Goodbye Bowerbird Intelligentleman

He was part of both the poetry slam and “regular” poetry communities.  I came onto the scene a bit too late to see him at his most active, but I experienced his work on a handful of occasions.  Most times, he would turn up at readings just  to watch and observe the features and open mic list.

And he certainly could speak his mind about the foibles and unspoken rules—privately offering counsel (which I may not have thought through enough) about when to say something and when prudent restraint was more apropos.

We fell out eventually and I only learned of  his passing earlier today via Rev. Dave Wheeler (best known to me for his work with the Midnight Special bookstore and the early years of the Rapp Saloon reading).

Here are some nuggets of Bowerbird calling it as he saw it:

"...if you want to get noticed by the [community’s] in-crowd",

start taking workshops from some of them and kiss their ass.

oh yeah, you'll have to sever your ties with the "crap" poets too.

after a few years of that, they will start throwing you crumbs.

after years of _that_, you might make as much money as them.

it might sound crass, but there is no other way they'll notice you."

listserves are an "intelligentle" many-to-many communication,
because they enable discussion that can be full and thoughtful,
where many sides are able to speak to any and all of the issues,
but where any of the participants can opt out when they choose,
and all they have to do is use the "delete" key on their keyboard.
so any conflict isn't "in your face" unless you _want_ it to be...

***

but hey, don't interpret what i'm saying as "poets are not mean".
take it from me, poets can be _plenty_ vicious. _unspeakably._
and -- considering the size of the usual stakes -- unnecessarily.
but, like most backstabbing out in the real world, that happens
in secret, not right out in the open, like on the public listserves.
compared to that sneaky underhanded shit, what you see here is
mostly silly and laughable and childish...

i see from an e-mail in my in-box 
that venue hosts are being called
"the unsung heroes" of the scene...

yes, hosts do a lot of work, it's true.
and if you've never done it yourself,
you'll likely underestimate, by half,
the amount of hassle that it can be,
constantly dealing with a bunch of
ego-maniacs who want the stage...

but let's look at the other side too...

first, producing gives you a huge boost
in visibility, and perceived "importance",
not to mention stage-time of your own,
and without having to fight anyone for it.

second, the ability to _book_others_
means that you have "a favor to trade",
and the favor-trading is very obvious...

indeed, when deserving poets come to me and
ask how they can get more feature invitations,
i regularly give them two recommendations:
1. just plain ask, and several will follow, and
2. start up your own series and book hosts,
as that's a sure way to get return bookings.

so let's not pretend that hosting is selfless.
it cuts both ways.

how these competing factors "balance"
is up to each one of us to decide, but
i think the fact that there is no shortage
of poetry series -- each with a host --
indicates how most poets weigh it out.

if hosts were really "the unsung heroes",
there wouldn't be so darn many of 'em,
because poets are _not_ very altruistic,
as anyone with experience will tell you.
(and hosts will be the first to verify that.)

no, where we have a clear _shortage_
is with the number of poets who are
willing to come to a show and _listen_,
without a strong ego-need for the stage.
_that_ is how selflessness reveals itself...

so if you're looking for "unsung heroes"
in _this_ scene, look for _those_ people.
(and hey, best of luck on finding any...)

as it is, any events that "host the hosts"
or "honor the poetry series in our scene"
looks like just another mutual back-pat
in the perpetual circle-jerk of our scene
from the perspective of _this_ observer...

-bowerbird

Passing along another poet's wisdom about hosts and readings.

Here's a Cobalt Poets (available to the public via Yahoogroups) listserve post from veteran SoCal performance poet Bowerbird Intelligentleman, written in 2006.  It's slightly dated since the 2012 scene has shrunk somewhat in terms of venues and featuring opportunities, but worth sharing nonetheless:

i see from an e-mail in my in-box
that venue hosts are being called
"the unsung heroes" of the scene...

yes, hosts do a lot of work, it's true.
and if you've never done it yourself,
you'll likely underestimate, by half,
the amount of hassle that it can be,
constantly dealing with a bunch of
ego-maniacs who want the stage...

but let's look at the other side too...

first, producing gives you a huge boost
in visibility, and perceived "importance",
not to mention stage-time of your own,
and without having to fight anyone for it.

second, the ability to _book_others_
means that you have "a favor to trade",
and the favor-trading is very obvious...

indeed, when deserving poets come to me and
ask how they can get more feature invitations,
i regularly give them two recommendations:
1. just plain ask, and several will follow, and
2. start up your own series and book hosts,
as that's a sure way to get return bookings.

so let's not pretend that hosting is selfless.
it cuts both ways.

how these competing factors "balance"
is up to each one of us to decide, but
i think the fact that there is no shortage
of poetry series -- each with a host --
indicates how most poets weigh it out.

if hosts were really "the unsung heroes",
there wouldn't be so darn many of 'em,
because poets are _not_ very altruistic,
as anyone with experience will tell you.
(and hosts will be the first to verify that.)

no, where we have a clear _shortage_
is with the number of poets who are
willing to come to a show and _listen_,
without a strong ego-need for the stage.
_that_ is how selflessness reveals itself...

so if you're looking for "unsung heroes"
in _this_ scene, look for _those_ people.
(and hey, best of luck on finding any...)

as it is, any events that "host the hosts"
or "honor the poetry series in our scene"
looks like just another mutual back-pat
in the perpetual circle-jerk of our scene
from the perspective of _this_ observer...

-bowerbird

A poetry blast from the past--how some of my cynicism developed.

From an old Cobalt Poets listing in the last decade.  Here's Richard Beban, one-time Hyperpoet, talking to Bowerbird Intelligentleman, performance poet, about me.  Beban gets in a shot at a poem of mine, that, interestingly enough, was published in the first Tebot Bach anthology SO LUMINOUS THE WILDFLOWERS (highlighting is mine):
Bird:

I'd have to agree with you about it being "certainly no worse
than much of the stuff out there." High praise from you.

Much of the stuff out there is also prosaic polemic, little
angry essays that probably work in high school "satire"
magazines, but bear little resemblance to crafted poetry.

Terry is a PROSE writer, Bird; there's little difference between
one of his angry posts and one of his angry "poems," generally
about failure in Hollywood.

Just because you break a line where you want it, instead of
where the typesetter wants it, that doesn't make you a poet.

It's truly hard to tell, in a McCarthy performance, where the
incohate rant stops and the poetry begins. And it's hard to
find the music, the poetic craft, on the page of one of his
chapbooks, either.

Here's a "list poem" from the Wildflower anthology that's
big on list and small on poem. Gee, it's a satire about
showbiz. Well beat me over the head with a Princeton New
Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics, I hadn't noticed how
deft and brilliant the satire was. (Last sentence satire.)

Aside from the occasional stabs at assonance and consonance
picked up and dropped so quickly they make me think they
were the kind of random typing accidents that happen
when monkeys try Shakespeare, show me the poetry in this piece:


Icarus' Itinerary

Fly high in the sky.
Allow wings to be melted
by the sun.
Fall to Earth.
Suffer painful injuries.
Hire a PR firm to do damage control.
Apologize to Jay, Dave, Conan,
Larry, Connie, lyanla,
Dr. Phil, Barbara and Oprah.
Confess past sins
to a sympathetic journalist.
Do a photo shoot for
VANITY FAIR.
Get a suspended sentence,
contingent on completing
200 hours of community service.
Go to a rehab center in Malibu.
Become clean and sober.
Get a new pair of wings.
Feel immortal.
Repeat all of the above.

> but richard, why do you keep blasting terry's work?
>
> while i haven't heard much of it, what i have heard
> seems to me to be at an acceptable level of quality,
> certainly no worse than much of the stuff out there.

>
> -bowerbird
>