Wholesome Roc Art Gallery and Cafe, an alternative art space opened in Chicago in 1987, provided a place for artists, particularly black queer artists, to display their art and engage with one another. This video features one of Wholesome Roc's monthly "poetry tostadas," an open mic dedicated to poetry, music, and other performances.
0:00Copy video clip URL Video begins, zooming onto an art piece in Wholesome Roc Art Gallery and Cafe. Text appears in the bottom left corner, giving basic information about the tape.
0:33Copy video clip URL Kenn Hartmann, the cameraman, chats with patrons about the camera he’s using to videotape, mentioning that he is using a VHS. He hands the camera off to two different patrons, instructing each on how to use the camera. As the small crowd chats with one another, two patrons strum guitars.
5:00Copy video clip URL The two musicians introduce themselves as The Folk Singers, banter with one another, and kick off the show.
6:32Copy video clip URL The Folk Singers begin their first piece, I’m Accountable but Not to Blame, an upbeat, folksy piece.
10:00Copy video clip URL The Folk Singers finish their song, bantering for a bit before segwaying into their next song, this song both more soulful and a solo rather than a duet.
14:14Copy video clip URL After finishing up their second song, the two quickly transition into their next piece, again a solo.
17:24Copy video clip URL The third song of the Folk Singers’ set ends, the other performer joining back in for the next piece.
22:54Copy video clip URL The Folk Singers begin their next song, again a duet, about “brewsters.”
25:26Copy video clip URL The Folk Singers begin their next song, which they ironically call “a tender love song heard by many,” named “Conditions of Love.”
29:37Copy video clip URL The two finish “Conditions of Love,” segwaying into a bit where one pretends to be a radio personality from “WEGO Ego Rock.”
34:00Copy video clip URL One of the performers, Robin, starts the next song of the set, a psychoanalysis-inspired parody of “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.”
40:00Copy video clip URL The Folk Singers finish their set and introduce the next performer to the stage Ken Tamer, the first poet of the night, who is visiting Wholesome Roc for the third time. Tamer requests that his poetry not be videotaped, and the video cuts out.
40:40Copy video clip URL The MC invites another poet, Leonard Lucas, to the stage. Lucas greets the audience and tells the story behind his first poem.
42:19Copy video clip URL Lucas begins his first poem, written in 1967.
44:30Copy video clip URL Lucas finishes the poem as the audience applauds. Lucas ponders what a poet truly is. “As a poet, they always ask you what a poet’s about. What is a poet? I remember one time reading that Shakespeare said that poets are people who write about the overflow of emotion, and they write it out in a poem. Matter of fact, it is like therapeutic treatment for them. They write out their frustration, and then those who are frustrated come and listen to this frustration,” and explains that this therapeutic process lightens the hearts of both poet and audience. Lucas then begins his poem centering his own definition of a poet.
47:11Copy video clip URL Lucas introduces his next poem with an anecdote about “unpolluted lake Michigan,” recalling how clear the lake was in 1959, relating it to his upbringing in rural Louisiana. Lucas’s poem illustrates his deep connection to the sea.
50:03Copy video clip URL Lucas returns to Louisiana, reading aloud his poem, an ode to Louisiana.
52:39Copy video clip URL Lucas next reads aloud a poem, Homeless, that examines the injustice within the houselessness crisis.
55:07Copy video clip URL Lucas presents a satire he used to recite in the Chicago suburbs. “I did this one poem. It’s about how every time Black folks move into y’all’s neighborhood, y’all run away. And so I said, ‘It’s an ode to the running people.” Lucas ends the poem, laughing in response to an off-screen audience member, and ends with the sentiment to “treat women right.” The MC brings another poet, Stephan, to the stage.
1:01:18Copy video clip URL Stephan, a newcomer to spoken word poetry, reads aloud The Sparkling Stars of Romance and There’s No Love Without You.
1:04:21Copy video clip URL The MC reads a poem aloud. After the conclusion of his first poem, a trumpet accompanies his recitation, chiming in after each line.
1:09:56Copy video clip URL The MC, still backed by the trumpet, reads aloud Prank Phone Call Number Eleven.
1:13:00Copy video clip URL The MC invites Paul to the stage. Paul recites Drum Concert, Canvas.
1:16:33Copy video clip URL Next on stage is Liza, who reads aloud Child by Sylvia Plath, followed by several of her own poems: The Windows of My World, followed by one short poem about the transcendence of the body and a “silly poem.”
1:23:23Copy video clip URL Joffre Stewart, the next poet and a frequenter of Wholesome Roc, recites multiple political poems, including To Hear a Mockingbird, At the Ninth Annual Chicago Jazz Fest, How Brian Wilson and Benjamin Linder Played With Dexter Gordon, and What Was that CBS Newscaster Trying to Tell Us? Stewart also adds a short quote from Tolstoy’s The Inevitable Revolution: “Men, handing over their taxes, that is, their labor to the government.”
1:36:51Copy video clip URL Stewart exits the stage, and the MC invites Kenn Hartmann, the cameraman, onstage to recite a poem from memory, though Hartmann’s performance is not recorded.
1:37:07Copy video clip URL The video skips to the next poet, from San Francisco, California, who reads aloud several of his poems centering around themes of community and protest.
1:43:48Copy video clip URL Next onstage is Dan Weather, who performs a series of comedic half-poetry, half-acting pieces.
1:57:35Copy video clip URL The MC introduces a ten-minute break, and video cuts out.
1:58:09Copy video clip URL The Folk Singers return to the mic to close out the show.
2:03:10Copy video clip URL Video cuts out.
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