 at 3:18 am |
I’ve heard stories that some Chicago Open Mic/Slam hosts encourage audience members to jump in when a poet goes over the line.
Misogynists get hissed at when dropping lines that cross the line.
Boring poets get a foot stomp to let them know that they aren’t up to snuff.
If you go over time, then people start a slow clap which builds up in intensity if you don’t take the hint and cut it short. (A practice I know for a fact we used to do at Bar13.)
Still, it doesn’t make hearing wannabes-with-a-mic throwing out insipid, trite, under-wrought, unimaginative, offensive verse any better.
1 August 2008 at 5:58 pm |
Oscar, so I think that’s great what you are saying here, and I wish more audiences felt empowered to do these things, rather than allow themselves to be held hostage by these kinds of performers/poets, because ultimately, this isn’t about how good these poets in question think their work is, but rather, about how much bravado they have and how much attention they believe they deserve. And how little respect they have for audiences.
That said, I don’t think I will be making it a point to attend more open mics in the future, though if I do find myself at one, I will be exercising my free will as an audience member to have my leaving be my form of expression and/or protest.
27 October 2009 at 1:53 pm |
As a soon to be a sixty-eight year old senior, who has been to a few county fairs and at least one hog show, truthfully, I feel poetry should be a positive sharing experience within the realities of living. If is is not, than it becomes less in being called poetry, that is worth reading, sharing or hearing.
John J. Rigo
Author and Publisher “Amidst Series of Poetry”
http://texaspoets.wordpress.com