Where Art Plays Its Part: Volume X: Performance Poet Frank Wolfe

The often soft-spoken Frank Wolfe is known for his unexpected sudden stage charisma in his most prominent of all artistic roles—as a performance poet.

Like many artists, Wolfe’s talents and interests don’t fall under just one umbrella but instead stretch into different types of expression. In addition to the performance poetry he’s known for so well, Wolfe is also a short story writer and painter. On top of that, he sometimes tests out pencil and chalk portraits and drawings inspired by friends, family and local landscapes. He is newly known as a standup comedian, too.

To Wolfe, paper and the stage are two places where he makes comfortable homes for himself by way of his heart.

His interest in writing began decades ago. During his junior year at , Wolfe won the recognition of writer of the year.

Once he enrolled in at the Blue Bell campus of Montgomery County Community College, Wolfe joined the Writers’ Club and took very strong encouragement and positive criticism within the group under Pat Nester who taught his creative writing English class, too.

“I read voraciously,” Wolfe admitted. Some of the poets initially inspiring Wolfe were iconic figures of the Beat Generation, Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac. He also admires the literary works of the late Berks County-born John Updike.

Today, he takes inspiration from Dorianne Laux, former U.S. Poet Laureate Rita Dove, Charles Bukowski and Raymond Carver.

“I’m big on original imagery. I’m not complex, dense or literary,” Wolfe explained. “I don’t have a lot of allusions where you have to research and dissect the poem.”

Instead, Wolfe ensures that his readers and listeners notice an unexpected throw-off by the last lines of his poems, much of the time, as he finds plenty of charm in the savvy way of curious surprise.

“I’m naïve enough that I do my own thing, and it’s original,” Wolfe elaborated not just about his performance poetry but also his recent diving efforts into standup comedy. “I don’t know if I found the scenes or if the scenes found me.”

Given his stage presence, Wolfe also considers himself an entertainer and stressed the importance of trusting your own material, with his sometimes jarring but magically smile-perking jokes and routines capturing audiences in a way all its own, especially compared to others who work only from the direct idea of comedy.

Wolfe described his comedy as embedded in his poetry, with his more humor-oriented endeavors bringing a newfound enchantment to him.

“You’re only as happy as your next performance,” Wolfe said. “And I talk about my priorities—a lot of irons in the fire.”

Last May, Wolfe released his fourth self-published book of poetry, Love and Bagels, which is akin to a greatest hits collection for all of the poems that came before. In 1992, he brought his first book, My Feet Weren’t Made for Color, to the public realm, with the poem of that title now on the first page of his latest book.

The originating poem addresses Wolfe’s own experience in trying to understand his place in the world, coming from a less common juxtaposition of backgrounds, where hues have a strong hold on perspective.

This excerpt gives a small sample of that: “My legs weren’t made for color / pants sew them up alone. / They bend at the knees if you got ‘em / and cling to big white bones.”

In 1999 came Half in My Hands, and in 2001, he released On Checker Black Hour.

Today, his poetry is based largely in food metaphors, reflections of growing up in Royersford and the always-amusing task of playing with words.

Tucked into his wallet is a folded up piece of paper, a poem titled “Comedy is the Blade.” Wolfe uses it as something to inspire himself and keep his spirits in better places, especially when he’s about to do standup at Steel City Coffeehouse in Phoenixville and in Spring City during its Sunday open mic nights.

“These stories are going to be lost,” Wolfe said about how everyone has their own, but they go untold, often, when poetry is not a part of people’s lives. “Poets and writers are the ones who are going to save those memories.”

“I like the way it grows with me,” Wolfe said about what he enjoys most in his continual pursuit of poetry. “Wherever I am, it seems to just be something that evolves. It’s a nice way to look back and remember.”