Elmslie, Kenward 1981
On the blackboard there comes the couple
Trudging along rusty railroad tracks in sneakers
On their way to the annual money crop square dance.
– Kenward Elmslie, “Alabama”
Vintage poster of Poetry in Motion: a film by Ron Mann with Amiri Baraka, Ted Berrigan, Charles Bukowski, William Burroughs, John Cage, Robert Creeley, Diane Di Prima, Kenward Elmslie, Allen Ginsberg, Michael McClure, Ed Sanders, Gary Snyder, Tom Waits, Anne Waldman at the Poetry Center of Chicago.
Watch a clip of Kenward Elmslie in Ron Mann’s documentary, “Poetry in Motion:”
Kenward Elmslie
a clip from Ron Mann’s documentary, Poetry in Motion (1981)
How to tell fringe people from yourself, himself, us, you, her?
They hunt for clean central beds full of lovers to deceive.
When they enter rooms, the most valuable still-life shatters.
They scream “Trap!”, deliberately trip (won’t get up, ever leave).
– Kenward Elmslie, “Fringe People”
