In the Lounge Taxi Poet & Light-Filled Things Cliff Fyman & Caroline Bennett
About This Show
Taxi Poet by Cliff Fyman
I shape the poems into literature from words spoken by passengers in the back seat of my cab as they talk into cell phones or sat next to each other. People sometimes discuss very personal things as if I am not there. The poems become a medley of expressions spanning different backgrounds: ethnic, economic, social, sexual. It feels like each passenger’s character is defined simply by what he or she says and the manner in which it is said. As the poems roll along the listener begins to perceive that the myriad of speakers in the poems share basic universal need for love and understanding.
Light-Filled Things by Caroline Bennett
A woman jolts awake in the middle of the night. There’s only darkness and her own thoughts. She can give into her own fear. Or she can stare right back into the dark.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Cliff Fyman was born in Manhattan almost in a taxi cab on the way to the hospital. My work poems have been written about in Gary Lenhart’s book of criticism, The Stamp of Class: Reflections on Poetry & Social Class, pp 134-136, University of Michigan Press, 2006. My poems have been published in the anthologies Poems for the Nation: A Collection of Contemporary Political Poems, ed. Allen Ginsberg w/Clausen and Katz, New York NY, 2002; Terrence Diggory, ed., Encyclopedia of New York School Poets, 2009. These taxi poems, a work-in-progress, have been read at Unnameable Bokes, Page Poetry Parlor, Zinc Bar, La Mama, and on WKCR 89.9 FM, “Art Waves” program, aired 2 February 2018.
Caroline Bennett is a New York City-based playwright whose one-act comedy Garbage Person Karaoke appeared at Manhattan Repertory Theatre and the Capital Fringe Festival. Her second play, Devices of Torture, premiered at the 2018 New York International Fringe Festival (FringeNYC) and was named a “Best Bet” by Theatre Is Easy.
Isabella Jane Schiller is a Manhattan born, bred, and based actress. She trained with ESPA/Primary Stages and The Barrow Group and has performed in New York and D.C. on both stage and screen projects. Favorite projects include Arrangement (Official Selections NY and Cincinnati Indian Film Festivals), Garbage Person Karaoke, and Cheer Up, Charlie. While not acting, Isabella works in production with Parity Productions and Jezebel Productions.
share £
Credits
photo credit
David Haas (for Cliff Fyman)