Thank you, Jill. I thought when I read the About.com article that I had an
opportunity others may not have, being able to check at the source. I
appreciate what you've confirmed and noted.
Offhand I figured that an age difference between most poetryetc members and
the author, Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz, might paint both perspectives. (By the
way, I too am not fond of the phrase "Down Under", every culture is "on top"
of their world! Didn't poetryetc storm the topic "the center is everywhere"
after all?) Age, i.e., time and consequent influences, separate me from the
SLAM movement in the USA, nursery of the idea. But I am fascinated by the
youthful energy that is breathing new life into poetry and keeping poetry in
the fore front here during the current dull gray state of politics and
education in the US.
Case in point, my best friend (David G.) is teaching a creative lit. summer
course at the local community college. Most of his students are home from
their regular schools, Stanford and UC Berkeley, and enrolled for extra
credits. David is appalled that almost all of these students meet poetry
with blank stares. When asked who their favorite poets are a timid hand is
raised, "Robert Frost?" Oh, one person had heard of Walt Whitman! That's
just the beginning of David's uphill fight to dig into poetry with his
students.
Even though I think SLAM's are an extension of the MTV mentality I am happy
that there is something networking people across the country with poetry. My
take at the SLAM in Big Sur was that some of the participants will move on
in their poetic carriers (like kids who play heavy metal eventually
broadening their tastes into blues, jazz, world musics).
There is a film available, Slam Nation:
http://www.slamnation.com/index.htm
If anyone is interested.
Thank you, Jill,
:fp
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Frank Parker
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http://now.at/frankshome
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