Tina and Lanna talk about slam poetry, performance and the Dreamship Community. Tina describes her creative process, and explains how she is living her passions. Tina performs her poem, Tomboy, and discusses how and why she wrote it. And she answers 10 questions.
Tina Smithis a performance poet, community organizer, and activist in Portland. In 2009, Tina was a member of the Portland Slam Team and the first Individual Slam Champion for Portland. The same year, she co-published her first chapbook, Butch Poets: A Redefining of Masculinity and a Reclamation of Butch with local jazz poet, Lady Zen. The second edition will be published in 2012 along with Tina’s first solo chapbook, 14: Temperance.
Currently, Tina co-hosts poetry writing and performance workshops and a weekly poetry open mic with musical accompaniment, Rhythmic Cypher, Every Sunday at 7pm at Slainte in Portland, Maine which features local, regional and national performance poets, musicians and the occasional travelling queer circus. As co-founder of The Poet Rising Project, Tina also offers poetry writing and performance workshops to youth in middle and high schools and at the Preble Street Teen Center.
Tina's poem, Tomboy is significant because it is a coming out story about becoming comfortable in her own skin after growing up in a hetero-environment and being discharged from the military for admitting her sexual identity. The poem recalls painful memories of rejection and conformity with a sense of humor and explains a healing process of accepting one’s own identity and finding empowerment in that acceptance.
Here is where you can find Tina online.
[Recorded 06/23/2012]