Poetry New York

Rodrigo Toscano and Kristin Prevallet are practitioners of important movements in poetry. Toscano is attempting to bridge the gap between written and spoken poetry. Prevallet practices investigative poetry, claiming that poetry has more ability to tell the truth than most media outlets.

                Toscano took the stage first and read several pieces from his book, To Leveling Swerve, and some poems from his notebook. His work is peppered with jargons, slangs and bits of Spanish that flavor the pieces. I enjoyed Toscano’s emphasis, intonation, occasional speed changes and musicality. At times he broke into song. The power I saw in his performance is not as apparent when I read his words. He occasionally creates words (swivillization, moti-vetted) in his work to expand his meanings.

                Kristin Prevallet took stage next and read from her book, I, Afterlife. She piqued my interest as she shifted positions in relation to the story and shifted form during the poem. At times the poem acts more like prose and sometimes more like poetry, but it flows seamlessly. The topic changes within the poem flowed nicely though they are diverse.

                The show was finished out with a performance from His Majesty the Stomach. The piece is Prevallet’s translation of a play by Tanzi, a South-African playwright. The play is a satire of colonization and was performed, unrehearsed, by both poets. The lack of practice was reflected in the quality of the performance. Prevallet acted as an over-the-top melodramaticist, as the play suggests. Toscano was also over-the-top, but his arsenal of voices took away from the play. Granted, he had to play many different parts and was trying to differentiate them in the viewer’s mind.

The downfall of this part of the performance was that it was designed to be played by many people, but was only performed by two. It was a bad selection for this performance. Luckily, the rest of the performance was great. Toscano’s word play and musicality and Prevallet’s flowing stories left me with good things to say, discounting the play. The show ended with a Q&A. It was a pleasure to see these two perform.