We had an excellent feature tonight at Gotpoetry: Alveraz Ricardez, a poet/screenwriter from LA who is travelling across the country. He’s doing readings and filming a documentary on the state of poetry in the US.

Alverez is a relatively recent entrant into the poetic ranks, but he’s a VERY strong writer. His reading style is quiet but intense, and (befitting a screenwriter) he has a great sense of how to structure a feature — he interwove a variety of stand alone poems with an ongoing series of works in the form of letters to a woman named Helen, with the speaker relating his disquieting experiences in a foreign land. The images were deep and evocative while not revealing so much of the narrative of events that you were ever completely sure of what was going on — why he was there, why he couldn’t come home, etc.

I like this type of feature — it’s a good example of the type of work you WON’T see at many slam venues.

The room itself was full and quiet throughout the reading.

Alveraz is a pretty consistent contributor to our forums on Gotpoetry.com under the screen name “hot_mud.” I’ve always liked his work, but I have even greater respect for it now. If he’s near you, go see him — his next gig’s at the Cornelia Street Cafe in NYC this week (a wonderful venue).