I have two thoughts about the sudden and sad passing of poet and writer Maggie Estep. I can't admit to having been a particular fan, but for those few years in the 90s, if you were an English major, you pretty much had to have an opinion about her and the entire downtown Gen X poetry slam thing.
First, if I knew back then just how fickle, fleeting, and rare pop culture's interest in poetry was going to be, I wouldn't have spent quite so much time making fun of it. Looking back, it's incredibly hard to believe that a) MTV was once a cutting edge and trend-setting cultural institution, and b) had a more than passing interest in the doings of Lower East Side poets.
While it was happening, while poets were appearing on television channels aimed at cool young people, I thought the barbarians were at the gates. To me, poetry was a Very Serious Thing. Artists like Maggie Estep were not only misappropriating the legacy of the Beat Generation, but were making poetry shallow, silly and — ugh — popular. Sure, it didn't last, but I would love to know how many readers and writers she inspired with her work. I can begrudge now that what she was doing was interesting in its engagement with technology, and awareness of the collision of cultures that the media environment at the time introduced to one another. And I think it was brave, in the sense that she had to put up with snobs like me laughing up our sleeves (but despite admitting all that, the weird cadences of "slam poetry" still drive me straight up the wall).
The second thing is that I'm grateful I got to spend a few minutes with that famous Beavis & Butthead clip, which Estep's obits note was one of the biggest audiences her work had. It's funny what happens when you grow up. In high school and college, I used to love the cartoons and put up with the commentary on videos. Now that you can watch the videos online, and the commentary pieces are unavailable because of copyright baloney, I realize just how absurdly insightful and hilarious those parts were. What I wouldn't give to find somewhere on the internet the original, unedited B&B's of my youth!
First, if I knew back then just how fickle, fleeting, and rare pop culture's interest in poetry was going to be, I wouldn't have spent quite so much time making fun of it. Looking back, it's incredibly hard to believe that a) MTV was once a cutting edge and trend-setting cultural institution, and b) had a more than passing interest in the doings of Lower East Side poets.
While it was happening, while poets were appearing on television channels aimed at cool young people, I thought the barbarians were at the gates. To me, poetry was a Very Serious Thing. Artists like Maggie Estep were not only misappropriating the legacy of the Beat Generation, but were making poetry shallow, silly and — ugh — popular. Sure, it didn't last, but I would love to know how many readers and writers she inspired with her work. I can begrudge now that what she was doing was interesting in its engagement with technology, and awareness of the collision of cultures that the media environment at the time introduced to one another. And I think it was brave, in the sense that she had to put up with snobs like me laughing up our sleeves (but despite admitting all that, the weird cadences of "slam poetry" still drive me straight up the wall).
The second thing is that I'm grateful I got to spend a few minutes with that famous Beavis & Butthead clip, which Estep's obits note was one of the biggest audiences her work had. It's funny what happens when you grow up. In high school and college, I used to love the cartoons and put up with the commentary on videos. Now that you can watch the videos online, and the commentary pieces are unavailable because of copyright baloney, I realize just how absurdly insightful and hilarious those parts were. What I wouldn't give to find somewhere on the internet the original, unedited B&B's of my youth!
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