Friend: Janaka Stucky
Back in the year 2000, I was asked to produce an event called the Hygienic Cabaret, an off-shoot of the Hygienic Art Show in New London. A group called the Guerilla Poets wrote me and said they were interested in performing. The Hygienic Cabaret is mostly local, and these guys were from Boston, but they seemed interesting so I offered them free beer and a couch to sleep on.
Many beers, a few broken plates, one drawn-and-quartered babydoll, and two standing ovations later, Janaka (who is an undertaker, in addition to being a poet) told me about his plan to revolutionize the American grieving process. A line from his poem elegy pretty much sums it up:
“The Leopard People of Sierra Leone carry their dead in a bag; whenever they feel sorrow, they cut off a piece and eat it.”
Eight years later, Janaka is still making waves with Black Ocean, a literary/multidisciplinary movement that is hard to define. Black Ocean just released Holy Land, a book of poetry by Rauan Klassnik. If it is half as good as Dear Al Qaeda, it’s worth a look.
Tags: New London, performing art, poetry, Secret Theatre