On Feb. 18, poet Bob
Holman gave two hour-long
talks in front of a packed room.
Turnout was so overwhelming
that some audience members
sat on the floor or stood.
Holman became interested in
poetry when he realized that
hip-hop, which he loved, was
poetry set to music.
A major focus of Holman’s
talk was language. Over onehalf
of the world’s languages
will be extinct before the end
of the century; that’s one language
every two weeks.
Holman showed a portion of
film he made while traveling
around the world to chronicle
some of the world’s endangered
languages.
During his journey, Holman
visited the Griots, an African
tribe who continue to keep the
spoken tradition alive in the
era of e-mail and text messaging.
“People who have retained
their oral traditions are fierce,”
Holman said.
The Griots are so renowned
for their
oral trad
i t i o n s
that they
o f t e n
appear on
nat ional
t e l e v i –
sion.
T h e
G r i o t s
o f t e n
accompany
their
s p o k e n
w o r d
with a
kora, a
21-string
instrument made from a calabash
(a fruit). Before being
strung, the calabash is cut in
half, hollowed out, and covered
in cow skin; the entire
process takes five days.
Holman compares the Griots
to Homer, one of the world’s
first poets, who was reciting
poems long before the written
word was invented.
Holman also recited some of
his own poems, including a
poem about Egypt and a poem
about boxes that opened up
into the shape of a box. He also
engaged the audience with a
poem about thought.
Holman showed the audience
“A Couple of Ways of Doing
Something,” a book he collaborated
on with artist Chuck
Close. The book combines
Close’s pictures – the originals
etched on metal plates – with
Holman’s poetry, the poetry
often reflecting on the picture
in some way.
In addition, Holman spoke
about poetry growth into literature
worthiness.
Holman also answered questions
from the audience. He
spoke about poetry slams,
which he helped make famous
and which are now performed
regularly at the Bowery Poetry
Club in New York City, which
he founded.
Poetry slams are competitions
at which poets read or
recite work out loud. The performances
are then judged on a
scale from 1-10 by previously
selected members of the audience.