Brontez Purnell on his Memoir in Verse and a Life of Making Transgressive Art

KQED's Forum

KQED

Politics, News, News Commentary

4.6 • 656 Ratings

🗓️ 13 February 2024

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Oakland’s Brontez Purnell is so many things. As he writes in “Ten Bridges I’ve Burnt,” his new memoir in verse, “I am a troubled Negro youth in his 40s neglecting self care.” He’s also the frontman for the punk band the Younger Lovers, a dancer, a performance artist, a queer zine-maker, the author of the critically acclaimed “100 Boyfriends,” as well as a raconteur and truth seeker. He joins us to talk about his life and his art. Guests: Brontez Purnell, author, "Ten Bridges I've Burnt: A Memoir in Verse" and "100 Boyfriends"; musician Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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0:49.0	From KQED in San Francisco, I'm Alexis Madrigal.
0:53.0	Probably the shortest way to describe Brontes Pernell would be to call him an artist.
1:02.0	Today we'll be talking about his new memoir in verse, 10 Bridges I've burnt, but he's written short fiction, made records, choreographed dances, shot films, published zines. He is a volcano of creative energy pouring out of and through the Bay Area scenes, gay, black, dance, punk.
1:10.0	This new memoir takes the form of dozens of raunchy, funny, pithy, incandescent poems.
1:15.8	What is it to live in a body, his body?
1:18.3	And to be a soul, his soul, and his time and his place, the long here and now.
1:22.7	Brontes Pernel is coming up after this news.
1:37.8	Welcome to Forum.
1:39.3	I'm Alexis Madrigal.
1:45.4	The new memoir and verse by today's guest, Brontes-Pernel, is a challenging book. I don't mean the language itself, which is precise and wickedly fun. I mean that 10 bridges I've burnt is confrontational.
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