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HBO sits down with Def Poet Geoff Trenchard . . .
HBO:
How did you get started writing poetry?
Geoff Trenchard:
I went to an open mic and I saw a couple of different featured poets. I saw a cat named Big Poppa E, Eric Ut, and another guy named Mac Dennis. Yeah, I just saw them, you know, doing the thing, not just reading poetry, but memorized, well blocked, well performed, well thought out. And I was like, I'm going to do that sh**. So I got really into it, and I started hitting up open mics and poetry slams. And that was about four or five years ago.
HBO:
How would you describe your poetic style today?
Geoff Trenchard:
My poetic style is pretty narrative. I kind of tell stories, that's my thing. I came up with all kinds of clever stuff for my bio, too, about a kind of film noir narrative. I tell stories to prove a point, and I feel like people get points better if you sort of lay out the argument, and let them come to the conclusion. So that's kind of what I do - I just lay out an argument.
HBO:
Where's your favorite place to write?
Geoff Trenchard:
That's a tough question. I kind of write everywhere. I have a pretty serious practice - I try and write for an hour a day. So I would say probably my house would be my favorite place to write. But I keep papers in my pockets, and write stuff down all the time. Wherever I get a good idea is my favorite place to write.
HBO:
Where's the strangest place you've ever performed?
Geoff Trenchard:
I've traveled a lot these past couple years, some boondock ass towns in the middle of Minnesota, and probably the craziest place that I've ever read a poem was San Quentin Penitentiary. I did a poetry workshop there not too long ago, and that was the craziest place I'd ever performed.
HBO:
So what does writing do for you? Why do you write?
Geoff Trenchard:
Man, fish got to swim. You know, it's really just part of my whole process, how I process my life. It's at the point now where I do it all the time, I just write all the time. So it's just how I work out my thoughts or work out my feelings or work out my sh**, you know?
HBO:
Why did you want to be a part of Def Poetry?
Geoff Trenchard:
Because y'all are Def Poetry. [LAUGHS] I wanted to be a part of Def Poetry because you are what you do, because I feel like Def Poetry has really stepped up the implied production value of what we do. To have something put on HBO that's very true to form of what you know, of what our art form's really about, of that live performance. Stan (Lathan) gives everybody pep talks right before you get up there. It captures what the show is like for people at home - if you can't get out to a poetry spot, this is kind of what it's like. And they'll do it right, man.
HBO:
Tell us about your piece.
Geoff Trenchard:
I did a couple of them. I did this one that's all about how I used to work for Kinko's, and what a terrible experience that was, and how much I really enjoyed stealing from them.
And I did this other poem about teaching poetry workshops for a living - that's kind of my thing, teaching poetry to seventh graders. And it's about the sh** they find funny. It's me talking about this one particular student that's sort of a composite of three or four different kids, and a little bit of me at that age. It's my little explanation, sort of why I do poetry and why I like it so much.
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