Have you been to Artist Gumbo? If the answer is no, you really should, because you’re missing some amazing talent…such as Kay Kron, a Chicago slam poet who is a neverending well of word-spinning enjoyment. Kay, I welcome you to use that as a quote on the back of a future album or book. At the March Artist Gumbo, Kay premiered a brand new piece that was inspired by our No More Starving Artists cause, and we wanted to share it with our readers in the hopes that you can be as inspired as we were. While we really think you should see it live (find out more about Artist Gumbo at the bottom of the post so that you don’t miss stuff like this again), this will have to do for now.
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Lady Gaga and the Starving Artist
by Kay Kron
There is thousands of dollars worth of lighting equipment
tinting the stage purple and amber
fiery rain drop spark showers are timed to go off
when the beat drops
the backup dancers smell like sweat and melting lip stick
when the audience leaves they’ll be covered in glitter
and other peoples fluids
And in some dressing room
looking into a mirror streaked with hair spray
you are going through whatever mysterious magic
shit you do before hitting the stage
Lady Gaga.
At this moment you are in Vegas – the city that stopped
the Colorado River from reaching the Atlantic with all its
bright desert oasis splendor
While I- I am in Skokie preparing for today’s third performance
of The Emperors New Clothes
the venue- Carter’s Elementary School, cafeteria
the audience- K-5
the set- pbc pipe and paint on canvas
we are not lucky- there is no circulation to speak of
and the ultra violet behind yellowing plastic
makes us look like we have malaria
During our last show a kid puked on stage
8 times, tried to run out and did the splits in his own
vomit with a little squeak. We kept going.
The crazy thing about good art is how fully so many people
identify with it and I know you get this a lot Lady Gaga
but I love comparing the two of us
both 23 year old artist blond girls in America coming from
privilege writing perverted poetry and seeking shelter in the gay community
and I know you’re smart in ways I can’t even comprehend
with life experiences rung from a city that wanted you naked
playing piano
But every time I hear ‘just dance’ walking through boys town
or ‘bad romance’ on the radio again I can’t help being insanely
jealous you made it all pay
While every morning I walk into my kitchen barefoot
pull my heart out of the freezer stone brittle – zip lock bagged
and ready for the sledge hammer of practicality
Wonder when I’ll stop trying to cash in my art for a decent life style
and just get work answering telephones.
I knew already I was never gonna make money
but I didn’t know I’d make nothing
I didn’t know how evil day jobs are
How much life they eat away
How horrifying- what they want me to do
to do is sell coffee – with my voice and heart and brain and blood
they want me to sell coffee and
stop pressing my fore head into TVs trying to become pixels
Suburbia lied to me and so did the poets
You were right calling Fame a Monster
It blazes in me a cold fire
Fed on two years of
writers block trying to find escape route sentences jammed in
fingertips stuffed back in and traded for conversation to keep the silence away
Is the art in me dead? Three more weeks of children’s theater
and I’ll be unemployed. The financial umbilical cord
connecting me to my parents will turn back into steel- perfect
My guilt makes me feel masochistic
I watch your videos when I’m in the mood for self-loathing
poker face and the sound of keys frantically typing up cover letters
Hello my name is she’s got me like nobody and I am a recent graduate of the one that’s on his heart
I enjoy love glue gunning and am not the same without a gun
Personality test? OK
Do you enjoy working hard?- agree or disagree?
I think I’ll go with agree
how do I keep failing these? Another 45 minutes sacrificed to scantron
I follow them until they want me
You keep my pen moving
When you sing I can tell it costs you something
It costs me something to listen
Three nights ago I watched a boy dressed up as you
sing his heart out in a red sparkle bikini
She sucked but I can’t afford concert tickets
And as I watched her be you
I wondered how you’d look being me
That made total sense when I was drunk
You as me- sitting in the
apartment my parents bought me full of quilts my mother made
petting the cat I adopted missing half her teeth
wearing my glasses and pajama pants
feeling control over nothing in the world but your own pony tail
We can’t be that different
After the show the boy dressed up as you told me she liked my poem
I would like to think she was channeling something
Back in skokie
The children applaud
I am bow at the waste
A five year old wants my autograph guess I have to start somewhere
You’re the prey of the paparazzi
tucking bare legs into limousine
It is hilarious to me how much I love you
Its is hilarious to me how much I think you know I exist
Tonight I drink vodka-
Lady Gaga, cheers to you
———————-
Amazing stuff, and even better live. You can check out original work from local Chicago creatives on the last Tuesday of every month at Artist Gumbo, which is presented by Dramatis Personae and the IAE. The event takes place at 8 pm at the Black Rock Pub (at Damen and Addison in Chicago) and is a great way to mix and mingle with artists from all sorts of disciplines…and I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the amazing sandwich specials that they happen to have on Tuesday nights as well. Trust me. There’s no better combo than creative passion, delicious sandwiches, the IAE and a fireplace.
2 Comments
i just found out that Lady Gaga is also a mezzo soprano. she really has a great voice and i love her style. ,
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