WEBVTT 1 00:00:05.080 --> 00:00:07.919 Hello everyone, it's your host, Amanda Eka, and I have 2 00:00:08.039 --> 00:00:12.439 some amazing news. Starting this fall, The Poet Speaks is 3 00:00:12.439 --> 00:00:14.199 coming to your TV screens. 4 00:00:14.519 --> 00:00:15.199 Yes, that's right. 5 00:00:15.240 --> 00:00:18.839 After eight amazing seasons as a podcast, poet Speaks with 6 00:00:18.879 --> 00:00:22.280 Amanda Eka is now a TV show, airing out the 7 00:00:22.359 --> 00:00:25.960 Archaeology Channel's new streaming service, Heritage. Everyone, get ready for 8 00:00:25.960 --> 00:00:29.440 a visual feast, spoken word performances, and deep dives into 9 00:00:29.440 --> 00:00:32.399 the minds of poets from all over the world. Now, 10 00:00:32.479 --> 00:00:35.159 something extraordinary is coming and you won't want to miss 11 00:00:35.200 --> 00:00:38.840 a single moment. Stay tuned. Hello everyone, and welcome back 12 00:00:38.880 --> 00:00:41.840 to the Poet Speaks Podcast. Now, our next guest is 13 00:00:41.880 --> 00:00:45.679 a spoken word pioneer, having won the Newerkan Poets Cafe 14 00:00:45.880 --> 00:00:48.880 Grand Slam, Who's a featured poet at the twenty twenty 15 00:00:48.920 --> 00:00:52.280 two Whitney Biennial and received the two thousand and six 16 00:00:52.439 --> 00:00:55.600 Writers for Writers Award from Poets and Writers. He's a 17 00:00:55.640 --> 00:00:58.039 teaching artist at the Kennedy Center for the Arts and 18 00:00:58.200 --> 00:01:01.000 is one of the inaugural recipients of the twenty twenty 19 00:01:01.000 --> 00:01:05.799 three James Baldwin Fellowship from the Mason Baldwin Paris, France. 20 00:01:06.120 --> 00:01:08.799 His work appears in over thirty anthologies, and he has 21 00:01:08.799 --> 00:01:12.599 shared the stage with Patti Smith, Alan Ginsburg and through 22 00:01:12.599 --> 00:01:17.640 Howard Zen's Portraits projects, and NYU has performed Stanley Tucci, 23 00:01:17.760 --> 00:01:23.040 Jesse Eisenberg and Loupe Fiasco. Everybody, please, welcome to the podcast. 24 00:01:23.480 --> 00:01:25.359 Reggie Cabico, Reggie, how are you? 25 00:01:26.000 --> 00:01:29.480 I'm great, Hello, Amanda. I'm excited to be here. 26 00:01:29.640 --> 00:01:32.840 Absolutely now, and I got excited just reading your bio. 27 00:01:33.239 --> 00:01:37.120 My goodness, you are a legend in the game. I 28 00:01:37.159 --> 00:01:40.040 mean that is amazing the things you've done and where 29 00:01:40.079 --> 00:01:42.200 you came from and then where you're at now. So 30 00:01:42.879 --> 00:01:45.159 first and foremost, tell us where are we speaking up 31 00:01:45.200 --> 00:01:48.680 to you from today? What beautiful part of this beautiful world? 32 00:01:49.040 --> 00:01:49.280 Right? 33 00:01:49.400 --> 00:01:53.599 I'm coming to you live from Washington, DC, d C, 34 00:01:54.079 --> 00:01:54.439 d C. 35 00:01:55.079 --> 00:01:57.400 So, Reggie, tell me were you born and bred in 36 00:01:57.480 --> 00:01:59.760 d C? Or is there are you a transplant? As 37 00:01:59.760 --> 00:02:02.280 an don't tell me a little bit about your background. 38 00:02:02.280 --> 00:02:03.799 Where did you grow up? Yeah? 39 00:02:03.840 --> 00:02:07.640 Well, I'm the child of Filipino immigrants born in Baltimore, Maryland, 40 00:02:08.280 --> 00:02:12.599 and my family, you know, moved to southern Maryland, so 41 00:02:12.919 --> 00:02:14.759 you know, twenty minutes outside of DC. 42 00:02:15.560 --> 00:02:17.680 Actually where I grew up in Clinton, Maryland. 43 00:02:18.560 --> 00:02:23.479 Is where after John Wilksbooth assassinated Abraham Lincoln, he hid 44 00:02:23.560 --> 00:02:28.080 in a tavern in my in my little hometown of Clinton, Maryland. 45 00:02:28.719 --> 00:02:33.319 So there are lots of gross Cornfield's tobacco, very redneck 46 00:02:34.120 --> 00:02:38.960 and African American. And then just the beginning of Filipinos, 47 00:02:39.560 --> 00:02:43.400 you know, that were in Clinton, Maryland. So I did 48 00:02:43.439 --> 00:02:49.680 not grow up with a lot of Filipino representation growing up, 49 00:02:50.919 --> 00:02:53.599 and so I think as a poet, I think that 50 00:02:53.639 --> 00:02:56.400 really informed my writing because I wanted to really talk 51 00:02:56.400 --> 00:03:01.199 about being the child of immigrants and the Filipino American experience. 52 00:03:01.599 --> 00:03:03.680 So some of that's in my poetry. 53 00:03:04.360 --> 00:03:10.080 Absolutely. Tell me a bit about that idea. What you know, 54 00:03:10.120 --> 00:03:13.439 the immigrant story is something that's very It hits home 55 00:03:13.479 --> 00:03:16.479 for a lot of people, right, And I think even 56 00:03:16.520 --> 00:03:19.280 as someone I'm a child of immigrants too, I think 57 00:03:19.319 --> 00:03:21.360 to even be in the field of whether it be 58 00:03:21.960 --> 00:03:26.240 the arts, writing media, that's usually not the first thing. 59 00:03:26.439 --> 00:03:30.400 Maybe your parents had an idea for you to grow 60 00:03:30.479 --> 00:03:32.360 up and this is how you be and this is 61 00:03:32.400 --> 00:03:35.400 what you choose as a living, right, tell me a 62 00:03:35.400 --> 00:03:39.319 bit about how was your family very supportive of your 63 00:03:39.520 --> 00:03:41.759 career as a poet, as a writer. 64 00:03:43.439 --> 00:03:46.800 It wasn't as a writer. It was really as a performer. 65 00:03:46.919 --> 00:03:49.479 I was reciting stories when I was three years old. 66 00:03:49.919 --> 00:03:52.240 I would memorize them and like sort of live in 67 00:03:52.280 --> 00:03:56.360 the trance of speaking. So even if they weren't supportive, 68 00:03:56.719 --> 00:04:00.759 they really couldn't stop me anyway, because I was all ways, 69 00:04:01.319 --> 00:04:05.759 you know, memorizing stories and reciting them. And you know, 70 00:04:05.800 --> 00:04:07.719 I think that that was the beginning. 71 00:04:07.439 --> 00:04:08.120 Of spoken word. 72 00:04:08.199 --> 00:04:12.639 Listening to records, record players, Yeah, that's how long ago. 73 00:04:12.719 --> 00:04:18.160 It was little forty five, forty five records that told 74 00:04:18.199 --> 00:04:23.439 you fairy tales and Disney stories and reciting that all 75 00:04:23.480 --> 00:04:26.839 of that is poetry. Listening to the Wizard of Oz, 76 00:04:27.600 --> 00:04:32.759 all of that just has hyperbole and imagery and creatures. 77 00:04:33.240 --> 00:04:36.959 So I think that that was my introduction to spoken words. 78 00:04:37.000 --> 00:04:40.680 So in answer to the question, I think my family 79 00:04:40.800 --> 00:04:43.439 knew that that that's what I was going to be. 80 00:04:43.480 --> 00:04:47.079 An entertainer actually a performer. 81 00:04:47.120 --> 00:04:50.519 And then I would probably say an entertainer as well, 82 00:04:50.560 --> 00:04:52.000 because you know. 83 00:04:51.959 --> 00:04:53.199 I look at poetry. 84 00:04:55.000 --> 00:04:57.319 Yeah, I look at poetry as a way of entertaining 85 00:04:58.079 --> 00:05:02.839 and finding that that poe try is theatrical and it 86 00:05:02.879 --> 00:05:05.800 can be funny, and it can be serious and so 87 00:05:06.439 --> 00:05:09.879 I sort of look at poems from that perspective. 88 00:05:11.040 --> 00:05:13.040 But you know, I write poems in. 89 00:05:13.079 --> 00:05:16.040 Order to perform, so I think that that is the 90 00:05:16.120 --> 00:05:18.600 vehicle for me. I don't write songs, I don't play 91 00:05:18.600 --> 00:05:22.839 the guitar, but I have my poems and that's like 92 00:05:22.920 --> 00:05:26.079 a pocket full of stories if you will. 93 00:05:27.079 --> 00:05:27.399 Yeah. 94 00:05:27.439 --> 00:05:31.240 Absolutely, What tell me when did the kind of a 95 00:05:31.279 --> 00:05:35.199 poetry bug? When did that actually hit you though? Was 96 00:05:35.240 --> 00:05:37.399 it did it find you or did you find it? 97 00:05:37.480 --> 00:05:40.120 Was it in childhood, young adulthood? When did you actually 98 00:05:40.199 --> 00:05:42.879 kind of lift it up and take it? 99 00:05:43.399 --> 00:05:48.560 That's a good question, thanks, Amanda. I found poetry after college. 100 00:05:49.160 --> 00:05:52.680 Like truthfully, you were looking at the nineteen nineties and 101 00:05:52.759 --> 00:05:56.480 the term multiculturalism, which is I think such a nineties 102 00:05:56.560 --> 00:06:01.199 dated word. That was the beginning of multicultural So by that, 103 00:06:01.920 --> 00:06:04.360 I mean if you walked into a bookstore, you would 104 00:06:04.399 --> 00:06:11.399 see Asian and American anthologies, LATINX anthologies, African American anthologies, 105 00:06:11.519 --> 00:06:15.040 Erotic Asian anthologies. 106 00:06:14.279 --> 00:06:16.240 And so in the very beginning of. 107 00:06:16.240 --> 00:06:20.120 The nineties, as a poet, there was a space for me. 108 00:06:20.959 --> 00:06:23.319 And I remember one of the. 109 00:06:22.879 --> 00:06:28.560 Books I was anthologizing is an Asian American Erotica anthology 110 00:06:28.639 --> 00:06:30.279 called on a Bed of Rice. 111 00:06:31.360 --> 00:06:34.600 You believe that title On a bed of rice that 112 00:06:34.800 --> 00:06:38.759 would not float today, on a bed of rice, And 113 00:06:38.800 --> 00:06:41.879 there was like a half naked Asian woman and you 114 00:06:41.920 --> 00:06:44.680 could see like a nippo outline, and. 115 00:06:44.600 --> 00:06:46.639 I'm just like, I'm a bed of rice. 116 00:06:46.879 --> 00:06:52.959 Really, back to the nineties, things weren't as triggering. Yeah, 117 00:06:53.000 --> 00:06:55.040 and you were just happy to have a book. I 118 00:06:55.160 --> 00:06:58.839 was happy to be in a book. Right, I'm just 119 00:06:58.920 --> 00:07:02.319 happy to be seen or heard as Filipinos because we're 120 00:07:02.319 --> 00:07:06.639 not on the mainstream. And so going back to being 121 00:07:06.680 --> 00:07:09.480 a child of immigrant, you have parents that are like, 122 00:07:09.560 --> 00:07:12.240 you have to make succeed, you have to do this, 123 00:07:12.560 --> 00:07:15.319 you know, stay in school. You're going to be like 124 00:07:16.639 --> 00:07:20.079 a doctor or a lawyer or something like that. Right, 125 00:07:20.160 --> 00:07:21.920 it's not going to be like yes, and you're going 126 00:07:22.000 --> 00:07:23.399 to be a poet ranchie. 127 00:07:23.639 --> 00:07:24.600 So yeah, going. 128 00:07:24.399 --> 00:07:27.000 Back to that, I think people are afraid of poetry, 129 00:07:27.120 --> 00:07:33.519 and certainly in the Philippines, poetry is such a antiquated 130 00:07:33.720 --> 00:07:40.759 oral tradition. It's more like debate, debate and rhythmic skills 131 00:07:40.800 --> 00:07:45.959 called balik tassan. So that's the kind of oral performance. 132 00:07:46.800 --> 00:07:49.360 But I don't even think my parents knew any of 133 00:07:49.360 --> 00:07:53.639 that anyway, or even what poetry was, or even if 134 00:07:53.680 --> 00:07:57.000 they even read books, right, or even if they read 135 00:07:57.000 --> 00:08:00.480 a newspaper. Right. My parents were busy trying to trying 136 00:08:00.480 --> 00:08:03.519 to work. And I have a mom he's a Filipino nurse, 137 00:08:03.560 --> 00:08:07.839 and dads from the Navy. So but certainly getting my 138 00:08:07.959 --> 00:08:11.600 experience out there is probably the reason why I am 139 00:08:11.639 --> 00:08:16.079 a poet. I think because being a child of immigrants, 140 00:08:16.120 --> 00:08:21.000 you're always invisible in the background, and you're having to translate, 141 00:08:21.600 --> 00:08:25.279 and you live in two worlds. You're never fully Filipino, 142 00:08:25.399 --> 00:08:31.120 you're never fully American, you're only Filipino American. Yes, it's 143 00:08:32.080 --> 00:08:33.919 you know, you could look at that as a power, 144 00:08:34.000 --> 00:08:37.519 or you could look at that as being an outcast. 145 00:08:38.399 --> 00:08:42.480 And sometimes there's a power in being the outsider, and 146 00:08:42.679 --> 00:08:46.480 there's a power, there's a power by being able to 147 00:08:46.600 --> 00:08:51.639 move as a float back and forth sometimes between worlds. 148 00:08:52.080 --> 00:08:56.120 Absolutely, now I completely agree with you the idea of 149 00:08:56.159 --> 00:08:57.519 the in between generation. 150 00:08:57.679 --> 00:08:58.080 Almost. 151 00:08:58.120 --> 00:09:01.279 I feel like, like I remember there was some research 152 00:09:01.639 --> 00:09:05.360 I did. It's like called generation one point five. You're 153 00:09:05.399 --> 00:09:08.559 not quite fully American, but you're also not quite from 154 00:09:08.600 --> 00:09:12.759 your motherland, right, so you being Filipino American, you're kind 155 00:09:12.799 --> 00:09:16.879 of a dual, dual reality that you've been living in 156 00:09:17.279 --> 00:09:20.559 or at home, you're probably one way, then outside you 157 00:09:20.639 --> 00:09:22.960 act a different way, but you still have those kind 158 00:09:23.000 --> 00:09:26.320 of thoughts. How much, like you said, like that you 159 00:09:26.360 --> 00:09:29.440 feel like that's a superpower for your writing, especially could 160 00:09:29.480 --> 00:09:30.879 you maybe expand more on that. 161 00:09:32.600 --> 00:09:36.720 It's a superpower because you are taking your experience and 162 00:09:36.759 --> 00:09:46.000 you're sending it out and really depicting what that other 163 00:09:46.080 --> 00:09:49.879 world is like and what those and you're reporting on 164 00:09:50.039 --> 00:09:53.879 those stories, and it's not the same old little house 165 00:09:53.960 --> 00:09:57.399 of the prairie shit that you're going to be hearing 166 00:09:57.519 --> 00:10:02.000 or that you've heard all the time. So I think 167 00:10:02.039 --> 00:10:07.039 that it is a superpower. And it's also that I'm 168 00:10:07.080 --> 00:10:10.840 sure childhood immigrants might even share my stories, and that 169 00:10:12.080 --> 00:10:17.039 you're also disconnected from your parents' homelands and disconnected culturally 170 00:10:17.279 --> 00:10:21.320 and sometimes to the language. So there is that disconnect. 171 00:10:21.879 --> 00:10:26.000 And it's also that the ancestors that you have, like 172 00:10:26.320 --> 00:10:28.399 we don't even have the like some of us do 173 00:10:28.480 --> 00:10:32.840 not have the privilege of ancestry, right, And then people 174 00:10:32.879 --> 00:10:36.120 could say, well, I'm related to so and so, and 175 00:10:37.279 --> 00:10:41.200 I can't really say that I'm related to Queen Elizabeth, Right, 176 00:10:41.879 --> 00:10:48.759 but I'm like, well, I'm descended from indigenous farm workers, right. 177 00:10:48.720 --> 00:10:49.840 Like, who is that? 178 00:10:50.080 --> 00:10:55.600 Right? So you really do feel disconnected, not just from 179 00:10:56.000 --> 00:11:02.720 that outside American or other world, also disconnected from lineage 180 00:11:02.960 --> 00:11:07.000 and history, and so there is a disconnect. And so 181 00:11:07.679 --> 00:11:10.240 I think your whole life, you're just trying to connect. 182 00:11:10.879 --> 00:11:15.320 And so poetry becomes this vital vehicle in order to 183 00:11:15.600 --> 00:11:17.600 connect with other people. 184 00:11:18.440 --> 00:11:22.200 Absolutely, absolutely, you know, now kind of you know, we've 185 00:11:22.240 --> 00:11:24.120 heard a little bit about your just background, your head. 186 00:11:24.200 --> 00:11:28.360 Now let's kind of dive into your illustrious career. I 187 00:11:28.399 --> 00:11:30.279 want to ask you. I'm going to make you blush 188 00:11:30.320 --> 00:11:34.240 a little bit. But you're described as a spoken word pioneer. 189 00:11:34.960 --> 00:11:37.720 I mean, those are such fighting words, those are such 190 00:11:37.799 --> 00:11:41.559 heavy words. The gravity of being able having that said 191 00:11:41.559 --> 00:11:44.559 about you, I mean, what is it meant to you? 192 00:11:44.720 --> 00:11:48.440 I mean, just being given this title as people describe 193 00:11:48.480 --> 00:11:50.279 you as a pioneer in your field. 194 00:11:51.840 --> 00:11:57.320 Wow, thank you for that question. Being a pioneer means 195 00:11:57.360 --> 00:12:01.600 that I started. I was at the very beginning of 196 00:12:01.720 --> 00:12:04.159 the movement, which is the poetry Slam. 197 00:12:04.519 --> 00:12:06.240 So my first. 198 00:12:05.799 --> 00:12:09.360 Time reading around at the Eurekan Poet's Cafe was around 199 00:12:09.720 --> 00:12:15.559 nineteen ninety three, and so at that point, the poetry slam, 200 00:12:15.720 --> 00:12:19.720 which is an American art form. It's the competitive art 201 00:12:19.799 --> 00:12:23.320 of performance poetry. A poet reads a poem without costume, 202 00:12:23.399 --> 00:12:28.519 music or perhaps and you get scored zero to ten, 203 00:12:28.679 --> 00:12:32.879 like the Olympics. So in this form, you're creating a 204 00:12:33.000 --> 00:12:40.519 three minute texts poetic texts, monologue stories within three minutes, 205 00:12:41.080 --> 00:12:44.759 and you're really trying to captivate an audience with just 206 00:12:44.960 --> 00:12:51.600 words and your voice and your physicality and your stage presence. 207 00:12:52.399 --> 00:12:59.039 So for me, that was the art form that I 208 00:12:59.080 --> 00:13:05.519 became someone who defined what that would be. And so 209 00:13:05.799 --> 00:13:08.080 when I was ready to hit the New Rekan poet's cafe, 210 00:13:08.679 --> 00:13:11.039 there were a few people who memorized their poems, but 211 00:13:11.799 --> 00:13:14.120 I did not have a literary background. So when I 212 00:13:14.200 --> 00:13:18.240 was performing my poems, I would memorize the poems and 213 00:13:18.240 --> 00:13:21.360 I would look at them as you know, little short 214 00:13:21.440 --> 00:13:24.279 monologues that you would audition for for as an actor 215 00:13:24.519 --> 00:13:29.720 or even a Broadway showstopper without music. So I really 216 00:13:30.440 --> 00:13:33.080 when I started to perform, I was the first openly 217 00:13:33.240 --> 00:13:38.559 queer and Filipino a poet who really. 218 00:13:38.320 --> 00:13:39.639 Succeeded in the forum. 219 00:13:39.799 --> 00:13:42.360 And so I later won the ne Eurekan Poet's Cafe 220 00:13:42.480 --> 00:13:44.799 Grand Slam Champion and at that. 221 00:13:44.879 --> 00:13:48.919 Point MTV what they were recording thirty. 222 00:13:48.639 --> 00:13:52.480 Minute poetry videos that I was able to have that recorded, 223 00:13:52.600 --> 00:13:55.480 and then I was on tour with Lallapalooza with the 224 00:13:55.480 --> 00:14:00.919 Beastie Boys and Smashing Pumpkins and George Clinton. Immediately I 225 00:14:00.960 --> 00:14:07.000 was thrown into a spotlight, not knowing what this world was, 226 00:14:08.000 --> 00:14:12.240 of what spoken word poetry, performance poetry, slam poetry was, 227 00:14:12.559 --> 00:14:15.679 but I was actually doing it and I was succeeding 228 00:14:16.240 --> 00:14:20.080 in that art form. So I just think it's important 229 00:14:20.120 --> 00:14:24.679 because spoken word poetry is ephemeral, and when I was performing, 230 00:14:24.720 --> 00:14:28.080 there was no YouTube at the time, and so there 231 00:14:28.200 --> 00:14:31.600 was no way to record footage from nineteen ninety three 232 00:14:32.120 --> 00:14:34.799 in the way that you have it. And if you 233 00:14:34.879 --> 00:14:39.960 don't put yourself out there, every young twenty year old 234 00:14:40.000 --> 00:14:42.200 is going to say they invented it, they started it. 235 00:14:43.120 --> 00:14:47.120 I do think it's important for especially the slam poets 236 00:14:47.120 --> 00:14:52.440 in the nineties to really archive and to remember where 237 00:14:52.919 --> 00:14:57.600 this all evolved and where this came from. And it's 238 00:14:57.639 --> 00:15:00.360 hard to say whether slam poetry is going to have 239 00:15:00.519 --> 00:15:08.399 its own literary are name like you have beats, the beats, 240 00:15:08.679 --> 00:15:12.080 And then I remember when I was, you know, reading 241 00:15:12.159 --> 00:15:14.799 at the Eurekan Poet's Cafe, New York Magazine said the 242 00:15:14.840 --> 00:15:18.799 beats are back, and I think all of us that 243 00:15:18.840 --> 00:15:21.639 we're performing at the time just really hated the comparison, like, 244 00:15:22.200 --> 00:15:27.159 we are not the beats, We're not white people in 245 00:15:27.279 --> 00:15:33.240 a cafe with Bob Dylan. It's just not that. And 246 00:15:33.279 --> 00:15:37.679 slam poets, like beat poetry would be really long and elongated, 247 00:15:38.080 --> 00:15:42.360 and slam poets are very terse and it's only three minutes. 248 00:15:43.120 --> 00:15:48.000 So a lot of differences. But really they should say 249 00:15:48.039 --> 00:15:51.159 that indigenous people are back, or people of color are back, 250 00:15:51.840 --> 00:15:54.480 or queer people are back, because the people who succeeded 251 00:15:54.480 --> 00:15:58.679 in the poetry slam were bipoc poets and queer poets 252 00:15:59.120 --> 00:16:02.799 because they were speaking a kind of truth that is 253 00:16:02.840 --> 00:16:06.240 not heard. And to be openly clear in the nineties 254 00:16:06.639 --> 00:16:10.480 was a heroic, courageous act because there are a lot 255 00:16:10.559 --> 00:16:14.320 of poets who were closeted, and so to say that 256 00:16:14.360 --> 00:16:16.600 you're openly queer about them was a huge deal. 257 00:16:17.320 --> 00:16:21.120 Yeah, no, absolutely, I'm so curious. I mean, you know, 258 00:16:22.000 --> 00:16:24.440 being able to spread the word, like you said, as 259 00:16:24.600 --> 00:16:27.279 openly queer that that in itself is such an act 260 00:16:27.320 --> 00:16:30.480 of bravery, especially at that time period. But I also 261 00:16:30.559 --> 00:16:33.399 kind of want to dig into what does that even 262 00:16:33.519 --> 00:16:36.919 feel like? You know, did you how old were you 263 00:16:37.000 --> 00:16:40.840 when kind of that MTV the really thing started going 264 00:16:40.840 --> 00:16:42.600 into a whirlwind for your career? 265 00:16:43.000 --> 00:16:43.919 How old were you? 266 00:16:44.120 --> 00:16:46.759 I mean? And at that point these things are all 267 00:16:46.840 --> 00:16:50.600 happening at once. I mean, where is your mind even 268 00:16:50.639 --> 00:16:53.440 at Can you even process fully what was going on? 269 00:16:54.440 --> 00:16:59.720 I could not process what the fuck was going on. 270 00:16:59.840 --> 00:17:04.839 I had no idea because it was just I read 271 00:17:04.880 --> 00:17:06.720 a poem and then I get a standing ovation, and 272 00:17:06.759 --> 00:17:10.000 then I win something, and then I'm going on tour 273 00:17:10.839 --> 00:17:13.279 and I'm. 274 00:17:12.680 --> 00:17:14.119 Just not used to that. 275 00:17:14.279 --> 00:17:18.640 And like, I knew that after that, I'd have to 276 00:17:18.680 --> 00:17:19.960 get better as a writer. 277 00:17:20.640 --> 00:17:21.319 I knew that. 278 00:17:21.680 --> 00:17:25.319 I just I had to back it up right and 279 00:17:25.359 --> 00:17:27.720 I had to develop. I had to learn, and I 280 00:17:27.759 --> 00:17:31.119 had to be a better writer. But it did open 281 00:17:31.200 --> 00:17:35.839 the doors for me to also do theater work and 282 00:17:35.920 --> 00:17:39.880 performance work and solo shows at the same time. So 283 00:17:41.480 --> 00:17:45.839 I really developed a lot during that time, and I 284 00:17:46.839 --> 00:17:50.039 was you know, it was right after college, and it 285 00:17:50.079 --> 00:17:52.039 came at a good time because I just wanted to 286 00:17:52.039 --> 00:17:56.119 give up as an actor because I wasn't Asian enough 287 00:17:56.319 --> 00:17:59.119 or the type of I have, the look that was 288 00:17:59.160 --> 00:18:02.920 not quite what casting directors were thinking of for ahent 289 00:18:03.000 --> 00:18:07.400 let alone. There were no Filipino parts. So having poetry 290 00:18:07.440 --> 00:18:11.200 there meant that I had artistic control and I wasn't 291 00:18:11.319 --> 00:18:16.359 dependent upon a casting director to cast me to do something. 292 00:18:17.079 --> 00:18:21.200 So no, absolutely speak a little bit more on that. 293 00:18:21.279 --> 00:18:24.759 How kind of especially as a writer as a poet, 294 00:18:24.920 --> 00:18:28.079 like you said, you weren't dependent on that casting agent. 295 00:18:28.359 --> 00:18:30.279 You're kind of the captain of your own ship in 296 00:18:30.319 --> 00:18:32.960 a lot of ways. How important do you think that 297 00:18:33.119 --> 00:18:35.519 is as a poet. You know, a lot of people 298 00:18:35.640 --> 00:18:39.559 question getting with a publisher. You know, obviously you know 299 00:18:39.640 --> 00:18:42.559 you've gotten such a marry out of ways with media 300 00:18:42.839 --> 00:18:46.640 like MTV going on tour, people Beastie Boys performing with 301 00:18:46.720 --> 00:18:50.680 you know, Lupe Fiasco, kind of those very unique collaborations. 302 00:18:51.119 --> 00:18:53.000 What do you think as a poet, what is your 303 00:18:53.039 --> 00:18:56.160 advice to other people that listen to this show kind 304 00:18:56.240 --> 00:18:59.400 of you know, casting their net why, but also still 305 00:18:59.440 --> 00:19:03.079 remaining control of where their art lives. What is your 306 00:19:03.119 --> 00:19:03.759 opinion on that? 307 00:19:04.519 --> 00:19:08.680 Yeah, that is a great question, because nobody is going 308 00:19:08.720 --> 00:19:13.400 to make you a poet. You make yourself a poet, right, 309 00:19:13.559 --> 00:19:17.720 And what I would say to young, young poets who 310 00:19:17.720 --> 00:19:21.240 are starting is that if you're a poet, everyone should know. 311 00:19:21.240 --> 00:19:22.079 That you're a poet. 312 00:19:23.160 --> 00:19:25.559 Yeah, everyone in your building should know. Hi, I'm Reggie, 313 00:19:25.599 --> 00:19:28.279 I'm your neighbor. I'm a poet. I'm doing a reading 314 00:19:28.400 --> 00:19:29.079 down here. 315 00:19:29.759 --> 00:19:30.440 I think if you. 316 00:19:30.440 --> 00:19:34.599 Are a poet, start your own reading series. You can 317 00:19:34.640 --> 00:19:38.720 start your own online publication, you could start your own 318 00:19:39.200 --> 00:19:43.559 podcast or series. I think things have changed. You can 319 00:19:43.599 --> 00:19:45.519 be a poet. 320 00:19:45.240 --> 00:19:49.079 On Instagram, Like, that's just it right. 321 00:19:51.160 --> 00:19:53.920 I want to go back because I've been thinking Amanda 322 00:19:54.079 --> 00:19:59.039 about you know, the term street poetry street poets, because 323 00:19:59.079 --> 00:20:04.359 it also seems like dated title, but street poetry and 324 00:20:04.400 --> 00:20:06.599 it's now getting another resurgence. 325 00:20:07.279 --> 00:20:08.880 And if you're looking up street. 326 00:20:08.559 --> 00:20:12.799 Poetry, that is like people in Australia putting stickers of 327 00:20:12.880 --> 00:20:17.640 poems on the street. It could also mean people on 328 00:20:17.680 --> 00:20:22.160 the street reading poems. I'm selling books on the street, 329 00:20:23.759 --> 00:20:27.920 So what does that really mean. I think street poetry 330 00:20:28.000 --> 00:20:31.759 is a way of how do you get yourself out there? 331 00:20:32.440 --> 00:20:36.079 And I think, you know, street poetry might be with 332 00:20:36.200 --> 00:20:39.400 like I am a social media poet, and I don't 333 00:20:39.440 --> 00:20:41.799 think that makes you any less of a poet. I 334 00:20:41.839 --> 00:20:47.599 think that, you know, people who publish poetry actively are 335 00:20:47.640 --> 00:20:50.519 going to look at the content or the craft or 336 00:20:50.519 --> 00:20:54.200 the skill of the poement say this is not quite there, 337 00:20:54.400 --> 00:21:01.680 but it doesn't really matter because poetry has no rules. 338 00:21:03.440 --> 00:21:05.640 And so you know, people think that you have to 339 00:21:05.680 --> 00:21:09.880 get an MFA and to be a poet, but the 340 00:21:10.000 --> 00:21:11.920 MFA doesn't make you a poet. 341 00:21:12.960 --> 00:21:14.559 MFA just means. 342 00:21:14.319 --> 00:21:20.400 That you sat around a table cutting up and reading 343 00:21:20.440 --> 00:21:25.799 everyone else's poems and you connected with a few mentors 344 00:21:26.640 --> 00:21:31.839 who are you know, who are hopefully positive of your work. 345 00:21:31.920 --> 00:21:34.039 I also know a lot of teachers who just want 346 00:21:34.039 --> 00:21:37.880 to destroy students, and as an educator, because I am 347 00:21:37.880 --> 00:21:42.519 an educator, also, I really don't believe in destroying people 348 00:21:42.519 --> 00:21:45.039 are making people feel bad. Like if you're if you're 349 00:21:45.079 --> 00:21:49.759 going to mentor or teach poetry, people should leave your class, 350 00:21:49.799 --> 00:21:54.039 your workshop wanting to write poetry, not feeling bad. You 351 00:21:54.119 --> 00:21:57.680 take a singing class, you should leave singing, and you 352 00:21:57.720 --> 00:21:59.440 know singing high notes. 353 00:21:59.039 --> 00:22:01.440 Properly, right. So I think. 354 00:22:03.279 --> 00:22:06.160 That's something that I learned later in life, is that 355 00:22:06.279 --> 00:22:10.920 everyone has a poem. And I also have this passion 356 00:22:11.000 --> 00:22:14.400 and gift for making sure that people can write their 357 00:22:14.400 --> 00:22:17.680 poem and share it. And I think that it goes 358 00:22:17.720 --> 00:22:21.480 back to my childhood immigrant roots because things were never 359 00:22:21.599 --> 00:22:25.720 said and I want I want truth in a space 360 00:22:27.039 --> 00:22:30.559 When I do poetry. It should be truth in a 361 00:22:30.640 --> 00:22:36.079 space and people listening and people dreaming together when they 362 00:22:36.160 --> 00:22:40.359 listen to a poem. That there's a dreaming that happens. 363 00:22:40.960 --> 00:22:44.319 Absolutely, now, that's beautiful, and dreaming that happens when people 364 00:22:44.359 --> 00:22:48.240 listen to poetry, absolutely, you know, And again I kind 365 00:22:48.240 --> 00:22:52.359 of want to reckon back to this idea, the gravity 366 00:22:52.400 --> 00:22:55.039 of you know, the effect that you've had as a 367 00:22:55.400 --> 00:23:00.480 you know, you've published what more than thirty anthologies again, 368 00:23:00.559 --> 00:23:05.079 you know you've sort of pioneer, right, a trailblazer one 369 00:23:05.720 --> 00:23:10.720 multiple Grand slams. What kind of you know, looking back 370 00:23:10.759 --> 00:23:14.039 from your career from where it started in poetry to 371 00:23:14.119 --> 00:23:17.359 where it is now, I mean, did you ever imagine 372 00:23:17.720 --> 00:23:22.839 that you'd be at this breath of really just absolutely 373 00:23:22.960 --> 00:23:25.960 top of your class, right, one of the best in 374 00:23:26.039 --> 00:23:28.640 your field. Did you ever imagine that this would be 375 00:23:28.720 --> 00:23:30.799 your trajectory as a poet? 376 00:23:31.720 --> 00:23:31.799 No? 377 00:23:32.720 --> 00:23:37.880 Absolutely not, absolutely not. You have no idea where poetry 378 00:23:38.119 --> 00:23:40.519 is going to take you. And that's sort of the 379 00:23:40.519 --> 00:23:42.440 beauty of being a poet. Like the next thing in 380 00:23:42.519 --> 00:23:49.119 the email, you might get a text from Amanda. You 381 00:23:49.160 --> 00:23:52.680 can say, hey, will you do this podcast or will 382 00:23:52.720 --> 00:23:53.759 you be able to do this? 383 00:23:53.880 --> 00:23:55.839 So like you don't know. 384 00:23:55.759 --> 00:23:58.799 Who you're going to connect with, right, Yeah, you have 385 00:23:58.960 --> 00:24:03.000 no idea, you know. I think as a poet, you 386 00:24:03.039 --> 00:24:07.240 write a poem, it gets published, people will read it 387 00:24:07.359 --> 00:24:10.799 or they'll see your performance, and you don't know who's 388 00:24:10.839 --> 00:24:14.240 reading it. Yeah, It's almost like putting a message in 389 00:24:14.240 --> 00:24:16.880 a bottle, throwing it into the ocean, and you have 390 00:24:16.960 --> 00:24:21.000 no idea who is a much bread, who is teaching 391 00:24:21.039 --> 00:24:25.279 your poem? And I think in everything that you're saying, 392 00:24:25.680 --> 00:24:29.799 being the top of a genre or a field is 393 00:24:29.839 --> 00:24:33.720 not really what I'm proud most proud about. I think 394 00:24:33.759 --> 00:24:39.319 I'm most proud about doing it since doing it for 395 00:24:39.359 --> 00:24:43.839 at least thirty one years, right, and sticking to something 396 00:24:43.880 --> 00:24:47.240 for thirty one years and trying to get better at 397 00:24:47.279 --> 00:24:51.759 it and discovering more. And I think I'm more proud 398 00:24:51.799 --> 00:24:57.160 of being an active poet and growing more than the 399 00:24:57.240 --> 00:24:58.480 whole than the title. 400 00:24:59.319 --> 00:24:59.920 I think that that. 401 00:25:02.279 --> 00:25:04.680