[Poetry Tostada with Pat Smith]

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 contains footage from two separate nights of Wholesome Roc Cafe's "Poetry Tostada" events, both hosted by Pat Smith. The "Poetry Tostadas" include an open mic, one or more featured readers, and a "Pocket Rocket" limerick contest.

0:00Copy video clip URL Before the show, the videographer sets up the shot to capture the poets, lightly chatting with the host of the event, Pat Smith. Finding out that Smith wants to read her poem later on rather than at that moment, she stops filming.

3:04Copy video clip URL The show begins, Smith reading a poem about her mother, who she says “didn’t believe that men landed on the moon,” to start off the night.

5:06Copy video clip URL Smith segways into the open mic, calling Joffre Stewart to the stage.

5:49Copy video clip URL Stewart reads three of his poems: Some Reflections on the Death Penalty, How I Failed to Be Any of the Chinese Demonstrating in Grant Park, and Be All You Can Be. Together, the poems cover multiple political topics, particularly Israeli conflicts in the Middle East, constructing an anarchist view of these conflicts.

17:04Copy video clip URL Smith returns to the stage to introduce the next poet, Thax Douglas.

17:23Copy video clip URL Douglas takes the stage, advertising WHPK’s program interviewing poets in the area and segwaying into his “Trent Yawney poem.” 

19:49Copy video clip URL Smith introduces the final poet in the open mic, Damon Smith, her baby brother, who she says is her “favorite poet in the world.”

20:55Copy video clip URL Damon Smith reads aloud his poem, Set the World of Fire. 

22:17Copy video clip URL Pat Smith ends the open mic with another of her poems. The poem centers the loss of oneself through devotion to another in an abusive relationship, drawing on the myth of Echo and Narcissus to illustrate the deterioration of the self. Smith introduces a two-minute break, and after a minute or so, the camera cuts off.

25:35Copy video clip URL Smith retakes the stage to make several announcements. Smith promotes Planet Roc, announces that Planet Roc is now taking writing submissions, and states that the second weekend of every month, the stage will be open to fiction writers as well as poets. Smith introduces Tony Fitzpatrick, the featured speaker of the night.

27:50Copy video clip URL Fitzpatrick takes the stage, segwaying into his first poem with an anecdote about Elvis Presley, dedicating the poem to him. 

33:02Copy video clip URL Fitzpatrick introduces his next poem, The Song and Dance of the Curse: Watching Wrestling on TV Sunday Morning, 1969, Chicago, meshing brutal descriptions of the wrestling he watched Sunday mornings as a child with the religious imagery of the church services he was skipping.

36:33Copy video clip URL Fitzpatrick begins his third poem, about American mass murderer Richard Speck. “All I remember was seeing him on TV and seeing how normal this guy looked. How he looked like the postman and the milkman and the bartender, you know, just some ordinary everyday unspectacular schmuck who went off.”

38:48Copy video clip URL Fitzpatrick’s fourth poem, John the Teacher, is both dedicated to and about John Shehan, who Fitzpatrick greatly admires due to his work in underprivileged neighborhoods.

41:14Copy video clip URL Fitzpatrick reads his poem, Clemente, about Roberto Clemente.

45:07Copy video clip URL Fitzpatrick’s next poem centers Babe Ruth, appreciating the baseball player’s sheer ability.

46:50Copy video clip URL Fitzpatrick shows off the drawings in his poetry book, before introducing a poem, Rat Man: The New Age, inspired by a dream of his.

49:52Copy video clip URL Fitzpatrick reads one last poem, about a pornstar he once interviewed, dedicating the poem to her.

51:58Copy video clip URL Smith takes the stage again, reading aloud her poem Ménage.

56:26Copy video clip URL Smith exits the stage, the open mic finishing up. The camera continues recording as the attendees chat amongst themselves. Simone Bouyer picks up the camera, the feed for the night cutting off.

57:29Copy video clip URL Footage from a separate night (June 17th, 1989) begins playing, the audience assembling and talking among themselves. The cameraperson angles the camera toward the stage where the speakers will be reading their poems aloud.

1:06:18Copy video clip URL Pat Smith introduces the event, thanking everyone for appearing and explaining the schedule for the night.

1:07:01Copy video clip URL Smith reads aloud Break Heart, dedicated “to the second artificial heart transplant patient, William Schroeder.” Break Heart tells Smith’s rendition of Schroeder’s story, being left in a vegetative state after a series of strokes once receiving the artificial heart and his eventual death almost two years after the transplant.

1:09:19Copy video clip URL Smith introduces to stage one of Wholesome Roc’s regulars, Ken Tamer. Tamer reads aloud Armageddon Supermarket, Immortal Magic, and We Are the Hundred and Ten, a cynical exploration of religion.

1:16:28Copy video clip URL Next on stage is Gregorio Gomez, who recites And the Hurt, half in English and half in Spanish. His second poem encapsulates the experience of performing at Wholesome Roc, to laughter from the crowd.

1:20:43Copy video clip URL Smith calls to the stage Joffre Stewart. Stewart reads aloud three poems. First, Stewart reads aloud More Reflections on the Death Penalty, a continuation of his poem Some Reflections on the Death Penalty, presented at the first Poetry Tostada with Pat Smith. Stewart also reads aloud How I Got Too Busy for the Old Town Art Fair and On the Definition of Poetry Today. 

1:30:56Copy video clip URL Smith promotes Planet Roc, Wholesome Roc’s newsletter. She reiterates that the journal is now taking poetry submissions, as well as Stories in Motion, a workshop for fiction pieces every second Saturday and Sunday of the month, also introducing another Wholesome Roc regular, Dara Greenspan.

1:32:09Copy video clip URL Greenspan takes the stage, reading her poems June Eighty-Nine: Thirty-Seven Visits Only, Cruz and Cabrini or the Inspiration of the Larrabee Bus Path,  Lake Rap: Observations, and The Money Rap Trail. 

1:38:29Copy video clip URL Smith introduces to the stage another poet, Mark, who reads aloud two poems: The Recipe and Advertisements for My Existence.

1:42:15Copy video clip URL Smith brings Ken, the “sub-host” of the event, to the stage. Ken introduces the contest called “Pocket Rocket,” in which four participants compete to write and recite the best limerick. Ken leaves the stage to look through the crowd for willing participants, giving them time to write their limericks. 

1:48:52Copy video clip URL Ken bounces back onto the stage, introducing the first limerick, by “Encog.”

1:50:28Copy video clip URL “Lady Begonia” presents the second limerick of the night. 

1:51:26Copy video clip URL The third contestant, “Dara,” presents her limerick.

1:52:16Copy video clip URL The fourth contestant, “Snuggles,” presents his limerick.

1:53:12Copy video clip URL The audience plays the judge in deciding who wins the contest and the winners are presented with prizes.

1:57:03Copy video clip URL Smith gives the audience a break. The audience members mingle with one another, out of sight of the camera, until the video concludes.