ModPo update for Friday of week 6 (2019): 1) read a poem today; 2) City Lights; 3) meet-ups this weekend; 4) Beats in general

It’s Friday of week 6 of ModPo 2019! Perfect day for taking a break from work or play or childcare or your workout to read a poem. How about Bob Kaufman’s “Jail Poems” HERE. Or Amiri Baraka’s “Incident” HERE (a response probably to Countee Cullen’s poem, which we encountered in week 5). Or Frank Lima’s “Plena” HERE.

One day a few years ago the ModPo team was filming some Beat week videos “on location” and we decided to walk into City Lights Bookstore (one of the home bases for the Beat movement) and filmed an impromptu discussion of Lima’s “Plena” right there in the second floor of the bookstore. One of the bookstore staff members saw us and began to tell us we couldn’t film there, but then he recognized me and the ModPo crew—and not only did he not kick us out; he joined the discussion! Click HERE to watch us talk about Lima at City Lights!

Week 7 begins on Sunday. A week of poems by and discussions of the New York School. If you want to listen ahead a bit, click HERE and hear my audio introduction.

There are a number of ModPo meet-ups happening this weekend. Here is info about three of them:

• New York City meet-up, Saturday, October 19, noon, at the 53rd Street branch of the New York Public Library, between 5th and 6th Avenues, across the street from MoMA. Convened by Mandana Chaffa.

• Chicago meet-up, Saturday, October 19, from 11 AM until 1 PM, at the Harold Washington Library, 5th floor south study room. Convened by Max McKenna who will be waiting for you at the top of the 5th-floor escalators at 11 AM.

• Los Angeles meet-up, Sunday, October 20, Bulletproof Coffee, 300 S Santa Fe Ave, Los Angeles, 90013, starting at noon. Convened by CTA Paige Polcene and TA Molly O’Neill.

If you want to be in contact with the organizers of these or other meet-ups, go HERE to the “study groups and meet-ups” forum and look for the thread pertaining to your city/region.

Below are some ModPoPLUS resources pertaining to the Beat poets in general. Enjoy!

—Al

THE BEATS IN GENERAL

21.1 watch discussion about the continued relevance of the Beats: LINK TO VIDEO [OFFSITE COPY]

21.2 watch as poet Angela Carr discusses the social specificity of the Beats: LINK TO VIDEO [OFFSITE COPY]

21.3 watch discussion of Beat spontaneity & the dream of a common language: LINK TO VIDEO [OFFSITE COPY]

21.4 watch discussion on Beat radicalism then & now: LINK TO VIDEO [OFFSITE COPY]

21.5 watch discussion on Beat poetry & democracy & why poetry matters: LINK TO VIDEO [OFFSITE COPY]

21.6 watch five poets discuss the significance of the Beats today: LINK TO VIDEO (LINK TO YOUTUBE) [OFFSITE COPY]