Continuous Hiccup

Like everything else, the crop art is more advanced in Japan.

1

patio drinking

air thick with insect traffic

wasp hiding in Coors Light

2

exit doors open

after big action movie

what will explode next?

3

young girl at the mall

bending to pick gum from shoe

leggings are not pants!

4

we love the hopeless

we chase after the alphas

whatcha gonna do?

5

walking holding hands

our forearms brush together

like sparrow bellies

6

clown smash-crashes gong

the ol’ shock and awe treatment

don’t you fall for it

7

rain finger taps roof

two lovers, one drained bottle

rain finger taps roof

http://chrisgilpin.com/2009/07/04/haiku-bouquet-709/

I'm first up. They were selected from the 2007-08 Van Slam Playoffs CD. Big ups to Mongo for all the hard work.

This will be the shiniest, awesomest Awesome Face show EVER (with special guest Mighty Mike McGee!):



When: Saturday, May 23rd, doors at 8pm, show starts at 9pm
Where: Café Deux Soleils (2096 Commercial Drive)
How much: $7 if you're in futuristic garb (tinfoil on your head will do), $10 otherwise

Ok, time to sharpen up your voting skills for the upcoming BC election, and even if you're not in BC, it's important to flex your democratic muscles regularly.

Today, April 30th, is the one and only day you can vote for the People's Choice Award of CBC's Poetry Face-off. So go to:

http://www.cbc.ca/poetryfaceoff/vote.html

And vote! NOW! Do it now!

Again, thanks for all your support. I'll send a message tomorrow, letting everyone know the results.

Cheers,
Chris

(Bonus democracy points for contacting friends and family and getting them to do the same!)

Every year, the CBC commissions poets from all over Canada to write a poem on a certain theme and then perform their work in regional competitions. The theme for this year's CBC Poetry Face-off was "Flight". I wrote about the Dodo bird and the Hindenberg in a poem called "The Dodo Bird Lives", and won the Vancouver bout.

This means that now I'm competing against the nine other winners for the People's Choice Award, which is determined by voting through the CBC website. You can only vote tomorrow, April 30th, from noon until midnight at...

http://www.cbc.ca/poetryfaceoff/vote.html

So go to the site, check out the recordings of all the poets, and then vote for me, I mean, your favourite poet, I mean, me.

I believe...

cribbed from scottwoods ... Sasha is kicking ass. The top 12 poets go to WOW finals (out of 72). Sasha has to go first in the first round of her next bout, which is brutal, but she's done incredibly well so far!

Always subject to change, but probably just fine:

1) T. Miller                     1          28.9     1          29.5     2          58.4

2) Dee Matthews            1          28.2     1          29.2     2          57.4

3) Gypsee Yo                 2          27.1     1          29.4     3          56.5

4) Rachel McKibbens     1          28        2          27.4     3          55.4

5) Sheba                         2          27.5     2          28.8     4          56.3

6) Sierra Demulder          1          29.3     4          29.6     5          58.9

7) Vernell Bristow         4          28.1     1          29.8     5          57.9

7) Red Summer               4          28.1     1          29.8     5          57.9
9) Ms. Wise                    3          28.4     2          29.2     5          57.6

10) Taaj Freeman            2          27.5     3          28.6     5          56.1

11) Faylita Hicks             2          28        4          28.5     6          56.5

12) Sasha Langford         4          26.7     2          29.2     6          55.9

13) Theresa Davis           3          26.7     3          27.2     6          53.9

Out of 72 poets!

As much as spoken word needs good poets, it needs good critics. Sometimes one person can do both, but it's rare, as most poets are too worried about damaging their relationships with other poets to tell them what they really think. And fair enough. But for spoken word to get better, you need critical voices who are dedicated to analyzing the art form, and telling the poets what directions are fresh and interesting, and what directions have become stale and cliché. I've never bought into the romantic notion that the artist is on some sort quasi-religious pilgrimage towards the fulfillment of their artistic destiny. No, poets need critics, just as any art form does, and the dialectic between the two groups is what pushes the art form forward.

All of that to say, if you're a poet, you should read what scottwoods  has to say. He's a poet, a DJ, a PSI organizer, and a damn fine critic. I especially liked his last LJ entry on the job of a poem. Be sure to read his entertaining "Poetry is Doomed" column.

UPDATE: it's also fun to read poetry debates and manifestos, or if you don't read, listen...

From the video archival skills of the unflagging Warren Dean Fulton...



Heckling notes:

At the beginning, The Svelte Ms. Spelt can be heard yelling "Ectomorphs rule!". Later on, Scruffmouth shouted (inaudible in this video) "Kill Whitey", but completely in jest; the superhot sound girl said he was laughing through the whole piece.

Hey, I just heard spoken word music on CBC Radio 3. Holy shit, spoken word on the radio!

It was a poet named Tanya Davis, who, according to her bio, used to be part of the Vancouver scene and was influenced by Kinnie Starr and Shane Koyczan. She now lives in Halifax and just released a kick ass spoken word record called "Gorgeous Morning".

Check it out: http://tanyadavis.ca/music.html

UPDATE: many of the tracks on her record do involve singing. Listen to "Art" for her most straight up spoken word effort. That's the one I heard on CBC Radio 3.

This year's thematic keyword is "Flight".

http://www.cbc.ca/poetryfaceoff/vancouver.html

Make sure your mother tunes in.

Those Bellingham peeps have their shit together. They send out a beautiful newsletter each month, their poetry night is hopping, and they have a podcast. Big ups to Andrew for putting it together, and Bob for being a great host. You can hear me do the blahblah on their podcast, and then my feature set at their open mic through the link below...

http://podcast.poetrynight.org

Courtesy of that pixelbug Warren Dean Fulton...

Video courtesy of Warren Dean Fulton.

Note to all,

When you are tempted to use the word "deconstruct", ask yourself this: don't you just mean "analyze"? If so, please use "analyze", and stop trying to justify that literary theory course you took back in college. Thank you.

Yours truly,
The Diction Cop

All About Beards from Rocketboom on Vimeo.

Explanation of the Hipster Beard Quotient.

Three sleeps left until Awesome Face and Seasonal Affective Disorder grapple in a no-holds barred brawl. (spoiler alert: we win!)

Details here

A big thanks to monkeypudding for the kids piano playing, to Kaelyn Stappleton for the use of her glockenspiel, to the Foxy House for the use of their bathroom, and to the incomparable Sasha Langford for another killer performance. And, in case you're wondering, that was Sasha's mom who called in the middle of the shoot, and it was not prearranged.



Awesome Face will annihilate S.A.D. – with your help! – on January 23rd at Café Deux Soleils. Come in beach wear (you'll pay less cover at the door, and you'll be more fabulous!). See you there.

Join the Awesome Face group here:

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=52063905660&ref=ts