Tuesday September 20, 7pm – Poetry
Poets & Prophets Presents Ray Garman
Ray Garman is a poet and photographer, an activist and entrepreneur. Ray has read and performed his works around the world, including Robin’s Bookstore (Philadelphia), Bowery Poetry Club (New York), Nuyorican Poets Café (New York), Neither Nor (New York), Knitting Factory (New York), Shakespeare & Company (Paris), City Lights (San Francisco), Fringe Club (Hong Kong), St. Mark’s Poetry Project (New York), La MaMa Theatre (New York), Nell’s (New York), The Café (Nairobi), Burning Man ( Black Rock City ), along the Ho Chi Minh Trail, and with the forest of drums, and rainbows, gathering.
Ray is the author of Crossing Waters published by Whirlwind Press. He is a father and a graduate of Haverford College.
What’s being said about Crossing Waters:
“When language wanted to cross the Styx, ford the Amazon, end up on the other side of the Liffey, and reconnoiter the Yangtze, it called upon the ultimate explorer. His name: Ray Garman. His game: it ain’t a game. His preoccupation: today, now, in your hands, folks, c’mon now, let me introduce you to What Happens to Poetry when it takes you for a ride that’s as far as you want to go, as near as your ear, and in the din of dumb, a smart, tart response. Let’s journey to liquid land, into effervescent streaming, torment torrent.” – Bob Holman
“In his first book of poems, Crossing Waters, Ray Garman asks “Where would the truth live if it were absolutely honest?” Couched in a frame of seasons, he makes an effort to take us to that place where truth would live and reminds us along the way, “All children/one village/one soul” as he “struggles in this life/for peace/in another.” Even with its carnality, Waters is one man’s personal scripture as he travels the distance to the light.” – Lamont B. Steptoe
“The poems of Crossing Waters navigate the troubled passages a man encounters when life as he wishes it to be is swept away. Here is the white water of disaster, the cross-current of resistance, but also “a certain spacious expanse” of insight and love that opens into “bigwinds and horizons.” In these sometimes jazzy blues, Ray Garman sings into the soul’s atmosphere.” – J. C. Todd
“Ray Garman’s poetry knows by breathing. From there he knows his own life and the world around him, which is international. His childhood experience – Spring – his Summer, “Out of Breath” – his Autumn – “Gasped Breath” – his Winter – “Recollected Breath”, all are connected to our troubled globe. Although he is not yet in his Winter (of his discontent?) his poems radiate with senses of the seasons and the most subtle passages of time, and the beauty of the seasons.” – Justin Vitiello
