for the Asylum’s continuation and its new home at Jumpin’ Juice and Java, 335 Chandler Street, Worcester (in the old Tatnuck Square Bookseller building, for you expats).

Nice to think home base will be with us for a while longer, eh?

I’ve been reading your chapbooks and seeing you perform for quite a while now.

A few thoughts:

1.
Could you consider adding some silence to your performances here and there? Just a few seconds, to let the tumble of imagery and important thoughts register?

I know you can do it; I’ve seen the way you write and you use things like line breaks, stanza breaks, and punctuation that imply occasional pauses here and there in your flow. Allowing your performance to actually reflect the text might actually allow people to judge and absorb your work better. Just a suggestion.

I know that might make some of your poems longer than three minutes, but there’s this nifty thing called editing that can help take care of that. You might even consider having, in rare cases, two different versions of the same poem — one for slamming, one for reading at features where you have more time.

2.
There’s this cool concept called “dynamic range.” It’s the idea that you can do everything from whisper to scream in a piece, and use a wide variety of techniques in the same poem. Things don’t always start out loud and get louder, or start fast and get faster. A wider range of dynamics might actually help you make a poem more powerful in performance.

Again, just a thought.

3.
I like listening to Buddy Wakefield too. When I want to hear him, I put on one of his CDs.

If I’m listening to you, even if it’s for the first time, I’d like to hear you, not Buddy.

(By the way…you can substitute a lot of names in there for Buddy’s — Andrea Gibson, Rachel MacKibbens, Saul Williams, Mike McGee come to mind. It’s a natural thing — I tried to be Robert Bly for most of the 70s after seeing him read — but at some point, it’s best to be yourself, don’t you think?)

4.
I know you won’t listen to me. That’s OK. I’m getting to the point where I don’t want to listen to you, either. I’d like to hope that may change, but if it doesn’t, that’s OK too.

5.
Try doing a poem you fully expect to tank sometime because it’s not what you do best, and see what happens. If you tried it at NPS, that’d be great, but I understand if the pressures are too great then. But really, try it sometime.

Have fun at NPS. I’ll miss you because you’re colorful, wonderful inspiring people. I won’t miss the slamming though. I don’t feel like I always see you at your best then, and that hurts. A lot.

Of course, if you feel this doesn’t fit you, don’t try it on. But I hope it’s worth your time to at least consider it.

Love (and yes, I mean that),
T

Looks like we get to meet in person.

Looks like it might be on November 12.

Looks like a fun time.

I’m psyched! Are you?

Can anyone point me to a direct, official citation of the laws in either Worcester or Massachusetts regarding 18 year olds in bars?

I do know the official state law is that you have to be 21 to drink, 18 or older to serve or work with alcohol. But I’m looking for restrictions on performers, and I can’t find anything specific…I know that we all think, but I’m not sure it’s really true.

Thanks.

1.
I like Jumpin’ Juice and Java, and I hope this works out.

2.
Slam itself? Nothing to make me change my mind about how I’m feeling. I did think the judging was consistent and fair. Yes, even the low scores.

3.
Just booked a feature that I’m really, REALLY excited about. More on that shortly…