Performing in print October 1993
Is poetry sound or literature? That is a question here. In
reading the new issue of Long Shot literary magazine the most controversial
aspect of the metropolitan coffee shop scene comes into crisp focus, where
poetry has slipped over the edge of the literary table into an area that many
critics define as mere entertainment.
Part of the problem here <197> if it is a problem
<197> is the very clear invasion of the 1980s Nuyorican Poets Cafe into
these pages. While Reverend Pedro Pietri, whose ``If you don't play with fire
you get burn,'' would hold up in either medium Miguel Algarin, a long time
performance poetry star, does not shine in print as well as he does in the
cafes. In this volume, the influence of Nancy Mercado is clearly felt. She has
managed to find some of the biggest names in the late 1980s and early 1990s
poetry scene but almost with a reckless disregard for the reader.
Staged poetry is just that. Actors and performers can almost
sell anything, perfecting their word craft in the same way stand-up comics do,
drawing from audience reaction rather than solid poetic craft. Often a piece
played on the stage falls flat on the page, and great names in performance look
silly in print.
In this volume, there is some solid poetry and fiction that
counter-balances this trend towards the cafe, but the performance poetry has
clearly made its mark, offering a range of readability from the well-crafted
work of Marilyn Kiss' ``Self-hatred,'' and ``Mother, A.D.'' to the all too
obviously flat poetry of David West and Rosemary McLaughlin.
Nancy Mercado's works are prime examples of this media and
with a little effort a reader can imagine their electricity in the low-light
setting of a coffee house. But on the page, the impact is lost without the
input of the performance.
The Nuyorican influence goes beyond performance, adding a
rich Latino undertone to the volume that the last issue lacked. Tracie Morris'
``Morenita'' which opens the issue seems to capture the variety of themes the
book investigates, moving in and out of dialect, investigating sound the way
performance pieces could not. Bruce Isaacson's ``A Russian Mood'' continues the
international flavor with a humorous ironic poem that might be a metaphor for
America's dying culture.
But the issue also plays on two important themes of our
times. Poets like Ras Baraka, David Huberman, Willie A. Howard Jr., Andy
Clausen, Andrian Louis, Robert Press and Jack Wiler highlight themes of street
life and international war. Eliot Katz's ``A new morning warning poet'' seems
to capture the war theme in an exception combination of page and performance
poetry.
But many poets still shine in more traditional poetic
techniques like Caren Lee Michaelson whose work seems to capture small moments
and invest them with significant meaning. Danny Shot's ironic ``My Bad Angel''
is a funny, tragic and brilliant poem on psychological projection. While Betty
Borrus' parody of T.S. Eliot did not seem to work well, ``A woman tells the
truth about her body'' is a marvelous metaphor for the struggle of art.
Susanna Shario's story ``Black Night Air'' is painful,
depressing, but sharp and effective fiction that defies label or theme and
joins several other good pieces of fiction contained in this volume.
As always, the artwork and photography in Long Shots mirrors
its overall literary quality. The Allen Ginsberg photos were a delightful
surprise. Another big name in the photo world is Sidney Sherman. But most
impressive was the numerous photos by Lynn Breitfella whose sexy and clever
images were enhanced by deep and moving moods.
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