Oh boy. The Hugo House blog people suspected I’d kick up some shit and I probably did. (I do without knowing it! HA!) Anyway, here is the link to their latest profile of Your Wily Splabman.
And below, I’ve pasted in the portions THEY put in bold, to give you a little taste, but be sure to go to their blog and at very least see Sam Hamill’s block quote. It’s a beauty.
“A Time Before Slaughter” looks upon the history of a place with a gaze that strives to be both critical and understanding—in equal measure—from the perspective of someone who is personally invested in the actual place.
I feel the poet’s main role in such a political stance is to learn the local history and tell it in verse. If poets do not tell the story, we’re at the mercy of Fox News and other propagandists.
Sometimes you think you can get a poem out of a certain event, but the energy is not made available. Sometimes poems fall right into your lap.
We had a highly successful Teen Slam, which culminated in taking a group of young poets to San Francisco to compete in the National Teen Poetry Slam Championships.
Society has so marginalized itself with cheap entertainment and useless diversions, such as “American Idol,” talk radio, video games and technology so that if someone is not a household name, there is an education process required to illustrate why a certain poet deserves wider attention.
Many people are trying to fill some kind of personal lack through becoming some kind of poetry star
That said, Seattle has some of the most attentive and appreciative audiences you’ll find anywhere.