A night of poetry in motion
Poets, dancers and musicians exhibit talent at third annual slam
By HANS IBOLD
Express Staff Writer
Express photos by David N. Seelig
"That’s some raucous poetry, man," declared Iconoclast
Books owner Gary Hunt after Sylvia Green read her poem—which she addressed to her
conspicuously absent husband—at Saturday’s Improvisational Poetry Slam.
Courtney Lloyd, John Fox and Joe Lavigne, left to right, team
up for a poem about the merits of duct tape.
The third annual slam, held in the gallery of the Sun Valley Center for
the Arts—which featured a display of insect art—drew 16 poets and a
standing-room-only crowd.
In fact, it was not a slam, which are those typically loud and declamatory
competitions where poets shout out their work, with microphone in hand and bodies in
motion.
Steve Snyder reaches for his bag of "hat tricks."
It was, however, a night of poetry in motion. After each poet read,
dancers Julie Fox Jones, Anne Winton, Denise deLisser, Mary Kennedy and actress Courtney
Lloyd offered their extremely non-literal interpretations.
The dancers, who were accompanied by Will Caldwell’s tribal drum
beats and David Santisteven’s ethereal guitar playing, were challenged by poet
creativity.
Sylvia Green contemplates relationships in her poem.
The poets invoked a range of subjects: a batboy-less baseball team,
highway transportation, "a hillbilly’s homicidal tendencies," duct tape, a
metaphysical "moving into the deep blue abyss," Timmerman Lake, sons-of-witches
and, well, sex.
But no subject eluded the dancers.
"They can interpret anything," marveled Hunt after the dancers
contorted their bodies gracefully for an equally graceful poem about angels by Patty
Busch.
Humor figured prominently in the poetic works.
A rapt Will Caldwell, right, and David Santisteven accompany
dancers.
"That was very modern," said Hunt after Steve Horowitz read his
poem about driving Highway 75.
"It was meant to be taken with a grain of asphalt," Horowitz
shot back.
"Well, let’s get the show on the road," Hunt said.
Dancers Anna Senechal, Courtney Lloyd, Anne Winton and Mary
Kennedy, left to right, do a comic improvisation.
