Multivoice Poetry Ensembles:
Universes / i was born with two tongues
Dateline: 12/14/99Multivoice poems, a staple of the Dada / Futurist / Surrealist / Fluxus lineage, have often been a successful weapon at the National Poetry Slams. This year, however, they were rarely seen. Some poets sneer at Slam's use of the form as gimmickry, a strategy to hide a weak performer. Still, some “group poems,” as Slam calls them, have become true classics: Gary Glazner's “Toad Venom,” the first group piece, is one, and Dallas's “(Black/Gay/Redneck) Superheroes, Baby!” another. Austin's “Motorcycle” piece is a real showstopper, and Taylor Mali used group pieces to bring Providence a championship in 1996 and followed that with the controversial “Sex Poem” for Mouth Almighty, champs the next year.
This fall I saw two poetry ensembles whose multivoice work, woven into full evening performances with music and all manner of theatrical magic, takes on the form in an organic, vibrant, content-driven artfulness. Universes, five poet performers out of The Point, an extraordinary cultural center in Hunts Point, Bronx, presented a run of their work-in-progress, “u,” at New York City's premier avant perf venue, P.S. 122. Young, spiky, hot, rapping it down in Spanglish Hiphoppery and gospel juju, this crew clocks the real from a family perspective, from a religious inception, from a hustle to stay alive while all the time keeping the beat so real you'd best dance perspective. Multi-talented Steven Sapp is the impetus behind this incredibly talented posse -- Mildred Ruiz's lush voice, the heart-jumping theatrics of Gamal Abdel Chasten, Lemon's tender humor, and Flaco Navaja's shredding time -- all dare your eyes to blink. One of my favorite moments in “u” is a deep-felt rendition of a poem by Etheridge Knight: these poets know roots, and give props. One thing, great but pointedly an outing of theater, is that you never know where this play is going -- it's seamless in integrating theater and street, and the audience's place is live on stage. A nod to the direction of Jo Bonney -- super smart, she keeps the poems in the poets till the air flips them home. Ms. Bonney's previous successes include directing Diana Son, Danny Hoch, and Eric Bogosian. Universes tours the college circuit -- not to miss.
Out of Chicago's fist of poetry comes the first Pan-Asian Poetry Troupe, “I was born with two tongues,” who recently tore up the stage at the Guild Complex. “two tongues,” four poets and a revolving crew of musicians, exemplify the work of the Guild, now celebrating its tenth anniversary and the departure of poetry's true superhero, Baby!, Mr. Michael Warr. Tongues is: Emily Chang, Dennis Kim, and the husband-wife duo Marlon and Anida Yoeu Esguerra and, when I caught up with them at NYU, they gigged with Staceyann Chin, Darius Savage on bass and Jay Monteverde on changgu. They rant, rap, sing and speak in way more than just two tongues. The group explodes with anger, but each frag is full of humor and humanity. They've got a chapbook, Word, and a CD, Brokenspeak, which is also the name of their current performance. Less theatrical than Universes, two tongues slyly uses the straightahead poetry reading form, deconstructing it with wit and ease and a natural sundering of any fourth wall lurking. When Dennis Kim took the rap to Korean with a slap jazz bass undertow in his poem “Han,” the audience transported as a unit to Utopia.
Universes and i was born with two tongues turn the poem into a communal act. In using literature as a lever for social change and devoting themselves to poetry's artistry, not rhetoric, they punch a hole in the future, a sweet opening for a new literature -- people-driven, with searing content, and not afraid of beauty.
--Bob Holman
Have you ever heard a multivoice poetry performance? Written a piece for multiple voices? Come tell us about it in the About.com Poetry Forum.
