"To scrutinize clearly the wreckage, someone had to invent a kind of fire that would burn in the deep waters. In the fathoms of American myth, the Piper Jane Project is both fire and invention. Their work, lovingly and dynamically crafted, occupies elegy, persona, indictment, and meditation. They are a rare quartet of talent that is capable not only of forging good poems, but of reconstructing and naming in the air our country's most urgent varieties of beauty and terror. Do not miss them."
-- Patrick Rosal, author of "Uprock Headspin Scramble and Dive" and "American Kundiman"
I'd like to meet:
The Piper Jane Project podcast!!!
http://www.indiefeedpp.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=128496
http://www.indiefeedpp.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=125781
Music:
"The women that compose The Piper Jane Project are some of the most vibrant and dynamic poets writing today. This is not hyperbole -- these are writers that have scrapped hard for every syllable on their pages, and their work and struggle sings with every line. Perhaps what's most exciting about their work is how much they honor the poem itself, both as something written and spoken, giving neither side short shrift. They bring intellect, emotional depth and a fearlessness in the face of language to the stage, synthesizing contemporary poetry's most disparate strands into a potent cocktail. To say that these writers are merely amazing would be an understatement -– they are nothing less than a quantum leap in our understanding of what it means to be a poet in 21st Century America."
–- Victor D. Infante, OC Weekly
Movies:
"The Piper Jane Project is the most exciting collection of poetic voices to join forces in the last decade. This is the insanely talented and enlightening group that Sappho, Audre Lorde, Sylvia Plath, and Janis Joplin would form if they were all alive today. Take it from one who has spent much of his life in the classroom, the Piper Jane Project is part of the solution."
-- Taylor Mali, author of "What Teachers Make," "Poems from the Like-Free Zone," and "Conviction"
Television:
"Having known the members of The Piper Jane project for many years now, I have constantly been inspired by their work, especially its evolution. These four outstanding poets possess a range of approach, message, and craft that can only lead to a dynamic show, representing poetry's possibilities. Their voices, distinct as they are, also remain rooted in a humanity that does not apologize for being women who embrace their femininity. This strength beyond rhetoric is the core of their journeys as individuals and artists. Their work is necessary in this world of compromised reality and lazy individualism."
-- Beau Sia, original Broadway cast member, Def Poetry Jam on Broadway
Books:
"Move over, Barbershop Quartets, Eliot's 4 Quartets, the Four Seasons and the Four Directions: Piper Jane plays a different tune. Four voices as varied as North South East West blend a body poetic, a Universal Envelope postage paid. While meanwhile your old body, paralyzed by word beauty and meaning madness, suddenly realizes, Aha! Imagination is power and Language the resonator. We're talking a whole new New now, poetry you can dance to. Piper Jane reigns!"
-- Bob Holman, author of "Collect Call of the Wild" and founder/proprietor of the Bowery Poetry Club
Heroes:
"When I heard that Lynne, Marty, Rach and Emily had joined forces, I fully expected to hear an explosion, one of those big-bangers that result when there's an unbridled ripple in the universe. Individually, these four are fierce, uncompromising artists, each with a devotion to
craft, bold voice and definitive creative signature. Collectively, they're a jolt to the status quo, an embarrassment of riches. Of course, they're the first to go in that unmined artistic direction that tempts so many of us. They'll blast the doors open. All the rest of us can do is follow."
-- Patricia Smith, author of "Teahouse of the Almighty," winner of the National Poetry Series and four-time National Poetry Slam Champion
