Competitor Profile: Armando X. Lopez
"Working with these young poets is quite the privilege and we have all grown as writers and performers. I am in awe of their fearlessness and of the pursuit of their craft in a community that needs their insight. They have encouraged me to let it rip. And I try to oblige them."
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Passing the Baton Enlightened By The Fluent One’s Poem “The Hug” November 14, 2012 “They say that if poetry hasn’t change your life, it’s cause you haven’t heard the right poem.” At the Southwest Slam 2012 I heard Jeremiah read about poem about how someone saw the pain that he was hiding about his abuse as a child. His poem changed my life and when he came down to Laredo, I wrote this for him. As a thanks.
Growing up, I never got invited to run in any races where a baton was handed off. I’m a marathon man, a long distance runner, convinced that endurance was my gift. In other words, I run slow. No fast twitch muscles here except for that smartass mouth that gets me in and out of trouble every day. There is no fluidity in my movements, no graceful embrace of space by stubby appendages. On this warm night in Tulsa, most of my slam poetry, was still inside of me. On this night of my transformation stood in front of me this Houstonian. Tall, lanky, sauntering onto the stage like a cat enjoying all of his nine lives. Emanating a cool that I envied as a young man, and lamented in this older shell. He was Something that I could never be. At this age I am an accordion to his cool saxophone. He had my attention, and as he glided on stage he told the story of passing the baton from one tortured and liberated soul to another. Every word, every verse, every metaphor, every light but leaded step pried open the pain that others thought was covered by scar tissue, ripped open the wounds, so that they could be finally cauterized. The fluent one, in three minutes laid out the agonizing, baton-passing, soul-lifting message, that this experience, this unspeakable horror, this invisible burden, fuels a spiritual rawness that artists embrace and then set free. I learned that one hug from a liberated sufferer, can pass the baton to another, now free to heal what only they can see and what we are blind to. That night in Tulsa, they who felt similar pain jumped into your arms, your truth fluently told, in motion and in verse. And I knew that I was in the right tribe.
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Name: Armando X. Lopez Stage Name: AXL Age: 56 Years Active in Slam: 3 Teams You’ve Been a Member of: Laredo Border Slam Place from which you are traveling to get to TGS: Laredo, Texas Top 5 influential poets: Daisy Zamora, Joaquin Zihuatanejo, Jeremiah The Fluent One Payne, Damien Flores, Carmen Tafolla. Have you been to TGS before, & if so, what are you hoping is the same/different from your previous experience? Nope. This is my first trip to TGS. If not, what are you most looking forward to at TGS this year? For the opportunity to hear the art of other great poets and learn to let it rip! How would you describe your writing style? Free association from inspiration. Do you consider yourself more of a writer or a performer? A writer. Who are you looking forward to/nervous as hell to compete against? Every single poet. What is your goal for this competition? To provide another voice in this great panorama of the world we call Slam. What is going through your head before you get on stage? Reward the curiosity of any listener in the crowd.
Where does your inspiration come from? Is it your daily life? Is it, in the case of the poem you sent me, the stories of other poets?
My inspiration comes from the respectful notion that “cada cabeza es un mundo”. That is the concept that every mind is a universe unto itself. I am in constant wonder of the unique perspectives that people bring to this universe and how each mind captures the circumstances of the world in diverse and captivating perceptions. With a background in sportswriting and news reporting I claim to see stories everywhere. My law practice also provides me with day-to-day contact with people in immense personal strife and their tribulations and triumphs spark much of what I write. I am also blessed with three wonderfully talented and artistic children who amaze me now as they are in their 20’s. I recently became a grandfather and that experience has further heightened the amount of love that I feel. I also come from a political bent. Like most poets the injustices of the world infuriate me and hypocrisy fuels much of what I write in that vein. Though I rarely write about romantic love, the notion of love filters its way into my poetry.
The art of other poets magnifies the “cada cabeza es un mundo” inspiration that I seek in the world. Like musicians who enjoy the virtousity of fellow musicians, I am enthralled by the views of the youthful poets in the slam scene. At 56 I am usually the senior voice at many of these events. The poets keep me young.
How has the Laredo slam community affected your poetry?
Chibbi Orduna, LBS founder signed his chapbook for me and added this wonderful inscription to his autograph. He wrote, “You don’t know how important you are to these young poets”. The reality is that the Laredo Border Slam scene has given me eternal youth. Working with these young poets is quite the privilege and we have all grown as writers and performers. I am in awe of their fearlessness and of the pursuit of their craft in a community that needs their insight. They have encouraged me to let it rip. And I try to oblige them.
How do you decide which poems you are going to use in a slam?
I love to write. For every slam I try to write at least one new poem. Our slam master Julia Orduna helps the process by have thematic slams. This tactic forces the writers to bring new poetry instead of reciting older poems. My release comes from writing new poetry that processes the life events that have occurred since the last slam. Unfortunately my computer crashed this week and I may have lost all of the poetry that I wrote during the time that I have been slamming. I will probably write new material for this slam.
What is your all-time favorite line of poetry?
“Maybe it’s time we embrace our differences like they were our children and just
Let them be” Joaquin Zihuatenejo—“Speaking In Tongues”.