Performance poets to present dazzling verbal pyrotechnics

The swagger and sweat of the street will trip off the tongues of some of the country's hottest poets when members of Nuyorican Poets Cafe Live! perform at 8 p.m. April 11 and 12 in the West Campus Conference Center.

Making its St. Louis premiere, the troupe of modern troubadours will deliver their verbal pyrotechnics as part of both Edison Theatre's "OVATIONS!" series and a reading series sponsored by the International Writers Center in Arts and Sciences.

Starting in the late 1980s, a loose band of New York City poets began performing in a Lower East Side club called the Nuyorican Poets Cafe. With their infectious energy, dynamic poetry and gripping descriptions of the human condition, the poets have revived the flavor of the 1950s' Beat generation while introducing the joy and power of spoken verse to the 1990s' X generation. Through club appearances, tours, TV specials and more, the Nuyoricans have fanned the fires of performance poetry to the point where spoken verse now echos regularly in cafes, clubs, libraries and church basements nationwide.

One of the prime architects of this movement -- and the artistic director of the troupe -- is Bob Holman, a decorated poet who has been described as a "poet activist" and "guru of the spoken word."

Holman and his ilk discard the notion of poetry as a highbrow art form to be quietly contemplated and placed on a pedestal. They instead seek to make it a vibrant, breathing part of everyday life -- to be performed, parodied, politicized, danced to, rapped and rewarded. One of the movement's more popular manifestations is the raucous and raw form of poetry reading called the "slam" -- a contest in which amateur and professional poets take the stage to compete for prizes based on audience reaction. The crowd members are encouraged to let their feelings about the work all hang out -- with cheers, boos, hisses and stomping of feet.

The St. Louis performances of Nuyorican Poets Cafe Live! will capture this spirit. It features Holman and other Nuyorican poets, as well as guest appearances by local poets. The Nuyorican poets include:

• Holman, a Kentucky native, has published five books and has had his work published in numerous anthologies and countless magazines. He ran the New York-based St. Mark's Poetry Project from 1977 to 1984 and was co-director and "Slam Host" of the Nuyorican Poets Cafe from 1989 to 1996. He produced "Words in Your Face," an award-winning PBS show. Holman has appeared on MTV and on numerous national TV programs, including "Nightline" and "Good Morning America."
• Edwin Torres, of the South Bronx, N.Y., is a "Nuyo-Futuristo" sound-poet performer. He has appeared in the pages of Newsweek and is described as "half-dancer, half-performer and half-poet, which makes for about one-and-a-half people -- an understatement for Torres." He is the author of a self-published chapbook titled "I Hear Things People Haven't Really Said."
• Shirley Leflore, a native St. Louisan, teaches African-American literature at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. She is known for her performance poetry and has appeared in poetry events in New York City and throughout the country. She performs poetry regularly with Spirit Stage, a five-piece jazz ensemble, and has worked with many renowned jazz artists. Leflore is working on a compact disc of poetry and music that will be released shortly. She recently performed in a short film called "Voices Underground," which was written by Broadway playwright and Tony Award nominee Reg E. Gaines.
• Samantha Coerbell, a Brooklyn, N.Y., native of Trinidadian parentage, is a poet who moonlights as a filmmaker. She has been described as a "super-fresh poet" who brings together poetry, rap and other spoken-word performance art to represent the "future of poetry."