I am warming up for my biggest challenge yet: This Monday I am taking the inspiration of Bernadette Mayer and writing a Long-Form/Book Length Poem in a day as she did in Midwinter Day on December 22, 1978. I am calling mine Upper La Cresta Sojourn and plan to write in a variety of spaces around my Bakersfield neighborhood (Upper La Cresta).
I have enjoyed a place here called "The Espresso Cafe" and when I arrived her to write as a warm-up the music pumping through the speakers was so loud I started getting bothered. I plugged in my ear plugs and tuned into Radio Swiss classic and wrote my way through the frustration with the loud music.
Ironically, the BigTentPoetry prompt offered poetry writing toys and there was Babelfish. Anyone knowing the reference, to the Tower of Babel, may especially enjoy the irony here. I had to insert Italian, the language of Rome. And if you can't read Italian, no worries. It is all in English, too. Just a refrain... a repetition, in Italian.
Oh - and if you are interested in participating via encouragement and prompting to be woven into the book length poem, read the PS at the end of the poem.
Thank you for reading!
The Tower
Joseph Starzer's four dancers
is fed directly to my ears to
drown out the way too oppressive
sounds of whatever it is they
are pumping through the speakers
this zen looking enclave is actually
an outreach, forceful and auditorially
aggressive pushing against whoever
gather here
anneghi fuori i suoni troppo oppressivi
di senso di qualunque è sta pompando
attraverso gli altoparlanti
I pause and think
this is perfect to capture
this strong element of
this, my hometown
Starzer continues to dance
as the nasal singer preaches
trying to sound like David Cook
or the like and missing the
mark while dancers move
with grace, agility and practice
their given talents and I,
attempt mine all the while
wishing - oh, applause
hurray. That song is over
come il cantante nasale predica la
prova a suoni come il cuoco di David e
simili e missing contrassegni mentre
i ballerini si muovono con tolleranza,
agilità e pratica
Note to business owners:
your outreach isn't working
Upper La Cresta Sojourn will be written on March 28, 2011 as a book-length poem. You may join in this once-in-a-lifetime poetry event by offering poetry prompts, words, phrases or your physical presence if you live in Bakersfield, California, where Julie Jordan Scott will be traveling around Upper La Cresta to write of her day, One Woman's Day ~ a testimony to the sacredness of daily witness as in the model of Bernadette Mayer's Landmark 1978 long form, book length poem Midwinter Day which was written on December 22, 1978. Visit JulieJordanScott.com to be updated throughout the day and to see where the Sojourn has taken Julie so you may join her.
Follow me on Twitter: @JulieJordanScot
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