{"id":47398,"date":"2021-02-25T22:32:14","date_gmt":"2021-02-26T06:32:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/?p=47398"},"modified":"2021-02-25T22:32:20","modified_gmt":"2021-02-26T06:32:20","slug":"san-franciscos-8th-poet-laureate-tongo-eisen-martin-a-voice-for-the-people","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/en\/san-franciscos-8th-poet-laureate-tongo-eisen-martin-a-voice-for-the-people\/","title":{"rendered":"San Francisco\u2019s 8th poet laureate: Tongo Eisen-Martin, a voice for the people"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Minutes before Tongo Eisen-Martin received the news that he was to become the eighth poet laureate of San Francisco, he was in the midst of recording poems for the San Francisco Public Library when a liaison helping him with the shoot asked him to join a Zoom meeting.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then came the moment Eisen-Martin had been waiting weeks for, San Francisco mayor London Breed appeared on the other end of the screen sharing the unexpected good news with him. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was a groovy surprise for the poet to know he could begin enacting an endless potential of impact in the city he was born and raised in. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTo be a representative of revolutionary art in such a publicly assertive way, it is a trip,\u201d he said.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Jan. 15, Mayor Breed released her official announcement<\/a>, stating that \u201c[Tongo\u2019s] work on racial justice and equity, along with his commitment to promoting social and cultural change, comes at such a critical time for our city and our country.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eisen-Martin\u2019s poetry calls out the injustices experienced by Black Americans living under oppressive socio-political systems in a style unique to a San Francisco poet like himself. His approach to writing is a constant experimentation between wordplay and form on the page that he is able to recreate vocally as he doesn\u2019t tend to \u201cread\u201d his poems to an audience, but rather recites them, and they never fail to amaze. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

His latest poetry collection Heaven is all Goodbyes <\/em>was shortlisted for the Griffin Poetry Prize and won both a California and American Book Award. The book was published under the San Francisco landmark book store, City Lights, founded by publisher and poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti (and the first San Francisco poet laureate to hold the title).   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a city that gave birth to beat poets that incited a counterculture movement led by the power of words more than 50 years ago, it is no coincidence Eisen-Martin\u2019s work is part of the same tradition seeking to create a revolutionary consciousness in the community. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the first steps to manifest that transformation is by placing art in the hands of people and not just enclosed in spaces of prestigious lecture halls, a movement led by independent book publishers of color all over the country.<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

During his speech at a press conference with mayor Breed, the poet laureate went over how he plans to navigate his new role curating a series of programming in a virtual environment given the current pandemic that has put a halt to in-person congregations in many cultural and artistic spaces. It has also been an opportunity to connect with more artists around the country and use the city library\u2019s platform to its full extent. One of the first collaborations underway is with Mahogany L. Browne for the release of her new young adult novel Chlorine Sky<\/em>; an event directed to engage with the youth. He is also working with a group of poets from Mississippi that have been cultural leaders in their own communities.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eisen-Martin\u2019s involvement as an educator and activist has ranged from lecturing in universities to working with incarcerated individuals. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While he was teaching poetry workshops at a prison in Florida, he happened to meet Christopher Malec, a man in his 30s currently serving a life sentence. Eisen-Martin would teach the whole class and then work with Mr. Malec one-on-one. \u201cHe had that gift to facilitate a lot of heavy-duty energy with really humble writing,\u201d Eisen-Martin said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having seen both ends of public and private institutions that educates and dehumanizes individuals, he\u2019s noticed how \u201cthey both instruct us that the educational reality of a society needs to be in people\u2019s hands…what I see on both sides is maintenance of ruling class hegemony and that needs to transform.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the first steps to manifest that transformation is by placing art in the hands of people and not just enclosed in spaces of prestigious lecture halls, a movement led by independent book publishers of color all over the country. In the coming year, the poet laureate will be releasing Mr. Malec\u2019s poetry collection Pendulum under a Dead Clock<\/em> through his own publishing house\u00a0Black Freighter Press<\/a> (co-founded alongside writer and activist Alie Jones), \u201ca platform for Black and Brown writers to honor ancestry and propel radical imagination.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Local poet Tongo Eisen-Martin, San Francisco\u2019s 8th poet laureate, poses for a portrait, Saturday June 9, 2018. Photo: Kyler Knox\n<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The first books on their catalog also include other Bay Area poets, including chicano writer Luis Alderete, who Eisen-Martin considers \u201ca medicine man trapped in a time where he has to be a brilliant poet.\u201d His new collection Baby Axolotls & Old Pochos<\/em> is currently available for pre-order. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The poet laureate also had the honor to work with Q.R. Hand Jr. to complete his last poetry manuscript Out of Nothing,<\/em> set to be published posthumously after his unfortunate death on new year\u2019s eve of 2020.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Black Freighter <\/em>may be a call back to Nina Simone\u2019s rendition of \u201cPirate Jenny,\u201d an opera song that dates back to the 1920s. Her version tells the story of a woman working as a maid at a \u201ccrummy old town hotel\u201d in the south contemplating her avengement to the men gawking at her as she works. She is avenged when pirates arrive in a black freighter and run-down the entire town, except for her, and she sails away with them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the other hand, Eisen-Martin\u2019s prose poem by the same name starts: \u201cI make inaudible rebel art; our revolutionary potentials ground into powder, then mist, then conversation. Conversations emptied into fourth floor sewers (insert fourth floor of any institution here). Conversation topics including the political party within the political party within a society\u2019s death date.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both pieces challenge the ruling class hegemony that Eisen-Martin references in his work. Halfway through his poem he also asks: \u201cHow do you challenge power only on the page?\u201d a long dilemma of writers to be part of the political processes that shape the realities of people\u2019s lives. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But activism beyond the page is naturally embedded in Eisen-Martin’s life as he comes from a family who were activists in their own way. His brother, Biko Eisen-Martin, also merges political subjects through his craft as a painter and actor. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn my relation to my craft I wouldn\u2019t even have anything to write about if I didn\u2019t have revolutionary praxis,\u201d Eisen-Martin said. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t be as engaged with a reality critically to find the music and nuances of reality if i didn\u2019t experience it as a movement protagonist or as a human being that wants all of his rights.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The role of poet-laureate extends beyond a title relevant only to the literary community. In the Bay Area, the poet will be one leading cultural change in a time of neo-confederate and neoliberal tendencies that have taken over political parties. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think anybody can sit out the roll call,\u201d he said. \u201cIf we don\u2019t move collectively and do the work outside of our comfort zone, and do what\u2019s necessary to organize masses, I might be the last poet laureate of San Francisco.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

A Sketch about Genocide <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By: <\/strong>Tongo Eisen-Martin<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n A San Francisco police chief says, \u201cYes, you poets make points. But they are all silly,\u201d
\n\nPolice chief sewing a mouth onto a mouth
\nPolice chief looking straight through the poet ,
\n\nFlesh market both sides of the levy
\nChange of plans both sides of the nonviolence
\n\nOn no earth
\nJust an earth character
\n\nHis subordinate says, \u201cAwkward basketball moves look good on you, sir... Yes, we are everywhere, sir\u2026 yes, unfortunately for now, white people only have Black History \u2026 we will slide the wallpaper right into their cereal bowls, sir \u2026 Surveil the shuffle.\u201d
\n\nI am a beggar and all of this day is too easy
\nI want to see all of the phases of a wall
\nEvery age it goes through
\n\nIts humanity
\nIts environmental racism
\n\nWe call this the ordeal blues
\nNow crawl to the piano seat and make a blanket for your cell
\nPaint scenes of a child dancing up to the court appearance
\nAnd leaving a man,
\nbut not for home
\n\nAtlantic ocean charts mixed in with parole papers
\nMainstream funding (the ruling class\u2019s only pacifism)
\n\nRuling class printing judges (fiat kangaroos)
\nMaking judges hand over fist
\nRapture cop packs and opposition whites all above a thorny stem
\nCaste plans picked out like vans for the murder show
\nanglo-saints addicting you to a power structure
\n \nyou want me to raise a little slave, don\u2019t you?
\nbash his little brain in
\nand send him to your civil rights
\n\nNo pain
\nJust a white pain
<\/tt>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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