Is Henry Rollins a good poet Discuss with specific reference to his Essay

Is Henry Rollins a good poet Discuss with specific reference to his work - Essay Example When Henry Rollins is criticized for being a lesser poet, and not so good a performer, what these critics miss is the totality of the artist that he is. Of the different categories of performers he belonged to the category of super active performers. In 1980s when he was with the punk rock group the Black Flag his pre show appearances on the stage were very critically acclaimed. He would come on stage in only a pair of black shorts while the rest of the band is tuning up before the concert. He will pace up and down the stage grinning and grinding his teeth. According to sub pop critic Calvin Johnson, â€Å"Henry was incredible. Pacing back and forth, lunging, lurching, growling; it was all real, the most intense emotional experiences I have ever seen† (as quoted by Azzerad Michel, in Our band could be your life: scenes from the American Indie Underground PP38) This shows that Henry Rollins was more a performer than a poet whose energy is more in performing poems rather than wi th in the poems. So the poetry is only one of the media he uses to perform before the world. For him a poem is not a whisper as it is too many poets, but a big shout out. It is this aspect as a performer poet that is missed out in the criticism of the poems of Rollins. Every word uttered is made into a performance by Henry Rollins. That’s why his spoken-word performances are so popular, receiving good reviews from respectable journals and News papers everywhere. In many of his interviews Rollins confesses himself to be workaholic.† I don’t have a great deal of love life. I love my work, but don’t know many people.† He explains in his interview with another poet/musician/actor, Saul Williams. Work with out love and the years flying away is almost a perpetual theme in Rollins poems. The agony of loneliness is getting denser here. The inability to love or to reach out to the lover is getting graver which is summed up so poetically and beautifully as â€Å"my silence spit in your