Where Have All The Children Gone? They’re on Lifetime!

So, there this is poem on my first spoken word album, 1 of 29, called “Where Have all the Children Gone.” This piece has been a favorite of mine off the record but I haven’t given it much thought until recently. Picture it…

There I am checking my email as I do on any given day when up pops a message from a producer with the Lifetime Channel (yes, the cable network). They ask if they can use “Where Have All the Children Gone,” for a show called Dance Moms. The producer then tells me that a choreographer uses this poem for a dance number – a children’s dance number. Of course, my initial reaction was, “I’m famous!” But then about 10 seconds later I thought, “What the hell?”

So, of course I granted permission to use the piece simply out of curiosity. Well, I’ll be damned if they don’t make a routine out a of poem that has no music, no beat, no anything me reading a nice, quiet poem about children disappearing. And go figure, the dance routine is actually pretty interesting. You can watch the routine here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2sVdFFu8M0&feature=related

Also, this may be a first: an ensamble inspired by one of my poems. This may be the first article of clothing that I’ve seen inspired by a poem (not just with the actual poem on a t-shirt). You can buy it here.