Bob Holman

John Farris 1/22/16

 

Now 16 years later snow graying,
Farris hops and hobbles off his double
Cane set and brays like an ass. Unbound,
Smarter than the sidewalk, here, John,
Let me help you back onto your holy bicycle.
Pedal past Adele’s rice y beans, free
For Poet laureate of the street, Sire,
You the Artist, drown in poetry hot sauce
While kisses’ grit smears bliss. No one
Ever could
Tell you
What to do
Or not, specially not you, Baby. Yo!
Trumpet mute, filtering the bullshit, mourning
Jazz holy joy particles. Fucking
Synesthete. Go make your own Heaven.
Suspended here, crying blizzards,
Who’s down for an earthquake?

Founder of The Bowery Poetry Club and Bowery Arts and Sciences, Bob Holman is the recipient of the Ostana Award for Service to Endangered Languages, and the creator and host of the PBS series Language Matters. Holman served as St. Mark's Poetry Project’s arts administrator until the mid-80’s and as co-director of the Nuyorican Poets Cafe from 1988-96, prior to opening the Bowery Poetry Club. He is an instrumental figure in the legacy of Slam poetry and in the popularization of performance poetry movements around the world.