Steve Potter reviews Poetica Dystopia and I Feel Your Doughnut Pain by Stephen Roxborough
WHERE DO POEMS EXIST? THE WORK OF STEPHEN ROXBOROUGH & KARL BLAU
A review by STEVE POTTER
Where do poems exist? I thought about that and about reading versus listening and writing for the page versus writing for the stage while simultaneously reading and listening to poems by Stephen Roxborough. Fourteen poems on his fine new cd, Poetica Dystopia, also appear in his book, I Feel Your Doughnut Pain. I've heard people say they like poetry that lives on the page, marking a distinction between sit-and-read-silently-to-yourself poetry and performance poetry. I get that and would classify myself with poetry on the page over poetry on the stage if I really had to choose once and for all, but, in the end, no poem actually exists on the page or stage. They all only truly live in human minds. A poem comes to life in the mind of one human, the sort of human we, therefore, call a poet and is then transferred into the minds of other humans via written and/or spoken word. I think it was Charles Simic who opined that no poem is complete until it is read by someone other than the poet himself. It's the 21st Century, though, so let's change that to her/him/themself lest we exclude anyone. Furthermore, I'd add or heard after read.
The emotional tone of Poetica Dystopia falls somewhere in the territory between two spoken-word-with-musical-accompaniment classics—the creepy, beautiful madness of Spare Ass Annie and Other Tales by William S. Burroughs and the Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy on the one end and the mellower, more chill delivery of Ken Nordine's Colors on the other. Funny and irreverent, Roxborough delivers a commentary on what a strange mess the current state of the world is with a jaded, sarcastic vibe. I was reminded of a couple of lines from the Grateful Dead, “I may be going to hell in a bucket / but at least I'm enjoying the ride.” In this case, though, it is we who are going to hell in a bucket. Roxborough's poems aren't first-person tales of a life on the road to ruin, they're critical observations of sociopolitical failings on a planetary level. Humanity as a whole is going to hell in a bucket and taking the rest of life on earth along with it.
Roxborough's poems aren't first-person tales of a life on the road to ruin, they're critical observations of sociopolitical failings on a planetary level.
In the poem “New Climate Models,” Roxborough takes a sarcastic swipe at the lack of seriousness the climate crisis is treated with by the mass media and much of the public. He blends the catastrophically increasing realities of sea levels rising and forests burning with the frivolous sort of fashion world chatter about which celebrity is wearing which designer's dress we hear from television hosts on Hollywood red carpets during awards season.
Roxborough's playful, tumbling lines of verse, rich with assonance and internal rhyme, get the perfect musical accompaniment on the cd from longtime Anacortes, Washington, indie music scene stalwart Karl Blau, who, sadly for the Pacific Northwest music community, recently moved east to Philadelphia. In addition to producing his own country-tinged indie rock on albums such as the 2022 release Love & Harm, Blau has contributed as a sideman to the work of numerous other artists such as folksy singer-songwriter Laura Veirs and drone rock legends EARTH.
Utilizing a vast assortment of instruments ranging from the expected—keyboards, guitar, bass, drums—through the less common—rain stick, pennywhistle, ocarina, melodica, child's piano, and answering machine tape—Blau crafts captivating soundscapes that enhance but never overshadow or distract from Roxborough's poetry.
In the poem, titled “the new upgraded extended-play colossus” in Roxborough's book and, more briefly, “Upgraded Colossus” on the cd, Roxborough riffs on the famous “give me your poor tired masses . . .” stanza from Emma Lazarus' sonnet, “The New Colossus,” that adorns a brass plaque on the Statue of Liberty:
give me your wired & screen-addicted
your ice cream & meme afflicted
give me your lovelorn soft-porn blue pill
credit card bill run-of-the-mill lonely heart
outcast redneck weapons expert
give me your befuddled masses
from here to parnassus
give me your poor your raconteur
your amor with delusions of grandeur
give me your racist your homophobe
your feeble sheeple zombie
& your born-again ex-smoker
self righteous cross-dressing nazi
give me your obese your obtuse your confused
your bipolar soldier your unholy roller
your abused & refused
& your dumbed-down small-town
renowned political clown
The poem continues with several more stanzas further delineating a rogues’ gallery of modern American types that ends with:
. . .
give me the whole fucking lot
forgive my temper tempest
you see i'm amerika
the greedy sot
so god bless you all
but goddamn gimme gimme gimme
give me everything you got
Blau's accompaniment on “Upgraded Colossus” begins with a jaunty organ playing a pleasant melody reminiscent of old-time penny arcade or ice rink music backed by a bouncy oompah-pah-pah rhythm that screeches to a halt near the end, replaced by a darker, menacing accompaniment that slides into a snatch of “America the Beautiful” played on electric guitar reminiscent of Hendrix's take on “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
Poetica Dystopia is an engaging new addition to a relatively small but growing canon of spoken-word-with-music recordings that do their own thing. These sixteen poems with music rub up against the old talking blues and contemporary rap and the talk-singing of rockers like Lou Reed and Jim Carroll without quite fitting into any of those categories. They would sit perfectly on a playlist with the likes of Joy Harjo's I Pray for My Enemies, The Last Poets' eponymous first album, Stephen Jesse Bernstein's Prison, Gil Scott Heron's Pieces of Man, Laurie Anderson's Strange Angels, Jim Morrison's American Prayer, Brian Eno's Drums Between the Bells, and Homeostasis by Carl Hancock Rux.
Steve Potter has been writing nights after work and on weekends nearly every day for forty years. He is the author of the novel Gangs With Greek Names, a short fiction collection called Easy Money & Other Stories, and two poetry collections:Mendacity Quirk Slipstream Snafu and Social Distance Sing. His poems, stories, and reviews have appeared in publications such as E·Ratio, Golden Handcuffs Review, Otoliths, Pacific Rim Review of Books, Parole, and Word For/Word. Two sonnets are forthcoming in Purr and Yowl, an anthology of poems about cats.
Stephen Roxborough is the co-founder of the Burning Word poetry festival, board member of the Washington Poets Association and Head Poet for Madrona Center. An award-winning performance poet, Roxborough was nominated for a 2003 Pushcart Prize. He lives in Anacortes, Washington.
Karl Blau is an American indie rock and country vocalist, producer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, but originally from Anacortes, Washington. A member of the Knw-Yr-Own/K Records collective, he is known for his musical output, live shows, and self-recording and distribution.
I Feel Your Doughnut Pain: over-the-counter poems to inspire the next counter-culture revolution by Stephen Roxborough
ISBN 978-0-5786633-9-5
Optimystic Press (Stephen Roxborough)
2022, paperback, 178 Pages, $16.95.
Poetica Dystopia
© 2023 by Stephen Roxborough & Karl Blau
cd: $10;