Poetry Slammed by Recession?

The news is out. Geraldine Dodge Foundation has canceled the 2010 poetry festival. The big name event akin to storytelling's National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, just isn't able to stay afloat financially.

Problem and Solution?
Is the problem that most people aren't interested? I don't think so. Perhaps the issue is the model of these festivals. Akin to religious revivals, these events require big tents, performers on platforms, dozens of chairs, lodging and food. All of these factors make the event cumbersome to pull off, and the audience size limited by both space and personal budgets. What would happen if the event were smaller in person but larger across the 'net? Broadband webcasting is much more affordable and bound to garner viewers from around the world. Hmmm...maybe I'll suggest this to the powers that be. There's got to be a better way and cutting these events out entirely would be more than a crying shame. What do you think?

Hyster-Sister Rant ~ a poem by Mel Edwards

Hyster-Sister Rant
by Mel. Edwards

Why did you think the only connection we could have would be spawn?
Does offspring = purpose?
Is my childless life without meaning?

180,000 hours, at least, I’ve been a substitute parent.
That’s 1000+ kids, at least one hour per day, times 180 school days a year, divided by 24 hours that birth parents own the role, totals out at 7,500 hours.
That translates to 20.5479425… years of parenthood, not of twins, triples or even quints but up to 31 angels at a time.

So, now that you’ve got that, let’s get down to the real.
You, woman, are not a wife/mother/sister/daughter/girlfriend FIRST.
First, you are a person who wants, needs and, dammit, desires.
Don’t categorize me by my role in the lives of others,
or yourself for that matter.
Learn the size of my brain, my heart, my vision
for a world where anyone
any single or trans/inter gender/image/size/color/age/brain
Can do whatever art, career, quest that
she/he/we
elect to shout, sing, dance, hobble,
toil, think, mumble, wobble and wail about.
Don’t tell me I need to be a wife/mother/sister/daughter/girlfriend so I can fill ancient rolls that you think my gender requires.
Instead, stop that babble of shoulda, coulda, woulda and SIT down.
I said,
SIT down,
not for minute, an hour a day
but until you’ve had all the stories your heart can hold:

My story,
Your story,
HERstory.

Then get UP, sister, and spread

My story,
Your Story,
OURstory,
knowing the vision of our world has come,
and help the poor bastards
that don’t know it yet.

Word Warriors: 35 Women Leaders in the Spoken Word Revolution

Just before school was out, a female colleague and I had a chat about how women often feel like we don’t fit in. We’re the only ones who…(insert life factor of difference here). The truth is, we’re not the only ones, just a decent percentage of those who have been fed a concoction of what we should look like, want to do with our lives, and how to behave. Sure, men get the same bill of goods, but in this country, under Anglo-law, white men have always been in charge of nearly every political-social-cultural-religious-economic institution we can name and no one else has been able to catch up.

As a teacher and creativity coach, I’ve seen black boys dress like TV thugs, and music stars as they try to find an identity they can connect with. I’ve watched girls starve themselves, and do a variety of things (many harmful and irreversible) to get attention for their appearance (and that school up north that is surprised girls made a pact to get pregnant better wake up, ‘cause that’s not news to any teacher who takes time to know their students). I have listened to adult women tell me countless times they’re not “right” for me to profile in my creative work because they’re not good/smart/talented/young/wise/established enough in their art or otherwise.

What’s a person to do? How does one constructively change the way people view each other, treat themselves and strangers, and learn to find their truth without apology?

If you like slam and performance poetry, are a feminist, are pro-LBGT rights, or just anti-oppression in general (and who besides an oppressor would not be?), Word Warriors: 35 Women leaders in the Spoken Word Revolution, edited by Alix Olson, will certainly open your horizons and perhaps give you some answers to these questions that you can live with.

Will you be surprised by what you read? Find caustic venom within? Or finally feel normal because of what you have read within these pages? Only you can answer that.

You may recognize some of the names on the cover including Michelle Tea and Patricia Smith. However, to overlook the others, and miss the words of the trans-gender, intersex, queer, lesbian, and male authors, would be to miss the whole point of their work. These people have voices and they’re ready to be heard.

In the end, I learned a bit about walking in someone else’s skin and found several new poets I find fabulous. Check it out.

Have you read Word Warriors? Share your insight by placing comments here!

[Word Warriors is published by Seal Press. Edited by Alix Olson. Forward by Eve Enlser (creator of The Vagina Monologues and V-Day).]