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Though I try to keep an eye on the poetry beat, my efforts are woefully inadequate. Today I’ll do better. In Donna Seaman’s review of Kevin Coval’s Everyday People in the December 1 issue of Booklist, it caught my eye when Donna noted that the white, Jewish, suburban-raised hip-hop poet’s works contain “beef jerky and sandalwood incense.” And if that doesn’t pique your curiosity, too, I don’t know what will.

It doesn’t? What would you say if I told you that Coval has received mad props from both Studs Terkel and Mos Def?

I knew that would get you. Anyway, the printed page is only one way to encounter Mr. Coval. Live is another. A third would be audio or video of a live performance. You know where I’m going with this, don’t you? You can get free audio downloads at www.kevincoval.com, you can find interviews and such on his publisher’s site, and he’s all over the YouTube.

Personally, I tend to favor the classical forms–whither the villanelle?–but I must say, the kid’s got talent.

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 4th, 2008 at 12:34 pm and is filed under Chicago, Poetry. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.