Edwin Torres (born 1958) is a Nuyorican

performance poet Performance poetry is poetry that is specifically composed for or during a performance before an audience. It covers a variety of styles and genres. History The phenomenon of performance poetry, a kind of poetry specifically made for and offer ...

. His work incorporates vocal and physical improvisation. He is the author of ''Ameriscopia'', ''One Night: Poems for the Sleepy'', ''Yes Thing No Thing'', and several other poetic books. He also has produced recordings titled ''Oceano Rise'', ''Novo'', and ''Holy Kid''. He is a member of the L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E school.

Early years

Torres's parents moved from

Puerto Rico ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...

and settled in the borough of

The Bronx The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...

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. His father died when he was young and he was then raised by his mother and her brother Martin. He received his primary and secondary education in New York.

Nuyorican Poets Cafe

In 1989 Torres began working as a

graphic designer A graphic designer is a practitioner who follows the discipline of graphic design, either within companies or organizations or independently. They are professionals in design and visual communication, with their primary focus on transforming ...

and a year later he discovered the

Nuyorican Poets Cafe Nuyorican is a portmanteau word blending "New York" (or "Nueva York" in Spanish) and "Puerto Rican," referring to Puerto Rican migration to New York City, Puerto Ricans located in or around New York City, their culture, or their descendants (es ...

, which inspired his creative instincts. Torres created a movement which he called "Interactive Eclectrcism", which combines movement, audience participation, music and songs. The Nuyorican Poets Cafe not only opened its door for his creation but it also opened the doors to a new world of reading poetry. Torres also created the "Poets Neurotica", where dancers and musicians performed alongside two to four poets. He was a member of "Real Live Poetry" from 1993–99, performing and conducting workshops across the US and overseas. Torres has represented New York in the 1992

National Poetry Slam The National Poetry Slam (NPS) was a performance poetry competition where teams from across the United States, Canada, and, occasionally, Europe and Australia, participate in a large-scale poetry slam. The event occurred in early August every y ...

, celebrated in

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, and he has won the Nuyorican Poets Cafe First Annual Prize for Poetry with his poem "''Po-Mo Griot''". He has also appeared on

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

's Spoken Word Unplugged and the Charlie Rose Show and been featured on

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, in

Rolling Stone Magazine ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known ...

and in

New York Magazine ''New York'' is an American biweekly magazine concerned with life, culture, politics, and style generally, with a particular emphasis on New York City. Founded by Clay Felker and Milton Glaser in 1968 as a competitor to ''The New Yorker'' a ...

. His poem, "I Saw Your Empire State Building" was included in the book, ''Words In Your Face: A Guided Tour Through Twenty Years of the New York City Poetry Slam''Aptowicz, Cristin O'Keefe. (2008). ''Words in Your Face: A Guided Tour Through Twenty Years of the New York City Poetry Slam.''

: Soft Skull Press. "Chapter 24: Words that Comfort; The Aftermath of 9/11 on the NYC Poetry Slam Community" . in the chapter which dealt with the poetry slam community's response to 9/11, and his work has appeared in numerous anthologies such as ''Aloud: Voices from the Nuyorican Poets Cafe'',''Aloud: Voices from the Nuyorican Poets Cafe'' Holt. . ''Short Fuse: The Global Anthology of New Fusion Poetry'',''Short Fuse'' Rattapallax Press. . and ''Heights of the Marvelous: A New York Anthology'',''Heights of the Marvelous'' St. Martin's Press. . among many others.

Other performances

Besides performing at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe, Torres has performed at the Guggenheim Museum,

Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 ...

and the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

, amongst other venues.

Written works

Torres' poems include: *"''15 Minutes''"; *"''Gigabyte Me - How Much Ram In Your Summer Of Love?''"; *"''Lessering In Lessage''"; *"''Lounging In The Age Of Aquarius''"; *"''Mirror-Fucation''"; *"''Mister Hay's Trippy Moebius''"; *"''Peesacho''"; * "''Terra Quad''" Torres' books include: * ''Ameriscopia'' * ''One Night: Poems for the Sleepy'' * ''Yes Thing No Thing'' * ''In the Function of External Circumstances'' * ''The PoPedology of an Ambient Language'' * ''Please'' * ''Onomalingua: noise songs and poetry'' * ''The All-Union Day of the Shock Worker'' * ''Fractured Humorous'' * ''Lung Poetry'' (chapbook) * ''I Hear Things People Haven't Really Said'' (chapbook) * ''SandHomméNomadNo'' (chapbook)

References

External links