Drew Gardner's Poetics Orchestra

peformed on Sunday with poets Nada Gordon and Kimberly Lyons. There were readings as well by Gary Sullivan, Kimberly Lyons, Mitch Highfill, Brenda IIjima and others before and after sets with the Orchestra. Nada, who was in spectacular form yesterday at the BPC was brought back, not suprisingly, for an encore at the end of the Orchestra's second set.

I am going to try very hard not to sound overly melodramatic- I admit I sometimes have a tendency to exagerrate in favor of work I wish to be noticed- but I've had such an experience of watching a ripening talent like Nada's hit the stratosphere enough times in my life to know what it looks like, and a few of these were: Buddy Holly at the Brooklyn Paramount in 1958, Ted Berrigan at St Mark's in 1966, Blondie at CBGB's in 1975, and Holly Hughes at the Wow Cafe in 1985. If you weren't there, and probably you weren't, you should do everything in your power to watch Nada Gordon perform as soon as possible. Nada read mostly from her new book *Folly*, Her second set involved a section of her new Roof Book in which three girls rap while trying on clothes at Target, who somehow manage to teach each other-and us-more about life and postmodern philosophy than a barrel full of Derridas ever could hope to; she ended the set with a heartbreakingly funny, hypnotically repetitive recital of a part of a song made famous by none other than Dean Martin: "when the moon hits your eye." And I'm here to tell you the audience knew it did. Other awesome performances took place on the BPC stage yesterday as well: Gary Sullivan's grandmother was hilariously portrayed as doing things with her gastrointestinal system that would qualify her for a Barnum and Bailey acrobatic contract, and employed his voice in ways that made me sometimes wonder if he was channeling beings from another dimension and it all starts to remind me of a comic from my chlldhood called Plastic Man; Kimberly Lyons read some of her most deftly charged, nostalgically lyrical works excellently with the Orchestra as well (who were also in top form today, by the way, under Drew's able baton}; Mitch Highfill read with that terrific baritone voice of his from his upcoming "Abraham Lincoln" (from new publisher K. Silem Mohammad) chapbook *Mothlight* as well as one poem from his new chapbook-Rebis- just out from seasoned publisher Christina Strong's Openmouth Press, and Brenda Iijima surprised the audience with handstands, bravely defying ringing cellphones and crying babies with poetry that for moments still somehow transported me back to recent quiet states of reverie in the varied moods of Cape Cod's waves and clouds, partly, it seems, by means of her frequent mentions of sunscreen; Jill Stengel was followed by Sean Cole, whose wit and polished verbal pyrotechnics concluded this day of shining performances with the glittering bright finish it well deserved.

I left sorry that I had only been able to attend only one of the Boog City events, as this one well qualified for one the best sawbucks I've ever spent. And I keep reading that ubiquitous mag in newsprint form published by David Kirschenbaum with pleasure every time I find it..

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Ha-Ha America: Antonioni and the Importance of Being Earnest

New Beauty from the Old World

via wood s lot