Brian Ellis-“Self-Portrait” 

I’m not a big fan of slam poetry/spoken word.  I haven’t seen very much of it, but what I have encountered hasn’t made me go looking for more.  Sometimes I feel I should be more into it because I’m all about literature and I’m all about theater, but slam poetry just doesn’t do it for me.  I think part of my aversion comes from the fact that slam poetry has its own identity, history and conventions separate from any other art form, but when I witness it I still try to judge it based on the stodgy old academic criteria that has been drilled into my head after so many years of school.

That being said, I fucking love the poetry of Brian Ellis. Brian is a friend of mine who lives in JP and is one of the hot shots of the Boston slam poetry scene.  He has won all kinds of awards on the local and national level and toured internationally performing. He put out his first book and CD a few months ago and I’m a big fan of both.

I had a lot of trouble deciding which poem would serve as the best introduction to what he does. And while you really have to see him in person to get the full experience I thought this one entitled “Self-Portrait” would work pretty well. Listening to it can get me pretty riled up.