FIRE ROUND

Tongo Eisen-Martin

I recently saw the San Francisco Poet Laureate Tongo Eisen-Martin give a reading at Beyond Baroque in Venice Beach. Tongo was not reading his poetry out of book or with any notes, instead he recited every line from memory. His parlance raised and lowered, the content and his real time reaction to it controlled his dictation and meter. The outcome was quite exceptional, like watching someone possessed by a spirit; the poetry had force and electricity. Thinking back on the reading, the most appropriate line of questioning I could imagine was a fire round, so here it is. Chloe