‘Sill girl’ poetry
I he seven-member poetry
troupe Oratrix brings
its show to Sam Bond’s
Garage this weekend
By Natasha Chilingerian
Pulse Reporter
Oratrix an all-female queer slam
poetry troupe from Seattle, will hit Eu
gene on Saturday as the last stop on
their "All Girl. All Words." tour.
The seven members — Katinka
Kraft, Brenda Brown, Alexandria Red,
Tara Hardy, Amy Mahoney, Gigi
Grinstad and Kristin Aurora — are
taking their poems on their first tour
after a one-year performance period
in Seattle. Oratrix left for Oregon and
California last Saturday and has al
ready appeared in Portland, San
Francisco, Davis, Calif., Sacramento,
Calif., and San Jose, Calif. They per
form fast-paced individual and group
slam poems on topics including pol
itics and sex.
"Our mission is to write and to tell,
and to encourage others to write and to
tell, especially queers," 1 lardy said.
Three years ago, I lardy said she was
one of two queer poets in Seattle that
she knew of, so she decided to open a
writing institute for queer writers so she
could meet others like herself.
"I was lonely, and 1 wanted other
queer poets to join me," she said.
While teaching at her school, The
Bent Institute, Hardy met the future
members of Oratrix and they worked
on pieces together for two years be
fore taking the stage.
"We were the core group from the
writing class," Mahoney said. "We
went far and beyond what the class
did for us by starting the troupe."
Oratrix, which means "she who
speaks" in Latin, did their first show
in September 2002 at a poetry house
in Seattle. Shortly after, they per
formed at several universities in
Washington and Oregon. Kraft said
their biggest success so far was work
ing at Bumbershoot, a four-day arts
festival in Seattle. At Bumbershoot,
Oratrix performed and taught a work
shop on writing group poetry.
"We are unique because we write
many of our poems together" Kraft said.
Hardy described the show as "daz
zling, shocking, high-energy, intense
and fun" and said the poets speak
about thought-provoking topics such
as social class, break-ups, gender, race,
graphic sexuality and their opposition
to President Bush.
"Art is a powerful social change
tool, and we're all about it," she said.
Mahoney said the members come
from diverse backgrounds, which al
lows them to cover many different is
sues in their poems.
“The beauty of our troupe is that we
show how differences can comple
ment each other so well," she said.
Besides scoring a tour and perform
ing at Bumbershoot, Mahoney said
Oratrix has succeeded at building a
community of queer poets.
"At The Bent Institute, we were able
to work with other queer artists, pro
mote them and network with them,"
she said.
Kraft said the troupe hopes to con
tinue growing as performers and ex
pressing themselves verbally.
"We are inventing ourselves and
creating ourselves as female perform
ers and saying what we need to say,"
she said.
Oratrix will perform Saturday at 9:30
pm. at Sam Bond's Garage, located at
407 Blair Blvd. Tickets are $5.
Contact the Pulse reporter at
natashachilingerian@dailyemeraki.com.
Williams’ unique poem spreads words of change
Saul Williams’ third book
contains one 178-page
poem about revolution,
freedom and a single kiss
By Aaron Shakra
Pulse Editor
People often respond to written
work with the statement that it
"spoke" to them. The unique thing
about Saul Williams' poetry is not just
its power to speak to us, but its ability
to enable people to become speakers
themselves. I lis newest book of poet
ry, "said the shotgun to the head," was
released in mid-September.
Ihis is Williams' third book of po
ems — after "The Seventh Octave"
and "She" — although here, there is
only one long piece, splayed across
10 sections and 178 pages. The num
bers aren't as grandiose as they
sound, and given the amount of text
on each page, let's just say everyone
will find this book a page turner. On
average, each consists of no more
than a few sentences, printed in
large text with different typefaces
(and Williams' own handwriting).
Some might consider this a prose
poem because it does tell a story.
Williams prefaces the poem in the
introduction, saying the book was
motivated by a kiss.
"Have you ever been kissed by
God? ... Here is the account of a
man so ravished by a kiss that it dis
torts his highest and lowest frequen
cies of understanding," he writes.
"He wanders the streets disheveled
and tormented by all that he sees
that does not reflect her love. He is a
wondering man, sort of like a mod
ern day John the Baptist, telling of
the coming of a female messiah that
he has known intimately."
The title is perhaps misleading for
a book about a kiss. And while
Williams often likens the kiss-giver
to a deity, there is no doubt that he
is speaking more broadly of female
divinity. The message is an embrace
of femininity as a whole. The poet
believes this power will act as a
healing force in America's present
day legacy of patriarchy, militarism
and self-centeredness. Section five,
perhaps the poem's thesis state
ment, explicates these themes in po
litical manner. One section reads, "a
truth that mushrooms / its dark
ened cloud / over the rest of us / so
that we too / bear witness / to the
short lived fate / of a civilization /
that worships / a male god/ The
next page makes the pointed state
ment: "Your weapons / are phallic /
all of them."
Turn to POETRY, page 10
?■
Orion Trist Freelance Photographer
Saul Williams performs at the fifth-annual 911 Power to the Peaceful Festival in San Francisco on Sept. 6.
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