James Brown came onto a stage with that twitching, stiff-legged, electric-kinetic , roaring presence. His songs, including the anthemic ‘Say It Loud’ struck a chord like no-one else’s did. I watched him on stage dancing with Sammy Davies Jr (via youtbe – I aint that old!) and the difference in dancing styles, expressing a difference of attitude to life, was immediately apparent. Nobody did that James Brown stuff like James Brown.
That takes me to the poet Ntozake Shange’s collection, Nappy Edges and her amazing foreward to it (which begins ‘if i asked: is this james brown or Clifford Jordan? you wd know.’). It’s the best intro to a poetry collection I’ve ever read and talks about how with musicians you could immediately know who was playing cos they had their style. Shange was saying that’s what you have to aim for as a poet – become– unique - instantly recognisable on the page in the same way.
Which brings me to a Manchester poet called Mark Mace Smith. I first encountered him about a decade ago. His poetry was weird, coming through on crazy angles you had to work to get your head round, not like anything I’d read before. Some of it was ‘work in progress’, still baking, some of it was stonking. The poetry I read back then was metaphysical, had shifts of perspective and chased down abstract concepts to absurd conclusions I saw him do his poetry in Jamaica to a tough, open air Jamaican audience and they loved his stuff. He got an encore, very very rare at that gig (Calabash International Literary festival). Recently he won Commonword’s Northern Slam Competition. I’ve found out he’s a musician, plays drums, composes, paints. I know he’s a photographer. Is there no limit...? He’s a one off. And he’s hosting the Evening Entertainment of the BWC 2012!
Twitter summary: James Brown. Ntozake Shange. Miles Davies. Walk Your Way. Stray. Get Sick. Reinvent It All. Ignore Boundaries. Wired Yes Wired Calabash Poet MC Mark Mace Smith @BWC 2012
http://www.cultureword.org.uk/6th-cultureword-national-black-writers-con...