Slam For Democracy — Poet Lends Skills To Causes Interview With Genevieve Van Cleve, Performance Poet
Poet Lends Skills To Causes Interview With Genevieve Van Cleve, Performance Poet AUSTIN It’s true what columnist Molly Ivins says about Genevieve Van Cleve. “Funny as hell.” But that’s only the tip of the iceberg. In addition to being a veteran performance poet, Van Cleve, 35, is also a wife, a step-mother of two boys, an ex-smoker, an ex-stand-up comedian, an emcee, and a player for the Austin slam poetry team. And since stepping up to be the coach of the under-21 team last year, she found that she loved it so much that she started teaching poetry at a Boys & Girls Club in East Austin and for other causes like NARAL Pro-Choice America. “I’m trying to use poetry outside of my own inner turmoil,” she said, noting she was losing her voice due to a cold. Van Cleve added that the reason she has continued performing at poetry slams in particular is because it is a “very democratic art form” that has gained traction across the world. “Anybody can walk into a poetry slam, sign up, and you’ve got three minutes and 10 seconds, and you will be judged. That’s the way it goes. Just like life. The people may like you. They may hate you. But you have time to speak your piece there,” she said. “It’s a way for people to get together and communicate what they actually feel. What a concept! Why do we have to relearn this? I don’t know. We’re busy being uninsured. We’re busy doing a lot of other things besides sharing the contents of our souls, hearts, and minds with our fellow citizens.” The Iconoclast’s Nathan Diebenow continued his conversation with Van Cleve on the back porch of her Austin home as one of her step-sons practiced his drums inside. The conversation touched upon the changes she has undergone since getting married at Camp Casey last year, her experiences at Camp Casey both years, and her willingness to stay in Texas to perform her art. Here is the interview: ……… ICONOCLAST: Why did you decide to get married at Camp Casey last year? GENEVIEVE VAN CLEVE: Peter and I went to Camp Casey which was just getting started a year ago. We went down one weekend, and I mainly wanted to go because I heard somebody from the community had run over all those crosses because it was portrayed in the media as such a coastal event, like all these people from California and New York: “These liberals from all over the place are descending upon Crawford.” And I was like, “Yeah, that’s not right. First of all, nobody is mowing over a bunch of crosses that are memorializing soldiers. That’s not the way we live down here. “Second of all, don’t you think for a minute they aren’t liberals I’m a fifth generation Texan, and I’m there. What do you think about that? You guys actually can’t control this. This is homegrown from right here, so take your attitude on both sides that we don’t have anything
