"A New Hand" by David 'Doc' Luben, of Portland (formerly of Prescott) at the Aug. 5, 2013 Vancouver Poetry Slam

 

"A New Hand" by David 'Doc' Luben, of Portland (formerly of Prescott) at the Aug. 5, 2013 Vancouver Poetry Slam

"A New Hand" 

they gave me this new hand

turns out they can do that now

the one thing the

Rebel Alliance has 

over the evil Empire

we've got great medical droids

they've had a lot more practice

i tested the fingers

it worked

perfect

no one ever told me 

that if I lost a piece

they could just slap another one on

I feel like I've wasted a lot of energy

defending parts of myself 

that I didn't even know were disposable

it's not the first time 

that me and my dad have fought

I wish I could tell you that I'm different 

that I am special 

but the truth is we fight 

about the same things 

that all fathers and sons 

fight about 

he wants me to be more like him

he doesn't like my friends

he doesn't understand

that I don't want to do the things that he does 

that I would be bored as shit

walking down the corridors of power

lording myself over a bunch of weasels

in identical gray suits 

who stand around on balconies and catwalks 

trying to look important 

as though their life depended on it 

I'm not going to be some 

pillbox hat middle manager 

waiting for the day when the life 

is finally choked out of me

I'm a pilot

that's all I ever wanted

I can fly fast ships 

and hit small targets 

when I'm in the zone

I wish he could see it with his own eyes 

nothing can touch me 

it feels like I can bend space 

just by thinking 

I'm not a leader 

I'm not cut out for business 

I don't want other people depending on me 

to show them the way 

I grew up on a planet of loneliness

and that is where I'm comfortable now

show me what you need to get exploded

and I'll find a way to explode it 

that's what I'm good for

he wants me to be more important

they all do 

they're all waiting for me

to pull off some magic trick 

that'll make everything work out 

and just like with any magician 

they don't want me 

to tell them how I did it 

everywhere I go

people keep telling me 

“trust your feelings” 

but it's the last thing that any of them want 

they want me 

to convince them to trust 

they need me to carry their fears 

they want me to be the general 

the princess

 the spiritual master 

the galaxy's fastest freight truck driver 

they want me 

to be the emperor's new clothes

they all just want me 

to be a stand-in

for them

that's why they gave me this hand

they didn't even tell me 

how much it would cost 

they acted like they would do it for anyone

but no one else I know 

has a hand like this

no one 

except him

"Bob Ross History" by Duncan Shields

Duncan Shields poem about Bob Ross teaching the history of North America was my favorite from the 2014 National Poetry Slam in Oakland, Calif. Shields performed the poem at the Legends Showcase. This is an earlier performance from April 5, 2014 at Astorino's, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Slam Tutorial: "Beauty Ba-Bo" by R.C. Weslowski, solo and group versions

"Beauty Ba-Bo" by R.C. Weslowski. A little Lewis Carroll, a little absurdist, a little funny and a whole lotta awesome.


I have included this poem in my Slam Tutorial section of this blog is because it clearly shows how a perfectly fine solo poem by a single author can be converted in a group poem by adding choreography and multiple voices. If you want to make a group poem from your solo piece, watch the two poems in sequence.

A little backstory.

When Azami and I started talking seriously about poetry, she mentioned having seen R.C. Weslowski. I knew the name and knew his face from around the National Poetry Slam but wasn't that familiar with his work. The VanSlam (Vancouver, British Columbia) has a reputation for great poets - Ms. Spelt, Shane Koyczan, Barbara Alder - and sending great teams to the (U.S.) National Poetry Slam. They also have a rep for being somewhat ... quirky. As one of the heads of VanSlam, R.C. Weslowski certainly demonstrates that trait in his work. Being with Azami at NPS 2010, I was certainly more attentive to the Canadian teams that year.

At the Group Poem Slam, I first saw this poem (video below) and was blown away.

Brilliant.

Combined with seeing R.C. Weslowski at several other events at NPS 2010 made me come to love him as one of favorite performers on the national level.

The best way I can describe it is that it feels like it was written in the vein of Lewis Carroll's "Jabberwocky" though more mainstream linguistically or an experiment in alternate history done in poetic form. (Alternate history is a sci-fi concept that postulates, for example, Julius Caesar avoiding his assassination in 44 B.C.E., Robert E. Lee wining at Gettysburg in 1863, young Adolf Hitler dying in the trenches in World War I).

I.e., imagine that the evolution of the English language diverged at some point so the thematic elements of the poetic ideas are the same, but the vocabulary has diverged slightly.
"before the let-go and slippage into forging"; "the talk-me-down"; "me boom-boom" instead of "my heart"; "any-be" instead of "anyway," and the titular "beauty ba-bo," etc.

If you listen to the poem line by line, it's fairly obvious how R.C. Weslowski chose how to write the poem - not to say it was easy to write by any means - but listening at regular speed with his cadence and performance style, it almost feels like tasting this alternate history.

The style reminds me of how 2001 FlagSlam alum Andrew Clark Hall, Ph.D., would write. I mean, Hall was so brilliant he once wrote and slammed a poem written in Middle English for fucksake.


The same solo poem converted into a five-person group poem by the Vancouver Slam Team in 2010. Coincidentally, I'm the fellow in the cowboy hat seated two or three rows in front of the person who shot this team video.

R.C. Weslowski has been a clown mouth full of bologna in the Vancouver poetry scene since 1998. As a performer R.C. Weslowski is a five-time member of the Vancouver Poetry Slam Team and has performed at Festival across Canada, including:
 The Calgary International Poetry Festival, The Winnipeg Writer’s Festival, The Saskatchewan Festival of Words, The Vancouver Folk Festival, The Vancouver Storytelling Fesival, Music West, The Canadian Festival of Spoken Word.

R.C. Weslowski has also performed his poetry on the Eiffel Tower while snorting the remains of Orson Welles and along the Rhine River in Germany while debating Schopenhauer with a schnauser.

As an event organizer R.C. Weslowski was the artistic director for the 2005 Canadian Festival of Spoken Word and the publicity coordinator for the 2007 Individual World Poetry Slam. R.C. Weslowski is the current president of Vancouver Poetry House and he is one of the main people making the Vancouver Poetry Slam run.

The VPS is Canada’s longest running poetry slam, now in its 11th year. He is also on the board of the Spoken Word Arts Network.

But aside from all that he will literally blow your brain apart and put it back together again using nothing but his voice. Seriously.