The Beat December 2002

The congregation meets once every five or six weeks; they file in with notebooks, guitars, scraps of paper, full of words, of beer, of nerve…the old poet holds court at the bar, the teacher practices his rhymes to a boombox, a bespectacled joker holding a live duck swills wine from a Lotteria cup, a young woman puts the last touches on a song that has lived until now in her head, a young poet broods over a black-haired blonde in the corner…
On November 23rd, Busan‘s “Poetry Plus” celebrated its two-year anniversary at the Monk Jazz Club in Daeyeondong. The main thrust is “entertainment and enlightenment”, from poetry to prose and things in between, and the “Plus” is anything at all, original work or just whatever turns you on, as long as it doesn‘t burn down the house. Musicians and jugglers, comedians and actors, pissing children and live animals have all graced the stage. And poets, of course, from the first-timer to the published prize-winner.
According to one of the ringleaders, Kenneth “K” May (who co-hosts with Sarah MacAdam), Poetry Plus “came out of loud talk in a bar. A group of us were looking for something different to do on our weekends besides just drinking.” The first event drew about 40 people, but it found an appreciative audience and quickly grew. Today it attracts a crowd of around 200, some of them first-timers, and many of them regulars, some traveling in from Gwang-ju, Jin-ju, Dae-jeon, Ulsan and Dae-gu to take part, or just to partake in what has become a local institution.

Part of the audience comes looking for a touchstone of home, some are looking to do something other than just get shitfaced, others come for the mood, and others are serious artists at different stages in their development. “I don‘t really care what people‘s reasons are for coming,” says K, “as long as they come and enjoy themselves.”

The birthday party kicked off at 8:00 with an acoustic duo, and then slipped into the “Wordz” part of the program. Cakes made the rounds later on, and K was the first christened with a large of dose of chocolate sweetness from a bespectacled “Mad” Mike, a Poetry Plus perennial performer.

New on the table that night was an interactive contest called the “Exquisite Corpse”. The audience formed into small teams, one member wrote four lines, then folded the paper over the first three lines, and the next member wrote four lines seeing only the one preceding line. And so on. It brought the crowd into the act, and was a big hit from where I sat. The winner was penned by a team called Who Wants Dick?:

I just paid 5,000 for this shit wine,
Not that I mind…poetry flows smoother
And we‘ve all become friends,
Even if just for the evening
Sexy music, shit wine, and short men…sleazing

Bloodstained lizards, their tongues flicking
Lidless eyes looking for another egg to lick clean.
Their mothers are not here
Hatch or die

The succulent pig turning slowly on the spit
Its flesh glistening and cooking in the heat
Then, it all happens so quickly, one taste,
One lick and satisfaction hits my face.

Hot damn! Look at that Korean man.
Turning my juice on in the streets of Busan.
Let‘s adulterate.
Looking back over the two years, I asked K what were some of the highlights that leaped to mind. It was a tough question: The one-act play (“The Sure Thing”) from Poetry Plus 5. Mad Mike‘s pornography reading. But “Rock and Roll” Steve Lapides‘s reading of “Acid Bath” (untitled) held a special place in his heart.

Recounts K, “He showed up like two and a half hours early, and I was afraid he wasn‘t going to be able to stay awake for the reading, and he kept mumbling to me throughout the night. Then we called him up there and all of a sudden he was ready to go. I think it surprised everybody.” Some excerpts:

Step to the side. I have a train to catch. Yeah, goin‘ back again. One day I‘m
gonna stay there. No return ticket needed. One way passage. Leaves falling, sun shining, scattered images of pussy lips flapping in the breeze…

And this:

But, I‘ve been loved.
Let no man mock me.
And I have loved.
Which is more painful?

To be loved, dumbass. Guilt is profound, loud, nagging.
To pull over and have a coffee and a smoke.
Rest stop in 12 miles.
I have to pee. Go ahead. Hold it.
Almost there. Almost there. Almost there-BAM!

Over the past two years, Poetry Plus has produced laughter, tears, friendships, staggering bar tabs, works of art, and maybe a pregnancy or two. It has also produced a book, Crowded, Comfortable, Cool & Cohesive, culled from the first ten Poetry Pluses, and available at all the readings for 5,000 won.
All who attend go home with memories. Most can even remember the whole night, and some take their memories to other people‘s homes. The Beat wishes a hearty Chukha hamnida to Poetry Plus on its second birthday.

And many more!