Poetry & Performance

A long long time ago, and for many millennia, poetry was presented in community gatherings, spoken with music and delivered with a musical cadence as a telling ofnsideways and deepways news. For a couple of decades I did my best to follow in this tradition—in a tiny crowded stone building in a Yosemite meadow, in bars, pubs, concert halls, festivals, libraries, and environmental benefits. I prefer to write spoken poems because they become a more immediate collaboration. Spoken words create an environment, and the audience complete the form, as communication passes between musicians, words, and listeners. This practice seems the most human and necessary thing I’m able to do.