"Gender Swap" ++ "I want Poetry to be Punk"

Last night the "Gender Swap" at Cyberpunk Apocalypse: Four fiction writers and me, writing from the perspective of the opposite gender. Their stories:

Benn Quinn........ Woman in and out of mental institutions, gritty

Reed Carter......... Lesbian couple deals with criminal elements in family
Liz Abeling.......... Novel adaptation of "The Rime of The Ancient Mariner"
Me ...................... Not telling yet, folks... keeping it under wraps... 
Alexis Cromer..... Sci-Fi Dystopia

Since I was the only poetry writer, there's not much to talk about here... the blog's called "poetryburgh" after all, not "fiction-" or "literaryburgh." And I'm not going to talk about my own poem.

Cool thing was I talked to guy I only know as "Hank" after the reading, when everyone was drinking boxed wine in the backyard. "Hank" and I commiserate: we share the unique idea that poetry should be like the punk scene, "poetry should be punk". Readers: refer to my first post, wherein I discuss the punk scene of pittsburgh circa 1980 as presented by Stephanie Beroes's Debt Begins At Twenty, and how I want to have that kinda scene for poetry. How do we do it? It is a continuing question for poetryburgh... and for "Hank"...

"Hank" wants more acerbic crowds at readings, & suggests going to readings, shouting down unlikable work... this technique taken from the Roberto Bolaño's "The Savage Detectives". "Hank" also mentions multimedia, poetry that's closer to the common man, and maybe readings at punk shows... This last idea well practiced by Stephen Lin and, formerly, myself... I stopped b/c I assumed the crowd's applause was disingenuous... me, stumbling away from every reading, nerves a-wrecked... Later heard from some ppl including a now ex-girlfriend that they actually liked my work, I was just not able to tell, given my state.. Well my other excuse is that I developed a bad relationship with a promoter for these punk shows... Do punks like poetry? As "Hank" points out, they do zines, some tolerance for the "literary."

To be Punk: What sacrifices must be made? Transformations to our moralities? Is it worth it?  --poetryburgh@gmail.com