Poet Thomas Sayers Ellis read to nearly a hundred people in the Hill Auditorium on 20 March 2008 in an event cosponsored by the New Writing Series and the Honors College. In his forty-minute set, Ellis read from his book The Maverick Room and from a manuscript in progress (see set list below). The poet also took questions from the audience. The event, introduced by Steve Evans, was recorded on digital videotape (vhs and dvd duplicates available soon).
PHOTOS
(from L to R) Thomas Sayers Ellis before the reading (photo credit: Christina Pappas for the Maine Campus); Ellis reading from his work (photo credit: Benjamin Friedlander); Ellis at the Oakes Room Café before his visit to Honors 180, A Cultural Odyssey (photo credit: Benjamin Friedlander). Click to enlarge.
SET LIST (compiled by Katie Lattari)
1. Audience (from the manuscript “Colored Only”)
2. All Their Stanzas Look Alike
3. Balloon Dog
4. A Pack of Cigarettes
5. Sir Nose Devoid of Funk / (Sir Nose D’Voidoffunk)?
6. My Meter is Percussive
7. Or
8. No Easy Task
9. Mr. Dynamite Splits
Questions
1) Can you compare poetry to hip hop?
2) Can you talk about the way in which you read your work (deliver/ perform your poems to an audience)?
3) What would your ideal setting for reading your work?
