Urban Epiphany 2008 on Think Twice Radio
In the PBS "American Experience" documentary on the life of Walt Whitman we wrote about recently, scholar Ed Folsom speaks of the egalitarian quality of "urban affection" that Whitman hoped to inspire with Leaves of Grass. That democratic spirit was evident in our own community on April 27th as 78 Buffalo area poets representing a dazzling range of verse forms and varieties of individual expression read in 2 minute segments each in Urban Epiphany 2008, held at the Unitarian Universalist Church on Elmwood Avenue.
If you missed all or part of Urban Epiphany 2008 or would like to revisit it, you can now listen to poet Susan Marie's audio recording of it for the spoken word web site ThinkTwice Radio.com. Just go to http://www.thinktwiceradio.com/ and click on Urban Epiphany link http://thinktwiceradio.com/epiphany/epiphany-080427.html. Individual readers are listed by name, and there is a link to an adjoining page of photographs of each poet at the lectern.
The sixth such annual event in the series held on the final Sunday of each April in celebration of National Poetry Month, Urban Epiphany is the brainchild of poet Celia White, who serves as event organizer, publicist, and master of ceremonies. After creating Urban Epiphany as a one time only community celebration in 1998, Ms. White revived it as annual event when she returned to Buffalo in 2003.
While the mere phrase "poetry marathon" probably strikes terror into the hearts of some, it's the mutual respect and confluence of voices that makes this event unique to the do-it-yourself ethos of the Buffalo arts community. A splendid example of this bonhomie occurred midway through 5 o'clock hour, when Ansie Baird, the poet-in-residence at Buffalo Seminary whose work has appeared in many of our nation's leading literary magazines, read three exquisitely crafted short poems, and was immediately followed by the hyper-articulate hip-hop activism of The Njozi Poets (N'tare Ali Gault, James Cooper, III and Shawnell Tillery) who proceeded to kick it "old school" with their high energy spoken word performance.
--R.D. Pohl
