Poste Restante

[gurdonark]

I'm intrigued by people who through effort make themselves into personalities. In Los Angeles, live poetry readings, part of the so-called "spoken word movement", hold a lot more sway among young literati than in many other cities. People bring props, give performances, elucidate laughter, and elucidate tears. Poetry readings interest me, though I attend very few of them. They're rather like cotton candy--when they're easily available, they're grand, but Diogenes never drove across town with his lantern hunting for cotton candy.

The poet Ellyn Maybe came to local notice among folks who attend these type of gatherings. She's got a straightforward style, very down to earth and yet with a good way with imagery. She got picked up by the alternative papers, and soon "poetry reading" listings here and there listed her as a kind of headliner. Now she's got her own website at www.ellynmaybe.com, a book of poems published by Rollins/edited by Cervenka (a sort of Los Angeles tattoo, marking one much as a battleship would, as being from southern California), and a string of reading invitations here, there and yon.

I like her poetry, at least those that I have read. It's very accessible, and well drawn, although arguably sometimes her images and themes are a bit "easy". I really like, though, that she self-created her fame. She went out, with no advantages of formal education, material prosperity, "connections", or corporate contract, or personal beauty, and just did. She sent her letters into the Eternal Network, marked "will pick up", and people did. Now she is probably someone whom she meant to become. Even if she had not been recognized as "good", I'm sure she'd still be spending Friday night at mikes, holding forth into the ether.

I don't do live poetry at microphones thus far. I don't have any real ambitions to meet Henry Rollins, or have Phillip Glass set my words to music. But I like to learn--and I think that Ellyn Maybe teaches me something.

Comments

[daisydumont.livejournal.com]

gorgeous website, anyway -- immediately i felt drawn in. (her cover art for the book is by viggo mortensen! he gets around. a book of spoken poetry i got for my birthday has some poems by him.) thanks for the link. i'll spend some time with her.

[gurdonark.livejournal.com]

Her website is nice. I am not so much a "huge fan" of her work per se, but I admire the spunk she brings to what she does--a classic "indie" step forward. She does write nice things, though.

[gregwest98.livejournal.com]

Who is Henry Rollins? Deriasys lent me a CD of someone by that name who was doing standup comedy and was hilarious but his commentary suggested he was a musician of some sort. Or was that a different Henry Rollins?

[gurdonark.livejournal.com]

Henry Rollins was part of an LA punk band called Black Flag, which had its heyday about the time we were in college. But now he's more of an itinerant literati, who does a lot of speaking and poetry reading. He can be awfully funny, or awfully angry, or awfully all sorts of other things.

[alleypat.livejournal.com]

I've tried a few poetry readings and they seem so full of themselves, like they are angry they weren't born in the early 60's or something haha. Anyway, I got pretty bored with them. Have to wade thru so much shit to find the pearl.

[gurdonark.livejournal.com]

I agree that the quality of poetry at readings varies widely, but I enjoy the ambience of it. I am always intrigued that the "pecking order" the poets establish among themselves (almost invariably, everyone thinks somebody is "really good", when that person is usually not to my taste) does not always match with my own. I think that readings are best when audience and readers just put aside the expectations, and just enjoy the fun. But readings don't interest me enough to make me want to drive down south to see them :).

[gurdonark.livejournal.com]

I love that line "angry that they weren't born in the early 60s". As one born in 1959, it seems like I knew too many folks who longed to have been 16 in 67!