Wendell poet and spoken word performer Paul Richmond believes strongly in people having their voices heard.
Richmond organizes Spoken Word Greenfield, a monthly open mic series held at 9 Mill St. on third Tuesdays; the Greenfield Annual Word Festival, going into its seventh year; and the spoken word stage at the North Quabbin Garlic and Arts Festival, among other events. Richmond also publishes local poets and writers through his press, Human Error Publishing, and hosts a radio show called “Imagine” that airs on 107.9 FM Wednesdays from 1 to 2 p.m. and Sundays 7 to 8 p.m.
As a poet, Richmond brings his experience as a juggler and theatrical performer to his delivery, often reeling out wonderfully long rants that are undeniably funny but can pack a political punch.
“It’s not that I don’t try to do art for art’s sake,” Richmond says. “But I do feel there’s a need for some social commentary. Not to say it should all go the way I say but, you know, it’d be really great if we could drink the water.”
Richmond laughs his signature laugh but he takes social, political and environmental issues seriously. He often finds humor is the best way to lead in.
Recently, Richmond traveled to Budapest, Hungary, to take part in a spoken word event organized by Hungarian poet Gábor Gyukics, whom he learned about through the 100 Thousand Poets for Change network on Facebook. That organization serves as a clearinghouse for information about readings and other events worldwide, including a global event every fall that has often coincided with Richmond’s spoken word stage at the Garlic Festival. A recent addition to the website is a “Resistance Poetry Wall” — a place for poets around the world to respond to the recent elections in the U.S.
“It’s an attempt to realize that there are people everywhere working for change and peace through poetry,” Richmond said.
Richmond was on his way to visit his wife’s family in Germany and at first contacted Gyukics just to see if there were events in Hungary he could attend. Instead, Gyukics invited him to be a guest reader at “Jazzköltészeti est” — an event held at a nightclub in Budapest in January.
Richmond performed in round-robin style with Gyukics, Ferenc Szijj and club owner Agi Bardos Deák, who was reading the work of Bálint Solymosi. Improvisational jazz musicians Attila Dóra and Viktor Bori accompanied the poets.
“This group had a long history of seeing the arts as a way of fighting back and a place for them to find haven,” Richmond said.
Gyukics and the others were using their art to try to present information and experience “counter to all the ‘alternative facts,’” he said.
“Hungary’s got their own Trump,” Richmond added, referring to Prime Minister Viktor Orbán — known for his conservative, “Hungary First” nationalism.
Richmond said that after the reading, people stayed and talked, with various people acting as impromptu translators.
“That’s where we really had some good conversations,” Richmond said. “They are very scared about another war happening in Europe. … The biggest fear they were expressing was that the U.S. pulling out of NATO means they don’t have any protection.”
Richmond continues, “Walking around Hungary, there are still bullet holes in the walls, where they took out 450,000 Jews (during World War II). … We had constant reminders of how bad it could get.”
The Hungarians Richmond spoke with expressed “the same bewilderment” he was feeling at thinking, “I thought we were farther along than this.”
The same things he and others were fighting for — civil rights, women’s rights, and environmental protection — in the 1960s and ’70s are coming up again, Richmond said.
“How long have we been talking about Earth Day?” Richmond asked. “And now they just voted to keep dumping coal debris in the streams. All that work we’ve doing since the ’70s and we still have to have this conversation. … Some of it is just getting over the bewilderment of the déjà vu.”
It’s important not to let that bewilderment disable you, or to be overwhelmed by what’s happening in our country, Richmond says. Artists can help with this because they offer varying perspectives and new ways of doing things.
“If you don’t think you have any other choices, you can feel like you’re stuck,” Richmond says.
Artists and the arts create new spaces where we can think about things differently, he says. “I think the arts and culture helps create the space you want to be in.”
“There are a lot of truths being said on both sides,” Richmond says of our divided political climate. People complain about Trump but close to half the country voted for him, he says. “So it’s not just ‘Trump.’ It’s us.”
Richmond hopes that, “We can all be inspired to use what tools are around us not to just be name-calling but to create dialogue.”
In Hungary, “It was encouraging to realize through language barriers and all kinds of things, we saw that we had similar values and honored each other. It gives you a bigger perspective that it’s not only here (in the U.S.). This has always been the fight everywhere — women’s rights, civil rights.”
Stitching back to the 100 Thousand Poets global event, Richmond says, “OK, let’s say we’re at the Arts Block and we have an event. It can seem like nobody really cares except the people who came to see us. But to know that all of these other venues did it, all over the world, it helps with the feeling of not being alone.”
Find out more about Richmond’s events and publishing efforts at www.humanerrorpublishing.com. Learn more about 100 Thousand Poets for Change at www.100tpc.org.
Trish Crapo is a writer and photographer who lives in Leyden. She is always looking for poets, writers and artists to interview for her columns. She can be reached at tcrapo@mac.com.