Bob Holman

The Irony of the Ecstasy (1989)

In the bank I certify that I

Am I to get the money out

To give the lawyers to send

To Miguel to get the building back.

Cecilio.  He comes in.  Quick time zip

Chinese New Year's, the firecrackers like 

His birth, and now he's grown, helping Miguel,

Who's running out of gas, faster than I

Can write the poem. Well, that is typical,

As the bank purrs, and spring turns

Into new dough, smelling yeasty, Russian

Baths, Cecilio adrift, the blackened loaf

Is handed over, the goods, just as the Bronx

Bomber (Miguel's '72 Caddy) drinks its last,

Contentedly expires the tires. Hotfooting

Down Canal for fuel, we talk fund-raising, state

Agencies, see belt-tightening low-tech poets, 

Spend money to make poetry, huh, pipe

Dreams, plumbing realities. New York flashes

Emergency as Cafe reemerges, ecstasy's haven.

Founder of the Bowery Poetry Club and the author of 17 poetry collections (print/audio/video), most recently The Unspoken (YBK/Bowery), Life Poem (YBK/Bowery). The Cutouts (Matisse) (PeKaBoo Press) and Sing This One Back To Me (Coffee House Press), Bob Holman has taught at Princeton, Columbia, NYU, Bard, and The New School. As the original Slam Master and a director at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe, creator of the world's first spoken word poetry record label, Mouth Almighty/Mercury, and the Artistic Director of the Bowery Poetry Club, Holman has played a central role in the spoken word, slam and digital poetry movements of the last several decades. and aired nationally on PBS. Holman traveled for the film and led workshops at language revitalization centers across Alaska and Hawaii, sponsored by the Ford Foundation. His short film, Khonsay: Poem of Many Tongues, has lines of poetry in 50 languages, and premiered at the Margaret Mead Film Festival. In 2018, Holman was awarded the Chambra d'Oc Premio Ostana Award for his work in language revitalization. His roots are in Harlan, KY, and he currently lives on the Bowery in New York City.