Fiction Writer Spotlight: Carlos Robson

About a year ago, I went to an appearance by poet Carlos Robson and became a fan. I was impressed by his talent in writing and delivery, and especially how he seemed to transform himself into his characters. But what turned me into a fan were his message of empowerment and how deeply he connected with his audience. 

Here's what his publicist, Bass Schuler, has to say: 

Carlos Robson is an award winning spoken word poet, playwright, and teaching artist.As a competitive “slam”poet, he’s competed in local, regional, national and international competitions, winning the National Poetry Slam championship in 2007 and again in 2008 as a member of the North Carolina based team, Slam Charlotte. He has performed in all corners of the nation and on Broadway, and is a co-founder of the Charlotte based artist collective The Concrete Generation as well as one half of the live arts project The Indoctrination Experiment. Twice nominated for APCA Spoken Word Artist of the Year, Carlos has performed at over (50?) colleges and universities.In 2009, Carlos co-wrote and appeared in the play “Miles & Coltrane:blue(.)” directed by Quentin Talley, which appeared off-Broadway and at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland.

If you'd like to see Carlos perform, here's his schedule:

IL         MORTON COLLEGE                                 CICERO                   February 4, 2013

GA       MIDDLE GEORGIA STATE COLLEGE   MACON                   February 14, 2013

NY       SUNY DELHI                                             DELHI                      February 22, 2013

NY      CAYUGA COM. COLLEGE                       AUBURN                 February 25, 2013

NY      MOHAWK VALLEY COM. COLLEGE     UTICA                     February 26, 2013

NY      UNION COLLEGE                                     SCHENECTADY    March 1, 2013

TN      VOLUNTEER STATE COM. COLLEGE   GALLATIN              March 27, 2013

Carlos Robson

Yesterday I had the chance to attend a poetry performance by Carlos Robson.

I almost didn’t go. I could just imagine what it would be like: an hour of whining, if I was lucky. If I wasn’t lucky, he’d be the kind of ‘poet’ who puts together disjointed images of gore and perversion, just to shock the audience.

I did go, of course. I’m a writer, after all, and a poetry performance is, at least marginally, an event in my field. It was free, and it was very close to where I was staying at my brother’s place in New Haven, Connecticut. I went because I couldn’t come up with a decent excuse not to.

I loved it. Instead of whining, I heard inspiration; instead of shock, respect. And it was the kind of inspiration and respect you can believe in, because it was anchored not in lofty ideals but in practical reality. The audience was mostly young and urban, and Carlos spoke their language.

The poem that affected me most was about his uncle, who was a fan of “The Wizard of Oz” and who lost his mind in the Vietnam War. Let me back up and fill in some context.

I recently finished writing a novel about terrorism. To write it, I immersed myself in the twisted mind of the mass murderer and put myself in the shoes of the victims. And I wrote it too fast, didn’t give myself the time to take the insanity in pieces.

After that, to help myself heal, I’ve been working with my daughter on something just for fun: a fan fiction teleplay. To get to know my characters and make them ‘real,’ I always make them my imaginary friends. Sure, I get caught talking to myself, and it probably means I’m diagnosably crazy, but the technique works. Lately, I’ve had a Cardassian Gul from Star Trek following me around whether I ask him to or not. And it just so happens that his planet was recently reduced to a ball of rubble in a particularly horrible war.

So with all that in mind, I sat in a Connecticut classroom last Friday and watched Carlos Robson take on the persona of his uncle. “Follow orders!” he yelled at the tornado. “Follow orders!” Then sadly, “Follow the yellow brick road. The road is paved with the faces of the dead.”

The poems weren’t all so heartbreaking. In fact, even the tragic ones contributed to the overall message: “Don’t let anybody stop you from doing what you need to do to get where you’re going.”