tricksters and villains apply within

I've loved poetry since I was a kid. My family had some old collection of children's poems and songs, some of which were common and most of which weren't. I got a collection of "Best Loved Poetry" from my grandparents pretty young from their much larger collection of classic books with matching bindings. At every point in my life there's been at least one book of poems on my bookshelves, usually more than one. Love of poetry also led me into a love of quotations and I used to build notebooks full of quotes based on songs and stories and poems. Eventually I started writing my own poetry, like any teenager full of emotion they're inept at showing outwardly. I still have most of it, though it is admittedly horrible and full of conservative Christian beliefs and symbology because that's the world I grew up in. It's funny, I didn't believe the godly stuff I added to my poems but the more people reading my poems, the more I added because I thought ...

"Alternate Universe" is a strong poem. It speaks to the nature of emotional investments not just in relationships but in ourselves and the effects of misogyny on both. It's simple, it's funny, and Olivia's performance of it is awesome. I think my favorite line is this: "I have so much beautiful time." I found Olivia's poetry through this TedxABQ talk she did about finding each other in the details. Personally, I'm a big believer in small moments. Small moments where we give thanks, or love, or support or just memory to someone or something. She speaks there about a simple interaction between her and her best friend that she turned into a poem, and uses it to show the audience how she teaches others to write poems too. In this, she tells us it's about the details. We can tell stories about small things that are also about big things too. How a story or a poem about a bikini can also become a story about fat-shaming or body positivi...

INSTEP   Window down, chair back,  Feet on the dashboard.  A windowed reflection  Of curled toes  Superimposed on the road ahead.  While she sleeps  She must surely dance. Feet  Arch,  Point,  Curl  And turn. Shifting shadows In red taillights.  ( e.o )

Last night's show at the Lied Center was a pretty amazing hour of poems. I'm so happy I went. The stories that Andrea puts between the poems are maybe the best reason to go. I've heard or read most of these poems before, but the lead-up or the explanations that go after... they give them further context in a way that makes them maybe not more meaningful (although sometimes that too) but more powerful. When you're used to seeing artists on YouTube: dancers, musicians, poets -- sometimes it's difficult to understand exactly how they'll be in person. For example, there's a bellydance I LOVE to watch perform, but when I show people her videos online it's almost impossible for anyone to get a sense of exactly why I like her so much. Sure, she has the technical stuff down, but it conveys nothing of the tension she puts into her dance. I feel like as touching as Andrea's poems can be when read, or heard on YouTube, being present for a reading of them, t...

I mentioned the other day when I was talking about the new Fall Out Boy album and the song, "Champion", a poet, Andrea Gibson. Specifically I wrote about a line from their poem "I Sing the Body Electric (Especially When My Power's Out)". I can't even remember the first time I heard this poem but it was many years ago now, and the video of it I'm pasting below came out after I'd seen a live recording of them reciting the poem at some school. So I'm guessing eight-ish years ago or so. I included a picture in that other post of the tattoo I have of a line from this specific poem. I'm not the only one to have had that line tattooed on themself either, but I think it speaks differently to different people. A few years back I was finally able to see Andrea live at a bar about 45 minutes from my house. To say the experience was meaningful to me would be a severe understatement. See, what I didn't know when I fell in love with this poem w...