Apocalicense

Leon Haden Petty was like no one I have ever known in my life. A Poet with a capital P. A Scorpio: sex/death/intensity. We met in the spring of 1999, in a poetry class taught by Joseph Stroud at Cabrillo College in Aptos, California. We had to go around the room and say why we were taking the class. Most inane answers included references to English Language requirements; a lifelong love of poetry, etc. When it was Leon’s turn (he was wearing a purple rope headband) he said “I felt like I had to take a big dump.”

Leon made these recordings not long before we met, in his bedroom in Capitola. It really represents what Leon was all about: oral tradition and “raising vibration.” He always said the purpose of art was to be changed by it. In order for that to happen, one must be on similar frequencies, and this process of synchronization can be a disturbing one. I once saw a group of students so drawn to his reading that they began drifting into the basement room like children to the Pied Piper of Hamelin. At his best there was a shamanistic quality to his performances. I also knew of those that were so disturbed by his work they refused to allow it to be read. He liked to memorize and recite his own work and the works of others. Among his favorites were Jabberwocky by Lewis Caroll; The Death of Crazy Horse by Lucille Clifton; Bomb, and Marriage by Gregory Corso; and Fraulein Reads Instructive Rhyme by Maxine Kumin. I hope you enjoy these tracks, and allow them to change you in some way.