The Nuyorican Poets Cafe, 1991 — #TBT

In my own version of Throw-Back Thursday, I’m going to start posting articles from my publishing past. In 1991 I wrote a feature story for The Village Voice about the literary renaissance that was unfolding largely in Downtown venues, particularly the Nuyorican Poets Cafe. I called it guerrilla poetry. This was the first in-depth article on this scene, long before New York magazine put Edwin Torres on its cover. I still consider many of the poets and novelists I wrote about — Miguel Algarin, Tracie Morris, Mike Tyler, Paul Skiff, etc. — to be some of the most talented people I’ve had the honor to meet, let alone write about.  Nuyorican Article

Get Erection

A long, long time ago, I wrote a feature for The Village Voice on the new, guerrilla poetry. It lead with a description of the legendary performance of Mike Tyler, the time he broke his arm reading verse outside the Nuyorican Poets Cafe. In the two decades since then, Mike’s become one of my dearest friends, the person I can always turn to to tell me what’s right and what’s bull. He’s had other notable friends along the way, like Beck and Banksy (who designed one of Mike’s book covers). I helped Mike a bit with his new album, Erection, which was, er, erected yesterday. He performs in London on Thursday.

via The Horse Hospital / Mike Tyler’s ERECTION.