Hedwig Gorski facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Hedwig Gorski
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Gorski in Louisiana, 2009
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| Born | Hedwig Irene Gorski July 18, 1949 Trenton, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Occupation | Writer, poet |
| Literary movement | Performance Poetry, Avant-Garde Poets, Media Artists, Postmodernism |
| Notable awards | Fulbright Fellowship 2003 |
| Spouse | D'Jalma Garnier |
Hedwig Irene Gorski (born July 18, 1949) is an American performance poet and an avant-garde artist. She calls her unique style "American futurism." She is known for creating the term "performance poetry." This style of poetry is spoken aloud, often with music. It was a step before what we now call slam poetry. Gorski first used the term in 1979 to describe her experimental spoken word and theater shows. She is a first-generation Polish American scholar and a talented writer. Her creative works, including poetry, stories, plays, and audio, are published and produced in many ways.
About Hedwig Gorski
Hedwig Gorski was born in Trenton, New Jersey. Her parents and sister moved to the United States from Galicia, Poland (now part of Ukraine) after World War II. Her father joined the Polish Underground when he was 14. Later, he joined the United States Army. The family arrived in the U.S. in 1949 in New Orleans, Louisiana.
After getting a degree in painting from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design University in Canada, she moved to Austin, Texas in 1977. She is married to her second husband, the composer D'Jalma Garnier.
Her Creative Journey
Gorski's public career started in New Orleans in 1973. She drew pictures for the NOLA Express underground newspaper. She also sold the new papers on the street. The old copies of NOLA Express are now kept at the University of Connecticut. Gorski and Charles Bukowski were two of the most famous people who wrote for the paper. In New Orleans, she became friends with Delta blues musician Babe Stovall. She often sat with him while he played for tourists in Jackson Square.
Soon after moving to Austin, she started her poetry and theater work. She wrote, produced, and directed a one-act play called Booby, Mama!. She called this new play style "neo-verse drama." This play was based on a type of writing called "cut-up," made famous by William Burroughs. Her memoir, Intoxication: Heathcliff on Powell Street, talks about how performance poetry began in 1978. It joined body movement with the power of spoken words.
Gorski's work often talks about fairness. It challenges old ideas about race and gender in the United States. Her poems show strong images of women. They protest against artists who don't speak up. She worked closely with other writers like Gloria E. Anzaldúa and Ricardo Sánchez.
In 2008, Gorski spoke at a conference in Washington, D.C.. She read from "Mexico Solo," a long prose poem. She explained how Polish Americans are like other 'hyphenated' minority cultures. Other Polish American poets at the conference talked about facing discrimination. Gorski calls these groups "invisible minorities" because they are often from Europe. Her writing supports all groups who face hidden struggles in American society. Because of this, she has been called the "American Mayakovsky." Her motto, "poetry is a hammer," means poetry is a powerful tool.
Performance Poetry Pioneer
When Bob Holman first heard Gorski's music with her band, East of Eden, he was very impressed. Gorski worked with Jazz writers and radio hosts. She was one of the few artists who focused only on combining spoken poetry with music. Gorski called herself a "performance poet" in interviews. She used this term in 1981 to describe her style of writing poetry for speaking aloud, not just for printing. This term became popular in the mid-1980s. It describes a unique type of poetry that is different from spoken word, slam poetry, or performance art.
Supporting New Writers
Gorski created and paid for projects to share performance-oriented literature. She wanted to help works that were outside the "mainstream." She also supported literature that went against the usual way of doing things. In 1980, she helped start The Austin Chronicle. She began and named the Litera column. This column talked about readings, books, and other important topics for alternative literature, especially poetry.
A Scholar's Path
After her performance poetry career in the 1980s, Gorski went to graduate school. She earned a Ph.D. in Creative Writing in 2001 from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. In 2003–04, Gorski taught about minority American literature at the University of Wrocław in Poland. She was there as a Fulbright Fellow. During this time, she traveled to many places, including Ukraine. She even met Václav Havel backstage at a Bob Dylan concert in Prague.
Key Achievements
Gorski created the term "Performance Poetry" in the early 1980s. She wanted to show that her performed poetry was different from performance art. She also helped start the Austin Chronicle. This newspaper helped promote Austin as a "music capital of the world." As the music scene grew, so did the art and literature community. Gorski's work came from this exciting environment. She calls her style a "pedestrian avant-garde," meaning it was new and for everyone.
Gorski's live performances on KUT-FM radio were recorded. They were sent to radio stations around the world. These recordings became part of the 1980s Indie audio cassette and radio network. This network offered new music and poetry that was different from commercial music. Her radio shows made performance poetry more popular. This was the type of poetry she named, which was written only for performance and not for print.
Her band, East of Eden, was made of professional jazz musicians. Their success came from mixing music and poetry together only for live shows. Gorski's spoken words were described as being very close to singing, even though she didn't sing. The music for each poem was written by D'Jalma Garnier. It included styles from jazz to country and western to rock and roll.
Her Unique Style
Unlike the Beats, Gorski wrote her poems only for performance with music. D'Jalma Garnier composed the music specifically for each poem. The poetry was meant for audio distribution, especially for radio. Her art school background influenced her love for performance text. She also liked the idea of sharing art in ways that were not about making money.
Even though she got a degree in painting, she didn't like the fancy world of galleries. She put her love of images into her poetry. This poetry also included ideas from performance art and conceptual art. Gorski is considered one of the most famous graduates of NSCAD. She was inspired by Allen Ginsberg's "Howl."
One of her early heroes was Bob Dylan. She admired his "surreal images and hidden meanings in words that sounded great." The passion in his singing matched what she heard from Dylan Thomas, a Welsh poet who first inspired her. Bob Dylan even came to Gorski's last performance in Austin in 1992.
Works and Recordings
Her first published performance poems are in a book called Snatches of the Visible Unreal. This is also the name of her first audio cassette. Another small book, Polish Gypsy with Ghost, came with a vinyl record. Her second audio cassette was called East of Eden Band. Gorski used the name Hedwig G-G for this one. Her poems won music lyric awards, even though she never sang. She used her success to help other non-academic poets record their works. These included raúlrsalinas, Roxy Gordon, and Joy Cole.
Other print collections of her poetry were made in small numbers. These included Early breakfast with Hedwig Gorski and The East of Eden Band Songbook. In 2009, a new CD was released called Send in the Clown. It had selected radio recordings by Gorski and East of Eden.
You can download Gorski's recordings and her radio play, Thirteen Donuts, on iTunes. She wrote and directed Thirteen Donuts for KRVS-FM radio.
Awards and Honors
- 2011 Finalist in 2011 National Poetry Series
- 2004 Southern Artistry Award
- 2003 Fulbright Scholar at University of Wroclaw, Poland
- 2002 Artist Fellowship in Audio Media, Louisiana Division of the Arts
- 2001 Robert and Bernice Webb Award for Excellence in Graduate Teaching – Advanced Level. Department of English, University of Louisiana
- 2001 National Audio Theatre Festivals Script Writing Competition, for Thirteen Donuts
- 1994 Producer Fellowship from Corporation for Public Broadcasting at WWOZ, New Orleans
- 1990 Commemoration of International Women's Day Certificate on the occasion of a University Co-Op Book Signing Honoring Women Authors
- 1987 Best Use of Language Judges Award for performance poem "Mexico Solo" in Austin Music Umbrella Annual Songwriters Competition
- 1986 Honorable Mention for performance poem "Glitter Streets" in Austin Music Umbrella Annual Songwriters Competition
Selected Works
Audio Recordings
- Hedwig Gorski Performance Poetry. CD. Original Broadcast on Liveset KUT-FM. Performed with East of Eden Band and D'Jalma Garnier. Austin, TX.
- 13 Donuts. CD. Original Broadcast Oct. 13, 2000 on KRVS-FM. Performed by Honors Players, U of Louisiana. Oct. 13, 2010.
- "Slow Paradise". Podcast by Mongo. Show Number 962. Wed., September 29, 2010."
- "To My Last Idol Bob Dylan". Podcast by Mongo. Show Number 714. Wed., June 9, 2010.
- "Mexico Solo". Podcast by Mongo. Show Number 623. Mon., November 9, 2009.
- Send in the Clown. Selected Performance Poetry from Live Radio Broadcasts. CD 2009
- East of Eden Band. KUT-FM Live Set. Recording and broadcast, University of Texas at Austin 1985
- "Intellectual Love", "Slow Paradise", "There's Always Something That Can Make You Happy", all from East of Eden's album Intimacies. KUT-FM Live Set. Recording and broadcast. University of Texas at Austin 1986
- Snatches of the Visible Unreal. Duets by Hedwig Gorski and D'Jalma Garnier. Directed by Morgan Guidry, 1984
Video Recordings
- "Teenager in Nova Scotia." Video Illustrated Poetry. Producer PerfectoMedia 2010
- "Rising Melodic Chords." Poem by Hedwig Gorski Deconstructed by Composer D'Jalma Garnier 2008
- "Teenager in Nova Scotia." Dial-A-Poet Series. Dir. Karen Minzer. Fort Worth 1990
Theater Productions
- Thirteen Donuts. By Hedwig Gorski. Dir. William Davies. Perf. Honors Players. KRVS-FM Radio, Lafayette. LouisianaRadio.com. Oct. 13, 2000.
- Booby, Mama!. By Hedwig Gorski. Dir. Hedwig Gorski. Perf. Ex Troupe. InterArt Works, Austin. March–April 1977.
