BACKING BEAUTY'S (BLOODY ACHING) BACK

I got a phone call from a reading series curator this weekend, and thought of why Tom Beckett dubbed me a "Thinking Blogger" (neat -- how I segue into that preen, eh?). To wit, Tom specifically cited:

a rose is eros is arroz. Beauty is passion and sustenance, poetry is a way of life. Eileen through her efforts as a cross-genre writer,visual artist, promoter, publisher, and shape-shifting Chatelaine, embodies what it means to live poetry.

What's salubrious (am on a phase of using that salubrious word) about Tom's reasons is his reference to Beauty. Yep, that's really my poetics. Beauty. Full Stop.

And Beauty has been one reason why I've been ignored (marginalized?) by certain camps in the poetry world. I don't do the overt ethnic thing. The overt political thing. The overt post avante thing. I don't even fit into what many people accept as those inherently-fluctuating categories of "prose poem" or "ekphrasis." I'm not preening about being a noble individual(ist) here -- I got Beauty's back and I'm not proud or defensive about it. I got Beauty's back and that's just a matter of fact (she matter of factly notes).

Which doesn't mean various poets of different styles haven't been welcoming -- they have and I am truly grateful. I'm just noting that the opposite also occurs....because I stick ultimately with Beauty (Ach! Le irony of slighting Beauty!) . And it goes relatedly to why your Chatelaine, as Tom notes, shape-shifts. Beauty comes in many forms.

But I'm not writing this post to belabor Tom's adoration (yeah, not really). I thought of his reasons because of the reading series curator who telephoned me (yes, telephoned; it's possibly the first time in months if not over a year that I've discussed poetry biz by phone instead of by email, worth N.B.-ing by itself: you should have seen the shocked face I turned to the hubby who picked up the phone and he said it's this poet....). Anyway, said curator asked me to read for this series and during the conversation, she said she asked me because "these spoken word folks need to hear something different" (or words to that effect).

Obviously (obviously, right?), "spoken word" -- as that term is bandied about in the poetry world -- is NOT the immediate category that comes to mind for me.

But "different"? I can get behind that. It's about time being different was a reason for being invited, rather than shunned.

Apparently, Beauty also got my back....

...which is good because it's an ever-sore sore back....

(Now, off to see if there's a petsitter available for that evening of spoken word. Whether it's spoken word or any other category, all are subject to Moi's Dawg Poetics. And because a DOG is inherently PURE LOVE, Missy Beauty wouldn't have it any other way...)