The Essential Hits of Shorty Bon Bon
By: Willie Perdomo
Series: Penguin poets
Publisher: Penguin Books
Published: March 25, 2014
Place of publication: New York, USA
Language: eng
Number of pages: 64
ISBN-13: 9780143125235
Subjects: Music; Amerikanisches Englisch; Lyrik; Poetry; African American musicians
Work titles: Poems
Description: Through dream song and elegy, alternate takes and tempos, prizewinning poet Willie Perdomo's third collection crackles with vitality and dynamism as it imagines the life of a percussionist, rebuilding the landscape of his apprenticeship, love, diaspora, and death. At the beginning of his infernal journey, Shorty Bon Bon recalls his live studio recording with a classic 1970s descarga band, sharing his recollection with an unidentified poet. This opening section is followed by a call-and-response with his greatest love, a singer named Rose, and a visit to Puerto Rico that inhabits a surreal nationalistic dreamscape, before a final jam session where Shorty recognizes his end and a trio of voices seek to converge on his elegy.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references.
Table of contents: title: How I Came to My Name; title: How I Came to My Name; title: Bembe-Faced; title: The Birth of Shorty Bon Bon (Take #1); title: Arroz con Son y Clave; title: Sangre Viva; title: The Birth of Shorty Bon Bon (Take #2); title: Start from the End Going Toward the End; title: Syncopated Licks; title: The Birth of Shorty Bon Bon (Take #3); title: How Cool Was I; title: The Birth of Shorty Bon Bon (Take #4); title: The Was of Things; title: The Birth of Shorty Bon Bon (Take #5); title: To Be with you; title: The Soul May Better Understand; title: Dear Shorty (No. 1); title: Delicious Numbers; title: Dear Shorty (No. 2); title: The City of You; title: Dear Shorty (No. 3); title: How It Went Down; title: Dear Shorty (No. 4); title: Maybe Under Some Other Sky; title: Dear Shorty (No. 5); title: When the Cure Is Worse Than the Sickness; title: Dear Shorty (No. 6); title: Blues for Rose; title: Dear Shorty (No. 7); title: Fracture, Flow; title: Have It Your Way: Combo; title: Official Business; title: Feliz Navidad; title: Sanjuanero Swag; title: Son de Lolita; title: Conjugation Games; title: Fracture, Flow; title: Plaza Las Delicias; title: How to Bum-Rush an Island & Blow Up the Spot; title: Noches de Galeria; title: Shorty Bon Bon's Freedom Song; title: The Birth of Shorty Bon Bon: Solo; title: The Birth of Shorty Bon Bon (Take #6); title: Side A (3:2); title: Side B (2:3); title: The Birth of Shorty Bon Bon (Final Take).