Poet shares his 'Fire of Life'

Michele Dalton is the walking, talking and singing essence of performance poetry.

Dalton, who is originally from Pittsburgh, Pa., landed in Albuquerque by sheer coincidence after car trouble stalled him on his way to California following his divorce.

Now that he's decided to stay awhile, he's kicked up the performance poetry scene a few notches.

In addition to moving his one-man performance poetry show "People of the Dirt" to town, he also has organized several other events for the "Fire of Life Performance Poetry Series," featuring local performance poets such as Danny Solis and Don McIver.

Dalton said that after he left home at age 12, he discovered poetry.

"Performance poetry has been healing," he said. "Life hurt a great deal and paper listens well."

A very musical poet, Dalton began performing as an a cappella singer. He performed in nursing homes, coffee houses or anywhere he could convince somebody to give him a show.

He said after singing, he moved to Philadelphia, where he discovered performance poetry.

"I didn't understand a lot when I was coming up," Dalton said. "But when I moved to Philly, the poets of Philly were so fantastic that I had to have a little edge there. I couldn't just stand up and read in front of them."

Dalton said his goal of performing his poetry is not to get up on a soapbox and preach, but to touch people's hearts and have them think. He said he wants to have people walk away asking how Dalton's poetry pertains to them.

Dalton said that his experience as a Marine helps him stay focused when planning shows.

"It's that kind of discipline that I use nowadays when I get up and I say OK look here man, you got a show coming up in how many days? I don't care what you got in your mind, block it out and rehearse and make sure your stuff is rehearsed,'" he said. "So when you step on the stage, it's fluid and people love it. They think that it's off the cup, but we know better."

Inspiration for Dalton's show "People of the Dirt" struck in Portland, Ore., where he was working as a cook.

He said he was listening to a religious station on the radio while the restaurant was closed during the afternoon when a preacher said "we are dirt people."

He said he thought that statement made sense because people are formed from the dirt and go back to the dirt.

"I guess it's a part of my campaign to show people that although we're different sexes and colors and sizes, we're all the same - there's no separation," he said.

Dalton's philosophy is that sometimes it is best to keep moving forward, no matter how hard it is to leave the past behind.

He has been writing a piece about his ex-wife while trying to move on and the process mirrors his own struggle.

"Some days I work on it, some days I don't," Dalton said.

Dalton's "People of the Dirt" show will be at R.B. Winning Coffee Co. on Feb. 16 at 7 p.m.

The show will also feature guest appearances by local performance poets Amy Mullin and Don McIver.

For more information, contact Dalton at 933-6020.