[image: High Mayhem] High Mayhem Emerging Arts http://highmayhem.org/ *Word-Centric* Sunday, February 20 at noon 2811 Siler Lane, Santa Fe NM A celebration of the written and spoken word in two parts. The first set will be performances by Tommy Archuleta, Valerie Martinez (the former Santa Fe Poet Laureate), John Flax, Ginger Dunnill, and Michael Smith. The second act will be “These Are Real Brains” lead by poet and founder of the Alzheimer’s Poetry Project, Gary Glazner, with Carlos Santistevan (bass), Milton Villarrubia, III (percussion), Dino J.A. Deane (Sampler/Live Sampling), Molly Sturges (vocals), and Chris Jonas (saxophone). Performing and creating poetry with people living with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia inspire Glazner’s poem “These Are Real Brains.” Working in the tradition of Dada, and Surrealist poets and drawing inspiration and methodology from cut-up and found poetry techniques, collage, and counterpoint, the poem looks at consciousness, attention span and the effects of the cut and paste computer technology. The poem mixes Glazner’s original work with well-loved classic poems. In speaking the lines of Shakespeare the reader uses the same vocal cord, larynx, lungs and lips as he did 400 plus years ago and brings that breath into the world. It looks at cultural touch points of Presidential dementia and explores what it means to love someone who no longer remembers that you are married. It speaks in the voice of people living with memory loss. The poem acts as score and text for improvisational performance and draws on the long history of poetry as oral art. About Gary Glazner Gary Glazner is the founder and Executive Director of the Alzheimer's Poetry Project, (APP). The National Endowment for the Arts listed the APP as a “best practice” for their Arts and Aging initiative. NBC's “Today” show, NPR's “All Things Considered” and Voice of America have featured segments on Glazner’s work. Harper Collins, W.W. Norton and Salon.com have published his work. Glazner is the author and editor of five books including: "Ears on Fire: Snapshot Essays in a World of Poets," published on La Alameda Press, the book chronicles a year abroad in Asia and Europe meeting poets, working on translations and writing poems; "How to Make a Living as a Poet" on Soft Skull Press, which features essays and interviews on creative ways to bring poetry to the world and “Poetry Slam: The Competitive Art of Performance Poetry,” on Manic D Press. In 2009, Glazner was invited by a group of poets to launch the APP in Berlin and Marburg. In 2010, the U.S. Embassy is funding a pilot project for the APP in Germany. From 2007 to 2010, Glazner was the Managing Director of the Bowery Poetry Club in New York City.