Poetry in Chicago

Tag: poem

  • Raúl Niño: Poet

    Raúl Niño: Poet

    • Raúl Niño has an attitude of gratitude in his precious volume of poetry, “Still Life with Hands” published in 2022 by Jason Pickleman. (Photo by C. Schandelmeier taken October 19, 2024 at Northeastern Illinois University, with a modified background using Canva).

    In this age of helicopter parents,  no self-respecting Momager would trust a six-year-old to ride public transportation alone, but, in the  1960’s Mexico, that is how a six-year-old Raúl Niño learned to ride the bus: solo. Thankfully, his mother, a housekeeper, taught him such independence and responsibility that he was profoundly capable and self-reliant at an early age. The only child of a creative and resourceful single mother, Niño has grown into a poetic tour de force.

    His writing is so strong that in 1993, he won Chicago’s Sister City competition and was selected to be the poetic ambassador to Mexico City, Mexico. Move forward thirty years, and his dynamic poetry is still being created with love, care and humility. Not only does Niño’s work reverberate throughout the poetry community of Chicago, but also the world. Niño will share his poetic journey with WZRD Chicago, 88.3 FM on Saturday, November 30th at 12:30 pm which streams live via the internet at https://wzrdchicago.org.

    Good writers are good readers and Niño is no exception. In an October 19, 2024 interview with this journalist, he spoke of his passion for books that doesn’t end at the library where he works but follows him home, to his bed, where he sometimes sleeps with up to three books right by his side. Molly Zolnay, Niño’s wife shares his literary passion and theirs is truly a match well made. When asked about what he is currently reading, he responded:

    “As for what I am currently reading, I am assuming that you mean ‘poetry’. Here are two current favorites; Etel Adnan, I have been reading her books Time and Shifting the Silence. The other poet is Charles Wright, I reviewed his 2020 collected works Oblivion Banjo. I personally believe him to be one of the great living poets in our time. As for influences, I would say Octavio Paz, Sandra Cisneros, Gwendolyn Brooks, Joseph Brodsky, Mark Strand, Elizabeth Bishop … there are many more, but that’s a good start.”

    Niño has a variety of lofty literary influences and their inspiration can be seen in his affinity for the small, passing moments in life, which he recreated with such power it is though his vivid memories become reader’s own. His poetry has earned such respect and recognition that Gloria Dávila, a poetic peer whom he met when he was in Mexico, went on to read his entire book of poetry titled The Book of Mornings aloud on YouTube. 

    Niño has had three books of his own poetry published. Including two by March Abrazo Press:  Breathing Light (March Abrazo Press, 1991) and The Book of Mornings (March Abrazo Press, 2007.) He has also been featured at the Green Mill’s famous Uptown Poetry Slam by Marc Kelly Smith.  His most recent collection, Still Life with Hands was published by Jason Pickleman. Pickleman, was a gifted visual artist, poet, and a famous brand designer (for example, he designed the packaging for Skinny Pop Popcorn’s vibrant product). He also was a dear friend who so fervently believed in Niño’s work that Pickleman not only created the layout and design himself, but also published the book. Sadly, Jason Pickleman did not realize that publishing Niño’s book was destined to be his swan song, as Pickleman passed away just a year and a half later. 

    The book, of which there are but 100 copies made for this world, is a revelation. Each page vibrates with wit, tenderness, and clarity. Holding this little volume of poetry in one’s hands is to be entranced by a sacred text, at once intimate, luminous and transcendent. Written to honor his mother, Niño nimbly takes his reader on a voyage through his life, where love is his lifeboat. 

    Naturally shy and unassuming, Niño learned to keep a low profile early on, as his mother toiled to support him. They eventually immigrated to Northfield, where Niño attended some of the best schools in the nation. He has gone on to work at one of the best universities in the country, Northwestern University, where the library staff claims him as one of their own. It is right and proper that Northwestern University’s Library, then, is the only place in the world where one can find a copy of this precious volume of poetry. 

    To see Niño at work is to see a master of the art. The Beach Poets will feature Raúl Niño next summer on June 29th at 1:30 pm. The last word in his book, Still Life with Hands? Gratitude. It’s the reason for the season!

  • First-Ever One Man Show “Evolution of a Sonero” by Flaco Navaja Salsas with Vitality and Vocals

    First-Ever One Man Show “Evolution of a Sonero” by Flaco Navaja Salsas with Vitality and Vocals

    With the flair of a linguistic troubadour, Flaco Navaja seemed born to be on-stage as he presented his one-man show titled “Evolution of a Sonero.” Navaja both wrote and performs in the show – but much more, he sings in it. He took the audience on a thrilling ride from his parents first date, through his own life as a troubled teenager all the way through becoming a father himself, all while making comparisons of his life to the composition of salsa. His pride in his Puerto Rican heritage, and being raised as the youngest in a family of five (his parents are still married 59 years later, he announced to thunderous applause) was evident through-out the performance which skillfully blended Puerto Rican culture with living in the Bronx in New York.

    He adeptly takes the audience through the ups and downs of everyday life. Some moments hilarious, and others, intense, like the day he ruined his mother’s birthday by being caught smoking weed on his high school campus. He describes her as he sings,”5 feet tall, 80 pounds, all gangster.” Through his performance, the audience shares his fear of his diminutive firebrand of a mother, and empathizes with him as his Puerto-Rican proud, hard-working father’s blow provides a fitting crescendo to the dramatic scene.

    Directed by Miranda Gonzalez, the show has a libretto arranged by Carlos Cuevas. It was produced in the NEIU Auditorium at 3701 W. Bryn Mawr by the Urban Theatre Company in conjunction with the National Puerto Rican Museum and was backed up by a powerful band called “The Razor Blades” that never missed a beat. The band was totally in sync with the performer as the pianist directed from his place on-stage. To find out more about Navaja and his work, go to the National Puerto Rican Museum’s website.

  • SLAM FOUNDER MARC SMITH EXTENDS SHOW INTO SPACE

    SLAM FOUNDER MARC SMITH EXTENDS SHOW INTO SPACE

    • Marc Kelly Smith is the originator of the Poetry Slam, an art form that encompasses the globe. (Photo by C. Schandelmeier, May 25, 2024).
    • The Uptown Poetry Cabaret from the Green Mill Tavern is making its way to Space at 1245 Chicago, in Evanston, IL. Marc Smith hosted his second poetry reading there on May 26, 2024. (Photo by C. Schandelmeier)

    Space is the place for the Uptown Poetry Cabaret

    Marc Kelly Smith filmed on location at WZRD Chicago 88.3 FM on May 25, 2024. (Video by C. Schandelmeier)

    Envision a world where conflict is resolved through poetry, and whose creator celebrates what makes people come alive. This is the reality of life for Marc Kelly Smith (say his name, and he adds “So What?”) who is the founder and host of the Uptown Poetry Slam at the Green Mill Tavern. Hosted by Smith, it is the longest running show in the history of Chicago, and, while it was stopped during the COVID-19 lockdown, it is back up and running like a clock, on the second Sunday of each month. The doors open at 2:00 pm and the show begins at 3:00 pm. It is an incredibly popular event with standing room only. Many well-known spoken word artists from Chicago point to the beginning of their careers as happening at the Green Mill tavern under the watchful eye of Smith. 

    Fabrice Garcia-Carpintero, filmed this performance of Marc Smith while he was in Paris, France, in May, 2024. (YouTube Video used with permission).

    While he has officially become a knight, “a chevalier”  in France, where the poetry slam caught on with great fervor, and has traveled not just nationally, but internationally in the name of the poetry slam which he invented, Smith still identifies himself as a blue collar, working class guy who is humble and shy. 

    “I am an average student from the Southeast side of Chicago…I found my destiny. I never knew that I was going to be on the stage. The universe, if you open your eyes and heart will steer you in the right direction, so, I got steered in the right direction…and then I started writing love letters to Maria Elaina Rosa in high school. Then, it just kept going! I met my wife, Sandy at Western Illinois University and she loved poetry, so I started writing it – and kept on doing it ever since…” 

    Marc Smith comes alive when he is performing, as does the crowd who gets caught up in his exuberant energy. “I am a very good performer because I have been doing it for over 40 years.” He says with a sparkle of joy in his eyes. He continued, 

    “It’s kind of ironic that what the universities criticized in the late ‘80s and early 90’s is now taught. We just had a visiting Italian poet, Eleonora Fisko, from the University of Chicago, and her dissertation is on the poetry slam… I am a little leery of the institutionalization of the slam, and I don’t want it to turn into some academic exercise. It is more of a social activist thing than it is a university thing. But everything goes into the university because it is a study of culture.”

    The academics who once found his work unappealing are now using the slam in textbooks. Smith’s work is being used the basis for doctoral dissertations for people such as Eleonora Fisko from Italy. She is the new coordinator of the Students Slam Championship, and is pursuing a PhD from both the University of L’Aquila and Lausanne (Switzerland). One academic, Terrance Jacobus, (1949-2023) had been an adjunct professor at Northeastern Illinois University, as well as a DJ for WZRD Chicago 88.3 FM in its punk rock days, helped inspire the form which evolved into the slam through what he called “bouts.” Smith recalled Jacobus’ work: 

    Terry Jacobus, he had been at WZRD, he was more in the punk scene which was big at that time. He was hanging out with Jerome Sala and a few more, I forget all their names but at first, he was kind of adversarial. We were young and bumping heads. He had a classic poem like “The Raven” he changed into his own style – Terry – and – the punk scene had started a competition, and we were rivals. They assumed it was this goofy competition that made things so popular at the Green Mill. But it wasn’t! It was the performance aspect! In fact, now, I don’t even do a serious competition at the show. There is technique to performance, and that is what made things so strong.  The competition that we started at the Green Mill – it was just the last set of the show, and I kept doing it because it is like a theatrical device.  It focuses everyone’s attention. It is a downfall because – no one wants the arrogance that they see when everyone is trying to write and perform just to get the money in the pot. That is something I regret about the slam….I just started doing a podcast with the original history of it. Like what Wendell Barry said “poetry is not to glorify the poet, it is to celebrate the community around the poet.’ That is one of the principles I adopted in forming the slams over the years.”

    Emily Calvo, a well-known poet and artist, worked with Smith to create the idea of doing performances in two languages, bringing together people across the linguistic divide, through the  Speak’Easy Ensemble which creates the One Poetic Voice performance interpretation. “So many people say that they discovered the something that had been missing from their lives with poetry through my work at the Green Mill.” He said. 

    When asked about  his legacy, he responds that his hope is that great artists will be able to point to his work as the place where it all began because,  “I consider performance sacred. That is what the slam is, combining the art of poetry with the art of performing. It has changed people’s lives, truly, it has set them on a direction…there are hundreds of stories about people who came together and created poetry, but it became a saving time for me. It is an art form that makes people come alive!” In this way, the poetry slam helps people realize their hopes for a better world, and better lives. May the rest of the world catch up sometime soon.