#erlichman

“So much was taken. I’m / done. I’m here. A fish thrown back / to the river can’t help but swallow fistfuls / of self.”

— Dan Baum, Legalize It All: How to win the war on drugs, Harper's Magazine (April 2016)

Performance Poetry! Can be a lot of fun, and can be a whole lot of not fun. Elephant Engine High Dive Revival very accurately hits the former. I'm glad I went there instead of Vinotok at Crested Butte (suckers). They have a lot of fun on stage, and it is obvious. They are comfortable and experienced on stage, as is also obvious. They are great poets, which is the whole point. The Elephant Engine High Dive Revival are Buddy Wakefield, Anis Mojgani, Derrick Brown, & Shira Erlichman (Joined when I saw them September 19th at Western State by Robbie Q. Telfer). The Elephant Engine is poignant. They speak about personal issues that apply to pretty much everyone. They awaken the emotion. They are serious poets! But what makes it good, is that they are also entertaining. They don't overload with hard-pressing, rather depressing issues. They make it funny, too. Which is very important, I think. My favorite poet of the night was the temp: Robbie Q. Telfer. In the words of Wakefield (from stage) "[he's] so fuckin' weird, man." I bought his book sale flower (first book sold! Wooo!) His style had more diversity than the other four who were on stage and he was the funniest. That's important to me. He also had the same ability as the others to get serious. Wakefield is the most known to me. He has an incredible energy on stage. At one point during that performance, he said "excuse me" and shook out away from the mic because he got so excited. He's a funny guy. Derrick Brown was the least interesting to me that night, though he always worked with music. His poems stayed the most similar to each other. Anis Mojgani told one poem to the most perfect possible background music. Which made the piece very moving. But my second-favorite performer had to have been Shira Erlichman. Again, because she succeeded in being very funny while being more. Like most poets, they make a lot out of a lot of things. Some of which are just like: "The wind! It moves a hair" (paraphrased from one of my own poems) and some which are more like: "Suicide sucks" (Questionable Content theme, comics 500 to ~600). And others which are more like: "The Foam! If it were a movie, it'd be written in big bleedy letters!" (Robbie Telfer, also paraphrased). If you ever have the chance to see any of the performers, or the entire Elephant Engine, I recommend seeing it. They are "Wonderful".