He is a commercially artistic
hurricane blowing into city
after city along the seashore
causing small groups gathered
for intimate readings to gasp for
air. He writes poetry but makes
his living by selling DVDs and
sound recordings of the poetry
and promotes his stuff online,
on You-tube and wherever else
possible. Hey, a boy’s got to make
a living. He is like the entre-
preneurial Bunny and the some-
thing less than authentically spiritual
gospel singers roaming the south
for vulnerable “individual salva-
tion in Jesus Christ” congregat-
ions in which to hawk revival
wares: “After the altar call, the
the DVDs will be available
at a discount price on what used
to be the communion table in the
vestibule on your way out follow-
ing the benediction.” He writes of
titillating intimacy in metaphors
under bed linens, of Boy Scout flash-
lights stealing the innocence of
the boy, while lighting the female
figure from bottom to top under
cover. It’s a story of looking
late into the night out of sight of
mom and dad, pruriently peering
at the essentially sensual, experience-
ing the erotic, perhaps, in the hope
that such visions will lead the pant-
ing public to swoon over videos,
DVDs and song recordings of the
poet’s purely, artistically, authentic
poetry available for a discount on a
table next to the door on their way out.
Good questions … where does the commercial begin and end with the artistic interface … or even the faith interface? I love how you nailed the religious music industry does its usual work … in my experience, often making the kind of music known to sell to “the folks who long to know Jesus better.”