http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbSq8lNE-xQ
“Like Wallace Stegner, I am in the ‘universal’ tradition of writers who concern themselves with The Truth—never mind that it is apt to hurt someone, in some way, most likely me.”– Wanda Coleman, The Riot Inside Me
After Wanda Coleman died on Friday, most of those writing obituaries to honor her noted that she was widely thought to be the poet laureate of Los Angeles. Certainly, one would be hard pressed to find anyone who fit that bill better than Coleman.
Yet, for me, author and LA Times book reviewer, David Ulin, goes more to the heart of the matter of her significance to LA literature in this essay he wrote remembering this woman he rightly described as a force of nature:
Coleman was the conscience of the L.A. literary scene — a poet, essayist and fiction writer who helped transform the city’s literature when she emerged in the early 1970s…..
…She was the keystone, the writer who shifted L.A. writing, irrevocably and to the benefit of all of us, from an outside to an inside game, a literature of place.
The importance of this can’t be overstated; without Coleman, there’d be a lot less here for the rest of us. She taught us to write about the city we saw, the city in which we lived, to turn our backs on the stereotype and stare down the reality instead.
In terms of worldly accomplishments, Coleman wrote 22 books, won an Emmy for her TV writing on “Days of Our Lives,” won a Guggenheim Fellowship for poetry in 1984, and the Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize in 1999. Her collection, “Mercurochrome,” was a finalist for a 2001 National Book Award.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XeFkoELLk8
Literarily speaking, she was, to use a faddish word, a disrupter. As Ulin suggested, she challenged the rest of us to ground ourselves in the real, to make art out of only that which mattered, to cut the B.S. or get outta the way.
Thankfully, for anyone with any sense, she was impossible to resist.
If you’d like to hear a bit more of Coleman’s work, listen to this 2012 reading on KCRW of some of what she wrote in response to the Watts and the Rodney King riots.
RE: THE WANDA COLEMAN POET FILM
This is a personal invitation for you to screen online my new documentary GV21 THE WANDA COLEMAN PROJECT: Genius. (period)
Here is the location:
Location: https://vimeo.com/85043436
Who is Wanda Coleman?
Remembering Wanda Coleman
November 23, 2013|By David L. Ulin, Los Angeles Times Book Critic
http://articles.latimes.com/2013/nov/23/entertainment/la-et-jc-remembering-wanda-coleman-20131123
Total Running Time: 87 Minutes
ENJOY!
Here are two reviews and commentary from Wanda Coleman herself.
THE BOB BRYAN EFFECT
Commentary by Wanda Coleman, Poet, Writer & Journalist
Given that I am from the African-American subculture where questions are used to intimidate, oppress and confuse, it is rare that I enjoy either conducting interviews, or being the subject of them.
However, independent and direct in his manner, and radiating empathy (without being precious or solicitous), Bob Bryan interviews his subjects in an unforgettable manner.
Cool yet excited, all in the same moment, he is asks frank, inoffensive questions of genuine interest. At times his questions are startling, because they force the interviewee to assess and summarize quickly, leaving very little opportunity for B.S.
He does not arouse suspicion, and does not give off the impression that he has some hidden agenda other than the subject at hand. Because of his careful research, he asks questions that have not been asked 100 times before. (In my case, he asked about how I think! This seldom happens.)
This does not mean that a Bob Bryan interview is easy. It is not, because, in my case, it demanded that I do some sharp and quick thinking on timeworn-and-worry swollen feet.
Bob Bryan may not know it, but he asks consummate clean questions, questions that are free of the sociological garbage of assumption, implication and innuendo – questions that told me, in my case, that he was open to what I had to say, and that if he had any preconceptions, he was keeping them to himself. The Bob Bryan experience is lean, comfortable and professional, and one of the best I’ve ever had.
—Wanda Coleman, Poet, Writer & Journalist
———————————————————————————————————————————–
GV21 THE WANDA COLEMAN PROJECT: Genius. (period)
Thoughts & Reflections by Poet Austin Straus, Wanda Coleman’s Husband
Bob Bryan’s interview with Wanda Coleman is a classic example of a sensitive, intelligent, and superbly prepared Documentarian eliciting brilliant responses from a genius poet/writer/journalist who is forced by smart questions to think deeply, eloquently and movingly.
Many moments in this film made me laugh or cry or just sit there in wonder at the depth and breadth of this woman’s mind. And I was her mate for nearly 33 years!
This film is far and away the best of all the dozens of interviews Wanda ever did and I am profoundly greatful to Bob Bryan for giving me this treasure I can turn to whenever I feel like being reminded of my beloved’s fantastic mind.
Bob, you have created a work of art, a masterpiece of the documentary interview.
Thank you from my heart, Austin Straus=
———————————————————————————————————————————–
Review of GV21 THE WANDA COLEMAN PROJECT: Genius. (period)
by Michelle “Chelle” Angelini
Normally, I am not one to watch or listen to interviews, but GV21 The Wanda Coleman Project: Genius. had me riveted to my seat
in front of my computer.
I could not tear myself away from Bob Bryan’s unique questions or Wanda Coleman’s inspiring answers.
I was so drawn in by her wonderful infectious laughter, her philosophy of life, her poetry, and Wanda herself. In the process,
I learned new words and ideas to inspire me as a writer.
To describe Wanda Coleman – she was vivacious, beautiful, self-assured – without being vain, and a champion to people who needed one.
And not just black women, but to people of all races and both genders. I learned from her and learned about myself through her.
Her poetry drew laughter and tears from me. I learned many facts to apply to myself and to my writing.
Most of what I learned is her enthusiasm for the craft of writing.
Her poem “Mastectomy” (from her book Mercurochrome) helped me to understand more about the physical and emotional nature
of the removal of women’s breasts and I was in tears by the end of her reading.
What drew me to listen with different ears when she read her poems was the emotion she poured into it.
She didn’t just read it; she didn’t perform it – she was the poem come alive.
I would love to watch this interview again to pick up anything I missed, since it was filled with so much amazing information.
GV21 is not just an interview – it is a lesson in life, love, the craft of writing, and one writer’s way of surviving and overcoming what life handed her.
This documentary should be required viewing in every creative writing classroom for young and emerging poets who think they want to write poetry
or anything else.
GV21 THE WANDA COLEMAN PROJECT will help them understand that the craft of writing is not just taking a pen to paper and splashing words onto it,
but pouring everything – physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual – into the words and ideas that make it onto the page.
Because of Bob Bryan’s excellent interview with a poet who will be missed intensely, I have a new-found appreciation for the craft with which
I have been blessed and skilled to have as a talent.
Thank you Bob, straight from my heart.
~Michelle~ Chelle Angelini .
http://www.graffitiverite.com/GV21_THE_WANDA_COLEMAN_PROJECT.htm