Bob Holman

Bob Holman is a poet and poetry activist in the United States. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (2592x1944, 987 KB)[edit] Summary The autor of this image is me, David Shankbone. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (2592x1944, 987 KB)[edit] Summary The autor of this image is me, David Shankbone. ... The poor poet A poet is a person who writes poetry. ... The Chinese poem Quatrain on Heavenly Mountain by Emperor Gaozong (Song Dynasty) Poetry (from the Greek , poiesis, making or creating) is a form of art in which language is used for its aesthetic qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its ostensible meaning. ...

Career

Bob Holman's first poetry job was with the CETA Artists Project which led to his running the Monday Night Series at the St Mark's Poetry Project and to his becoming the Coordinator there. He was instrumental in the reopening of the Nuyorican Poets Cafe and was the original slammaster there. He is now the proprietor of the Bowery Poetry Club, where he hosts regularly. He co-founded the NYC Poetry Calendar with Sara Miles and Susie Timmons in 1977. He is one of the poetry guides at About.com. He is generally credited with bringing the poetry slam to New York City, where he and the New York poets have been responsible for its penetration into the mass media and commercial markets. The Nuyorican Poets Cafe is a New York City performance venue, best known for slam poetry, but also presenting theater, stand-up comedy, Latin jazz, hip-hop performance, and screenplay readings, the café is a non-profit organization. ... Bowery Poetry Club. ... Nickname: Big Apple, Gotham, NYC, City That Never Sleeps, The Concrete Jungle, The City So Nice They Named It Twice Location in the state of New York Coordinates: Country United States State New York Boroughs The Bronx Brooklyn Manhattan Queens Staten Island Settled 1676 Government  - Mayor Michael Bloomberg (R) Area...

Holman was one of the founders of Mouth Almighty/Mercury Records, with Bill Adler and Sekou Sundiata. He has taught at the New School, Bard College, and at the Graduate School of the Arts at Columbia. For other meanings of the word Bard, see Bard (disambiguation). ...

He is married to Elizabeth Murray and has two children. Elizabeth Murray (born 1940) is an American artist. ...

Bob Holman is a controversial figure on the Slam poetry scene. His take on Slam is democratic. The process involves choosing several judges who would then give scores to poets: style of presentation and acting ability often outweighted other aspects of the poems. Holman was able to interject into the process tidbits about the types of poems presented, and would often choose poems the audience did not like as exemplemary. Some, including Marc Smith, father of the poetry slam, have said that Holman brought out the worst parts of poetry slams, including commercialism (his poetry label, Mouth Almighty, sponsored a team in the 1997 National Slam. It won.), whimsicality (he coined "The best poet always loses" and created the Hideous Sudden-Death Haiku Overtime Round for ties), and a who-cares attitude. Others felt he brought a sense of irony and openness. Nuyorican Poets Cafe, New York City Slam poetry is a postmodern performance poetry, a form of spoken word performed at a competitive poetry event, called a slam, at which poets perform their own poems (or, in rare cases, those of others) that are judged on a numeric scale by randomly... Born on the southeast side of Chicago in 1950, Marc Kelly Smith is the founder of the Poetry Slam. ... Slam poetry is a form of performance poetry that occurs within a competitive poetry event, called a slam, at which poets perform their own poems (or, in rare cases, those of others) that are judged on a numeric scale by randomly picked members of the audience. ...

Holman has directed many plays for poets theater, including work by Alfred Jarry, Tristan Tzara, Vladimir Mayakovsky, W. H. Auden, Edwin Denby, John Ashbery, Robert Kelly, Ed Sanders. He appeared in the improvisational opera Mirror Man by David Thomas of Pere Ubu. The Bowery Poetry Club, which he founded and is the proprietor of, is a one-of-a-kind, international, eclectic, downhome, open space for all manner of poetries. Alfred Jarry Alfred Jarry (September 8, 1873 – November 1, 1907) was a French writer born in Laval, Mayenne, France, not far from the border of Brittany; he was of Breton descent on his mothers side. ... Tristan Tzara (April 16, 1896 – December 25, 1963) is the assumed name of Sami Rosenstock, born in MoineÅŸti, Bacău, Romania, a poet and essayist who lived for the majority of his life in France. ... Portrait of Vladimir Mayakovsky Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky (Влади́мир Влади́мирович Маяко́вский) (July 19 [O.S. July 7] 1893 – April 14, 1930) was a Russian poet, among the foremost representatives of early-20th century Futurism. ... Wystan Hugh Auden (21 February 1907 – 29 September 1973), who signed his works W. H. Auden (IPA: ; first syllable of Auden rhymes with law), was an Anglo-American poet, regarded by many as one of the great writers of the 20th century. ... There are a few people with the name Edwin Denby: Edwin Denby, American poet and dance critic Edwin C. Denby, U.S. politician from the state of Michigan, had prominent role in the Teapot Dome Scandal This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that... John Ashbery John Ashbery (born July 28, 1927) is an American poet. ... Robert Kelly (born 1935) is an American poet associated with the deep image group. ... Ed Sanders born August 17, 1939 in Kansas City,Missouri is a poet, singer, social activist, environmentalist, novelist and publisher. ... David Thomas (born 1953) is an American singer, songwriter, and musician. ... Pere Ubu are a rock music group formed in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1975. ...

From his website (www.bobholman.com): "From Slam to Hiphop, from performance poetry to spoken word, Bob Holman has been a central figure in the reemergence of poetry in our culture. Recently dubbed a member of the "Poetry Pantheon" by the New York Times Magazine and featured in a Henry Louis Gates, Jr. profile in The New Yorker, Holman has previously been crowned "Ringmaster of the Spoken Word" (New York Daily News), "Poetry Czar" (Village Voice), "Dean of the Scene" (Seventeen), and “this generation’s Ezra Pound,” (San Francisco’s Poetry Flash). His latest collection of poems, a collaboration with Chuck Close, A Couple of Ways of Doing Something, was first exhibited at the Peggy Guggenheim Museum during the Venice Biennale and will be published by Aperture in fall 06. The TV series he produced for PBS, “The United States of Poetry,” won the INPUT, International Public Television Award; he founded Mouth Almighty/Mercury Records, the first ever major spoken word label, in 1995; ran the infamous poetry slams at the Nuyorican Poets Café from 1988-1996; and was a host/administrator at the St. Marks Poetry Project 1977-84. He is currently Visiting Professor of Writing at the Columbia School of the Arts, Founder/Proprietor of the Bowery Poetry Club, and Artistic Director of Study Abroad on the Bowery, a certificate program in applied poetics." Chuck Close (born Charles Thomas Close July 5, 1940, Monroe, Washington) is an American photorealistic painter and photographer. ...

Bibliography

• Bicentennial Suicide: a novel to be performed, 1976, Frontward Books
• The Rainbow Raises Its Shoulder/When A Flower Grows 1979, Chinatown Planning Council
• Tear To Open, 1979, Power Mad Press
• 8 Chinese Poems, 1981, Peeka Boo Press
• SWEAT&SEX&POLITICS!, 1986, Peeka Boo Press
• Cupid's Cashbox 1990, Jordan Davies
• Bob Holman’s The Collect Call of the Wild 1995, Henry Holt
• Aloud! Voices from the Nuyorican Poets Cafe, editor, w/ Miguel Algarin, Henry Holt
• Beach Simplifies Horizon, 1998, The Grenfell Press
• A Couple of Ways of Doing Something, 2003 (a collaboration with Chuck Close)

Chuck Close (born Charles Thomas Close July 5, 1940, Monroe, Washington) is an American photorealistic painter and photographer. ...

Filmography

• Panic*DJ! Bob Holman Live at the Club LaMama - 1990
• The United States of Poetry- PBS. Directed by Mark Pellington. Produced with Josh Blum.
• Slam - 1999
• SlamNation - 1998

External links

• bobholman.com
• Online Holman poem
• Bob Holman on creativity, an interview with about-creativity.com

References

• The Spoken Word Revolution. Ed. Mark Eleveld. New York: Sourcebooks, 2003.
• All Poets Welcome Daniel Kane, California, 2004.