Day 7: Denver
We read in Denver last night in an old brewery filled with poetry lovers while a camera crew from the Jim Lehrer News Hour filmed us for a segment that will air in the next few weeks.
(“A new car!” yells the TV at the truck stop in Nebraska where grubby unwashed me sits writing this)
I’d love to say the camera had no effect on the reading, that it added no layer of self-conscious awkwardness to the proceedings, but that would be a lie.
It was hard not to see the whole event like I saw Tina Celona’s reading that I have posted below (that is, occluded by camera), but I think I may have been hyper aware of the camera’s presence in ways other people were not.
Noah Eli Gordon, a poet in residence at Denver, told me the camera had little effect on him and the number of excited, enthusiastic people who mobbed the book table during the breaks should tell me the reading went as well as any of the others (if not better), but I can’t help but worry about poetry and TV, though I recognize I have an arcane idea of “TV” and so feel its presence in roughly the same way Cro Magnon Man felt the presence of fire (Yay! Ouch! Yikes!). And clearly I have no problem with images of poets, poetry, etc. as evidenced by my video saturation on this site.
But even Jim Lehrer simply by nature of being on TV seems flashy and depthless to me. Does this tell you how far outside of the TV reality I actually am? Jim Leher? On PBS? This is great journalism but I see it in the nexus of totally warped presentation of reality that makes the world into pure surface. And the pure surface of poetry, I fear, presents a confusing tableau ripe for derision. I’m afraid we’ll look like fools stumbling through a pathetic and self-indulgent journey through a rightfully indifferent country.
Let me know, people, what you think.
But! The readers in Denver (there was a reading, after all . . . ) were excellent.
The bus poets especially have come into their own (Erin, Matthew and Anthony are ready to record their Live at Budokan I think). Eleni Sikelianos finished off the night with a reading typical of our stay in Denver, not without its hitches, but stunning nonetheless. She bravely gave us a glimpse into an unfinished work that, if the recording were better, I would give you a glimpse into as well. But alas the room noise and the “p” sounds exploding off of the mic will keep it shrouded in mystery.
Thank you Jake Adam York, Noah Eli Gordon, and anyone else in Denver with three or more names I have not thought of but who helped put that wonderful night together.
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I’m having a wonderful time tracking you day by day through your photos, videos, descriptions, and recordings. What a fine reading by Erin in Lincoln! Joshua, Matthew, et al, keep up the good work—and keep sending out the news.
love reading along the journey and wish to alltheverything i was following you in a car of my own, and to respond to what you were posting about the televizing of the readings – so much the better! even though i agree tv replaces reality with a warped surface of itself, which is why i dont have a tv, i think it’s fantastically important that your tour is gaining media noteriety, especially from the best of the worst, pbs. but the main reason you’re on this grandiose tour is that you can spread the hype on poetry just by sheer deliverance, and it can only be helpful if you have heralds arcing the way to your events from all media worlds – and it’s not like this is a protest bus that is exposing people to a political rallyshout or fist-swinging-fits, but be an example of life-living, craftship, and celebratory performance & exposure. dance around the indifferents’ glaze-eyed heartbeat: the fact that there’s a lot of confusion about the tableau-surface of poetry, as you say, is exploitable, but from both sides. keep writing & best bests!
I attended the Denver show and I must say, any media attention is a good thing. You don’t realize how many of us unknown and unpublished poets try hard to get noticed and yet you scoff at the attention for your bus tour being filmed for PBS (a company I find that is also respectful). If I were in your position, I would be really happy and feel a sense of accomplishment instead of brooding about the negativity of the media. Some people just don’t realize how lucky and fortunate they are in life.
heather, i think you need to read the post again, because it seems to me that he is not scoffing at all— in fact he calls it “great journalism” what he does seem to be saying is that he is afraid of how the bus, and more importantly poets, will look to the media and the public at large.
I like that Travis isn’t just glowing about everything, because that would be insincere, and his sincerity it part of what I like so much about the blog. He is asking some serious questions and they are questions that I think are worth asking. I’m glad he wrote it.