Jaditity

So, I'm making up a new word, I guess. After entering the Fabio poem below I thought I would mention that I find humorous poems a great yakker when read live. So many poetry readings and slams have made me rrrrrrrreeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaallllllllllyyyyyyyyy jaded. I love a variety of styles and, when I go to some readings, I feel like the poetry is all on the same plane, all so, so, so serious. It reminds me of Andrea Martin on SCTV as a poet reading from her book called Spam Hammer. The book and the poet were ultra serious and ultra poetrity (new word). If anyone else remembers the skit and can confirm the book name, let me know.

HOWEVER, then I listen to John Giorno doing his poem "I Don't Need It, I Don't Want It, And You Cheated Me Out of It" and it blows me out of my boat. Then there's Jack Collom. Then there's Jeni Truck Olin. There are a lot of great live poetry performers out there, so I'm torn. But I do LOVE to read poetry live and I probably should give more readings a chance. I guess the thing that draws me to a good poetry reading is gutsy writing and a gutsy performance, even if the performer and performance has a quiet feel. Sometimes, those quiet moments have a raging storm underneath. Readers' quirks can be a plus too. I'll take raw over polished any day. Actually, one of the best "live" poetry performances I've seen was Bill Pullman's character reading his poem to Ellen DeGeneres' character in the film "Mr. Wrong." If you can find this scene, watch it right away. It's absolutely brilliant in its hilarity, and I mean brilliant. I would pay to see Bill Pullman read a grocery list. YAK!