Bob Holman, 2012
Oil on linen, 60” x 43”
In the collection of Victor Keen's Betheny Mission Gallery.
Bob Holman is the Proprietor of the Bowery Poetry Club. As a poet he is most often connected with the oral tradition, live poetry readings, and poetry in digital media: performance, hiphop, slam, poetry films, and endangered languages. Bob was dubbed the “ringmaster of the Spoken Word” in the New York Daily News. Bob studied at Columbia and now teaches poetry there. He was greatly influenced by a myriad of Lower East Side poets, including Allen Ginsberg. Almost ten years after September 11th, at the St. Mark’s New Year’s Poetry Festival, Bob Holman stood up and spoke his poem: “ If you see something/say something: /banana.” The audience broke into laughter. Urban legend has it that this was the first humorous anecdote that New Yorkers were ready to hear. Bob got it right, successfully or coincidentally, having his finger on the pulse at the right moment to bring a small amount of levity to a most tragic event. Bob is one of the founders of the Endangered Language Alliance in New York and is currently working on a 90 minute special for PBS with himself as the host. Bob produced the award-winning PBS series, The United States of Poetry.
I originally knew of Bob Holman in 1988 in his role as co-director of the Nuyorican Poets Café. I met him at Elizabeth Murray’s opening at Paula Cooper Gallery. I followed his career as he founded the Bowery Poetry Club. For many years, he has hosted the annual Music Under New York program auditions in Grand Central Terminal, where he lives up to his ‘ringmaster’ moniker.
Oil on linen, 60” x 43”
In the collection of Victor Keen's Betheny Mission Gallery.
Bob Holman is the Proprietor of the Bowery Poetry Club. As a poet he is most often connected with the oral tradition, live poetry readings, and poetry in digital media: performance, hiphop, slam, poetry films, and endangered languages. Bob was dubbed the “ringmaster of the Spoken Word” in the New York Daily News. Bob studied at Columbia and now teaches poetry there. He was greatly influenced by a myriad of Lower East Side poets, including Allen Ginsberg. Almost ten years after September 11th, at the St. Mark’s New Year’s Poetry Festival, Bob Holman stood up and spoke his poem: “ If you see something/say something: /banana.” The audience broke into laughter. Urban legend has it that this was the first humorous anecdote that New Yorkers were ready to hear. Bob got it right, successfully or coincidentally, having his finger on the pulse at the right moment to bring a small amount of levity to a most tragic event. Bob is one of the founders of the Endangered Language Alliance in New York and is currently working on a 90 minute special for PBS with himself as the host. Bob produced the award-winning PBS series, The United States of Poetry.
I originally knew of Bob Holman in 1988 in his role as co-director of the Nuyorican Poets Café. I met him at Elizabeth Murray’s opening at Paula Cooper Gallery. I followed his career as he founded the Bowery Poetry Club. For many years, he has hosted the annual Music Under New York program auditions in Grand Central Terminal, where he lives up to his ‘ringmaster’ moniker.