Edwin Torres (born 1958) is a Nuyorican

performance poet Performance poetry is a broad term, encompassing a variety of styles and genres. In brief, it is poetry that is specifically composed for or during a performance before an audience. During the 1980s, the term came into popular usage to describe ...

. His work incorporates vocal and physical improvisation. He is the author of ''Ameriscopia'', ''One Night: Poems for the Sleepy'', ''Yes Thing No Thing'', and several other poetic books. He also has produced recordings titled ''Oceano Rise'', ''Novo'', and ''Holy Kid''. He is a member of the

L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E The Language poets (or L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E (magazine), ''L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E'' poets, after the magazine of that name) are an avant-garde group or tendency in United States poetry that emerged in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The poets included: Berna ...

school.

Early years

Torres's parents moved from Puerto Rico and settled in the borough of The Bronx in New York City. His father died when he was young and he was then raised by his mother and her brother Martin. He received his primary and secondary education in New York.

Nuyorican Poets Cafe

In 1989 Torres began working as a

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and a year later he discovered the Nuyorican Poets Cafe, which inspired his creative instincts. Torres created a movement which he called "Interactive Eclectrcism", which combines movement, audience participation, music and songs. The Nuyorican Poets Cafe not only opened its door for his creation but it also opened the doors to a new world of reading poetry. Torres also created the "Poets Neurotica", where dancers and musicians performed alongside two to four poets. He was a member of "Real Live Poetry" from 1993–99, performing and conducting workshops across the US and overseas. Torres has represented New York in the 1992 National Poetry Slam, celebrated in Boston, and he has won the Nuyorican Poets Cafe First Annual Prize for Poetry with his poem "''Po-Mo Griot''". He has also appeared on

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's Spoken Word Unplugged and the

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and been featured on Newsweek, in Rolling Stone Magazine and in New York Magazine. His poem, "I Saw Your Empire State Building" was included in the book, ''Words In Your Face: A Guided Tour Through Twenty Years of the New York City Poetry Slam''Aptowicz, Cristin O'Keefe. (2008). ''Words in Your Face: A Guided Tour Through Twenty Years of the New York City Poetry Slam.'' New York City: Soft Skull Press. "Chapter 24: Words that Comfort; The Aftermath of 9/11 on the NYC Poetry Slam Community" . in the chapter which dealt with the poetry slam community's response to 9/11, and his work has appeared in numerous anthologies such as ''Aloud: Voices from the Nuyorican Poets Cafe'',''Aloud: Voices from the Nuyorican Poets Cafe'' Holt. . ''Short Fuse: The Global Anthology of New Fusion Poetry'',''Short Fuse'' Rattapallax Press. . and ''Heights of the Marvelous: A New York Anthology'',''Heights of the Marvelous'' St. Martin's Press. . among many others.

Other performances

Besides performing at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe, Torres has performed at the Guggenheim Museum,

Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 millio ...

and the Museum of Modern Art, amongst other venues.

Written works

Torres' poems include: *"''15 Minutes''"; *"''Gigabyte Me - How Much Ram In Your Summer Of Love?''"; *"''Lessering In Lessage''"; *"''Lounging In The Age Of Aquarius''"; *"''Mirror-Fucation''"; *"''Mister Hay's Trippy Moebius''"; *"''Peesacho''"; * "''Terra Quad''" Torres' books include: ''* ''Ameriscopia'' * ''One Night: Poems for the Sleepy'' * ''Yes Thing No Thing'' * ''In the Function of External Circumstances'' * ''The PoPedology of an Ambient Language'' * ''Please'' * ''Onomalingua: noise songs and poetry'' * ''The All-Union Day of the Shock Worker'' * ''Fractured Humorous'' * ''Lung Poetry'' (chapbook) * ''I Hear Things People Haven't Really Said'' (chapbook) * ''SandHomméNomadNo'' (chapbook)

References

External links