Video: Identity Crisis at Dunkin Donuts on February 11th 2010
Here's me reading a newly revised version of my 2008 poem "Identity Crisis" at Dunkin Donuts on 11 February 2010 in Brunswick, Ohio - hosted by the Brunswick Art Works. Since the video by Dianne Borsenik is too long for You Tube, I've uploaded it here exclusively.
Posted by Jesus Crisis at 3/2/2010 3:37 PM 
Categories: Cleveland, Poetry Events, Poetry by JC, Video Blogs
Tags: Dianne Borsenik Identity Crisis Brunswick Jesus Crisis Ohio Dunkin Donuts 2010
Categories: Cleveland, Poetry Events, Poetry by JC, Video Blogs
Tags: Dianne Borsenik Identity Crisis Brunswick Jesus Crisis Ohio Dunkin Donuts 2010
Bravo! This is Big and ambitious, John. Full of music, wit, existential questioning, social commentary, deep longing and learning worn lightly. Thanks for sharing your all with us.
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Thank you, my very kind friend! As I was saying on the other blog entry...
"Identity Crisis" doesn't seem to express the 2010 me as well as it does the 2008 me, so I think this is gonna be its last hurrah. I've read it publicly five times -- almost always a slightly different version.
#1 - August 2008 during an open mic at the Literary Cafe in Cleveland (a day or few after I wrote it), with maybe 10 people listening intently and the other 100 or so people in the joint apparently preferring the party to the poetry.... It's way too long a poem for an average open mic; but since one of the features didn't show up and I'd had a few beers, I went for it. About four fifths of the way through, Nick Traenkner, the emcee, came into the poetry back room and motioned for me to wrap it up. But I finished it.
#2 - August 2008 during my featured reading at Phoenix Coffee in South Euclid a couple days later, hosted by Saturday Night at the Poet's Haven before a very warm and supportive audience (this was the podcast version)....
#3 - March 2009 during my featured reading at the Collingwood Arts Center in Toledo, shortly after the Green Panda Press version came out.... I sold all ten of my copies that night and could've sold more. Sold several copies of Bloggerel, too -- and it turned out to be the most chapbooks I've ever sold at a reading. I videoed my reading that night, but lost the footage a couple of months later when my computer's backup hard drive died.
#4 - August 2009 during my featured reading at Pumpkin Hollow Antiques & Cafe in Bellville, just south of Mansfield.... I'm pretty sure I videoed other poets that night -- but can't recall if I recorded my own reading. Maybe I'll stumble upon that footage soon.
#5 - February 2010 at Dunkin Donuts in Brunswick. Dianne Borsenik and I both recorded it.
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It seems fitting that a poem about the elusiveness of identity should not mean the same thing to you two years later, and restlessly shape-shift with every reading
But, poems in general can be like that, too, in trying to pin and mount the ephemeral. May you carry on Being, Becoming, Creating and Sharing. Cheers!
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Thank you, brother! As always, I like your way with words - especially "trying to pin and mount the ephemeral." May you carry on as well!
P.S. A friend reminded me that I also read this poem on May 9th 2009 during Tres Versing the Panda: Three Days of Poetry Soiree.
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