Hey Roundtableoso’s,
Welcome to June! This month we will be looking at the work of Rodrigo Toscano, a poet very unique among his contemporaries…Toscano’s work has largely been centered around the idea of “testing poetry” to take it beyond what is usually considered poetry. His work is very hard to categorize (which is one of my favorite parts about it) and his readings/presentations are unlike any I’ve ever seen, that I can think of. His most recent book, “Collabsible Poetics Theater,” won the National Poetry Award and was published by Fence Books. “Collabsible Poetics Theater” is not only the name of his book but, also, the name of the sort of traveling, impromptu project he is the artistic director and writer for. Whereas most poets give rather standard readings, he has been going from city to city performing theater pieces with whoever is at his performance. It’s a pretty interesting, excellent idea. I’ve never gotten to see it, but perhaps we can recreate something ourselves instead.
So, since all I do typically is google the poet’s name who we’re doing each month and offer you guys most of the hits I find first, I figure I will stop doing that now and just let you all do the exact same process. I will, however, keep adding things that I think you are less likely to find or come across, that I think deserve attention. Like this video. Check it out:
Catch you all on June 20th for some mad Rodrigo Toscanoness. Until then, happy hunting.
