Three-time world champion poetry slam performer Buddy Wakefield is growing up — at age 45. He straightforwardly confessed as much just the other day.
“I’ve always been writing for my ideal self,” he said, speaking by phone while driving to a show in Kansas City, Missouri. “And I feel like I fill that guy’s shoes a little better now.
“And these days, that lets me stand in a lot more power on stage.”
Wakefield, author of the just-released prose-poetry book (his first in eight years) titled “A Choir of Honest Killers,” will perform at 7 p.m. Nov. 14 at YES Cinema in downtown Columbus in a show organized by the Columbus Area Arts Council. He will follow the next day with the arts council’s artist-led workshop at 411 gallery at 411 Sixth St., also downtown.
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After a move to Los Angeles four years ago, he began acting and writing for television and films. But he felt a fire and passion to share more performance poetry with the world — literally. The current book tour includes Europe by spring.
“I really felt it was important to put out one last book before I do this Los Angeles thing,” he said. “But I can’t definitively say it’ll be my last tour, because I’m not quite Michael Jordan. But it’s probably the last time I’ll have full focus on the poetry world.”
He left an executive post at a biomedical firm in 2001 to hit the road with this writings, and has never looked back. His background includes stints as everything from a lumberjack to a street sweeper.
He gets applause and cheers at the mic from his title work with lines such as, “Being human has been a largely humiliating experience. I would say it’s been humbling, but I suspect humble people don’t use that word. They humble up, buttercup.”
He also refers to himself as “part saint, part fraud” and viewers and listeners are left to sort through such opposing personas as best they can. He also connects in online clips with other lines such as, “There’s a good chance I’m a bad person, trying to do something good.”
Columbus poet Matthew D. Jackson brought Wakefield to Columbus four times over the past several years, with the artist’s last visit coming in 2014 at the Harlequin Theatre. A few years before that, Wakefield attracted more than 300 people at The Crump Theatre. Wakefield refers to Jackson by name and calls those dates “all great experiences.” Jackson already plans to catch the latest performance.
“Buddy is not only a breath of fresh air, but he is a good reminder to all of us to just breathe,” Jackson said. “I think that’s why I love his work so much. He is also a good reminder of the idea that, wherever you are, it’s important to just ‘be’ there.
“Even though his performances always take you on an emotional ride, they always bring you back to this present moment where everything is OK, regardless of what is going on with your past or what you may be worried about in the future.”
Wakefield has been featured on the BBC, HBO’s “Def Poetry Jam,” ABC Radio National and has been signed to both Sage Francis’ Strange Famous Records and Ani DiFranco’s Righteous Babe Records, according to his website at buddywakefield.com.
“What I’ve always felt in my bones to be true — and a big part of my intention — is coming out of the dark, so I guess I’m starting to sound like Gloria Estefan,” he said, humorously referencing the pop singer’s hit song. “Coming into the light is important to me. I feel it’s my duty with what I am doing to address the gritty underbelly of the human experience, and leave some clear writing on the wall on how we all can be better at it.”
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Who: Internationally touring spoken-word poet and author Buddy Wakefield.
When: 7 p.m. Nov. 14 for a public performance. And 5:30 to 8 p.m. Nov. 15 for an artist-led workshop via the Columbus Area Arts Council.
Where: The performance is at YES Cinema, 328 Jackson St. in downtown Columbus. And the workshop will be at the 411 gallery at 411 Sixth St. in downtown Columbus.
Cost: $10 for the performance, $40 for the workshop.
Information: artsincolumbus.org.
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