ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, December 27, 1996 TAG: 9612270029
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SERIES: Whatever happened to...? a look back at 1996
SOURCE: CHRISTINA NUCKOLS STAFF WRITER
THE NATIONAL POETRY SLAM WINNER from Elk Creek nearly went back into the restaurant business. But she's going on tour instead.
Patricia Johnson knows how safety feels. It's like the sensation she gets when her fingers sink into a wad of warm, gooey dough.
But Johnson also knows what it feels like to pull free from that comfortable, sticky mass and take a chance. She made that choice this year.
She arrived in her hometown of Elk Creek for Thanksgiving a conquering hero-poet. She had placed first in the 1996 National Poetry Slam in Portland, Ore., in August, then traveled the country on a two-month tour. The day after she settled down at her parents' home for a break, the telephone rang.
There was a restaurant for sale, said the voice on the other end of the line. It was perfect for her.
"It's hard not to fall back into old patterns," Johnson said. "I actually thought about it."
Before Johnson made a name for herself as a poet, hungry people knew her for her biscuits, bread pudding and chili. In 1992, she closed her restaurant - the Classic Glenvar Chili Shop - and went to work for Harold Wingate at The Homeplace restaurant.
She thought about the times Wingate would pop into the kitchen to tell her she was "too smart to be baking biscuits and cobblers." She dialed his number.
Wingate encouraged her to continue with her poetry.
"It's a new venture, and she was scared," he said. "It's nothing wrong with that but she's already proved she's capable of doing it."
Johnson isn't entertaining any more second thoughts about her new career. She's preparing to go solo after two years with Poetry Alive, a Washington, D.C.-based group that organizes tours to schools across the country
"And now I'm working on a European tour," she said. She rocked back in her chair, slapped both knees and howled with laughter, then leaned forward to slap all other legs within her reach.
The European tour is not a joke, Johnson's hilarity notwithstanding. But she can't suppress the laughter when she thinks about how quickly her life has changed in four years.
Johnson has written poetry since she was a child. But it was a private act, shared only with family members in the intimacy of a living room or whispered to close friends over the telephone.
But when Johnson heard about the poetry slams in Roanoke each month, she had to go.
Poets participating in a slam are encouraged to do more than merely read their poems. They perform their poems. They become their poems.
Maria Kusznir, who organizes Roanoke's poetry slams, couldn't help but notice Johnson.
"I was amazed at how good she was at moving the audience," Kusznir said.
Kusznir wheedled and coaxed Johnson into attending a poetry festival and ultimately competing on the national level. In 1994, Johnson entered her first national slam.
"I thought I was going to win," she said. "I thought I was going to beat them all. They had nothing on me."
She placed seventh. But by that time she also had made contacts with other poets, including members of Poetry Alive. She joined the group that fall.
"When you perform every day, that just adds to it so that being on the stage becomes like washing a dish or pouring a cup of coffee," she said.
She began booking a few shows on her own between Poetry Alive dates. After placing first in this year's national competition, she has the credentials she needs to begin a full-time solo career.
"It's fine and good to tell someone that you are good at something and they may take you at your word that you are good at it," she said, "but when you say you have won a national award, then they are more apt to believe you."
She's not taking herself too seriously, though. Borrowing from Marc Smith, a former construction worker who started the first Poetry Slam in Chicago 10 years ago, Johnson begins each performance by saying "I'm Patricia Johnson, and the correct response is, `So what?'''
It's an icebreaker for audiences who have been conditioned to sit still and be quiet for poetry, but it also keeps Johnson grounded in reality.
At the same time, Johnson isn't afraid to dream about poetry in global proportions. She believes poets will one day record CDs and film videos as frequently as rock stars do now. David Letterman, Oprah Winfrey and Rosie O'Donnell will line up to book them as guests on their talk shows.
"I would like to hear poetry on the radio," Johnson said. "I would like to hear a No.1 poem of the week, and of course, it would have to be by Pat Johnson."
LENGTH: Medium: 89 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: NHAT MEYER/Staff. Patricia Johnson hopes poets will oneby CNBday record CDs and film videos as frequently as rock stars do now.
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