Inspired talk by Rives: Performance poet, multimedia artist
Storyteller, writer and slam poet Rives has appeared on the last three seasons of HBO’s Def Poetry Jam and was a member of the Def Poetry Jam international touring group. Offstage, Rives designs and writes pop-up books for children and interactive narratives for grown-ups.
About this Talk
How many poets could cram eBay, Friendster and Monster.com into 3-minute poem worthy of a standing ovation? “If I were in charge of the Internet,” Rives says, “You could Mapquest your lover’s mood swings / Hang left at cranky / Right at preoccupied / U-turn at silent treatment …” Enjoy a unique talent.
Flat pages can’t contain Rives‘ storytelling, even when paper is his medium. The pop-up books he creates for children unfold with surprise: The Christmas Pop-Up Present expands to reveal moving parts, hidden areas and miniature booklets inside. On stage, his poems burst in many directions, too, exposing multiple layers and unexpected treats: childhood memories, grown-up humor, notions of love and lust, of what is lost forever and of what’s still out there waiting to unfold.
In “Kite,” which he performed on HBO’s Def Poetry Jam, he finds newness everywhere in the simple act of staying alone at a new girlfriend’s apartment: “The morning after the first night we made love / the note on your pillow said ‘good morning, sparkle boy / I’ll be back around noon / you make yourself at home’ / and so I did …”
Discuss this talk
November 22nd, 2007 at 7:17 pm