Stunt Water: Selected Poems of Buddy Wakefield, 1991-2011

by Buddy Wakefield

Stunt Water is Wakefield’s first 20 years of spoken word and lyrics collected from his original three now out-of-print books. It is a vulnerable cross section of his writing that moves from disarmingly human to sudden bursts of beast, able to seamlessly blend back into grounded stories of humor, heartache and identity using crisp, innovative and unforgettable metaphors. If you can only buy one Buddy Wakefield book, this collection is the most comprehensive of his most compelling works to date. His craft mimics the intrigue of propellers when they make themselves invisible. Buddy’s honest story is a one-man relay race to the light; that of a boy at gentleman practice who sometimes wants to blend in so badly he forgets his purpose has already arrived and there is no need to fight a war that’s long been over. The reader must be prepared for the recurring nightmares from which Buddy wakes up only to realize that whatever supposedly awful thing was stalking him was actually just trying to help.

Genres: Poetry

152 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2015

About the author

BUDDY WAKEFIELD is the two-time Individual World Poetry Slam Champion featured on NPR, the BBC, HBO’s Def Poetry Jam, and most recently signed to Ani DiFranco’s Righteous Babe Records. In 2004 he won the Individual World Poetry Slam Finals thanks to the support of anthropologist and producer Norman Lear then successfully defended that title at the International Poetry Festival in Rotterdam, Netherlands against the national champions of seven European countries with works translated into Dutch.

In 2005 he won the Individual World Poetry Slam Championship again and has gone on to share the stage with nearly every notable performance poet in the world in hundreds of venues internationally from The Great Lawn in Central Park and Scotland’s Oran Mor to San Quentin State Penitentiary, House of Blues New Orleans and First Avenue.

In the spring of 2001 Buddy left his position as the executive assistant at a biomedical firm in Gig Harbor, WA, sold or gave away everything he owned, moved to the small town of Honda Civic and set out to live for a living, touring North American poetry venues through 2003. He still tours full time and considers annual Revival tours with Derrick Brown and Anis Mojgani, as well as separate tours with Ani DiFranco, to be the highlight of his career thus far.

Born in Shreveport, LA, mostly raised in Baytown, TX, now claiming Seattle, WA as home, Buddy has been a busker in Amsterdam, a lumberjack in Norway, a street vendor in Spain, a team leader in Singapore, a re-delivery boy, a candy maker, a street sweeper, a bartender, a maid, a construction worker, a bull rider, a triathlete and a sucker for anything unfolding. And for peanut butter. And hygiene. Wakefield is a writer, the elated son of a guitar repair woman, wingman of Giant Saint Everything, and remembers Kirkwood, NY. Sanborn too.

Buddy, a Board of Directors member with Youth Speaks Seattle, is honored to be published internationally in dozens of books with work used to win multiple national collegiate debate and forensics competitions. An author of Write Bloody Publishing, Wakefield is known for delivering raw, rounded, high vibration performances of humor and heart.

Reviews

[Tori · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pretend – inside your skin – you've got a friend
who's willing to give you everything you ever wanted
in exchange for all you've ever been.
Pretend you're more obsessed with this moment
and a little bit less with the way it ends.

i'm so enamoured with this collection and the magic with which it dropped into my lap, it feels so special. it was so hard to pick a pull quote because there are so many passages that jumped out at me with incredible energy.

note if you're considering checking this collection out: child sexual abuse content warning, please feel free to message me for more details if you'd like

[Maria · Rating 5 out of 5]

”Now it’s you.
Pretend you’re just being yourselves.
Pretend you live for a living.
Pretend - inside your skin - you’ve got a friend
who’s willing to give you everything you ever wanted
in exchange for all you’ve ever been.
Pretend you’re more obsessed with this moment
and a little bit less with the way it ends.”

[Lucy · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

it’s clear that Wakefield has such a cool way of thinking and expressing feelings and experiences! just not really what I look for in poetry I found it to be too erratic.

[Sami Al-Khalili · Rating 3 out of 5]

The usual speak street grit that brings earth down to cement and chatter like a rustic mahogany cafe taken to go and outside with a double sleeved cup to ease a pen with warmer hands.

Not a fan.
But he grips as always.

[Shannon 🍒 · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just fucking love this.

[Rachel Leonard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nothing like it

[Savannah Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Transformative, angry, healing, celebratory

[behsforensics]

Cutting is for Buddy Wakefield Collection
By Buddy Wakefield

[Caitlin French · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are not enough words to properly commend this collection. Wakefield has a way of clawing through skin, muscle, bone, and barrier to reach into the very center of you. While all of these poems will leave you raw and contemplative, masterpieces like "Giant Saint Everything," "Bedrooms and Battlescars," "We were Emergencies," and "Hurling Crowbirds at Mockingbars" will remain with you long after you've put the book down. I can not thank Buddy enough for producing this collection. It has compelled me to become a more devoted writer and human being. x

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Listen.
"I'd fall in love with you
"if you would beat these people out of me."

More than five years ago, I had the privilege of reading part of a Buddy Wakefield poem that was quoted in another story (i.e. fanfiction). I was able to look up the whole poem, and even watched a performance of it on YouTube. The words, the deep feelings they left in me, still haunt me when I sit down to remember them.

I’m not a big fan of poetry. I never seek it out; and honestly, it tends to bore me. Even in this book, there were several poems I didn’t understand and just skimmed over. But the poems I did enjoy - I really enjoyed. And that’s the biggest compliment I can give. The best poems were the ones I could painfully understand, the final lines of which struck me deeply and made me sit with them until I had the strength again to turn the page.

[Jeremysw · Rating 5 out of 5]

This collection of poetry is amazing. If you're only kind of into slam poetry or spoken word, this book will still appeal to you. It's some of the best the genre has to offer. After having dog-eared and "lent" out copies of Buddy's other, now out of print books, I am really happy newcomers to the genre have this massive collection of his work. He really is one of the best in the genre, and in a lot of ways has made it what it is today. Just an incredible artist and a fantastic collection of his stuff. Put it on a coffee table and just grab a poem or two during commercial break. I'll bet you mute your tv show when it comes back on so you can finish the poem. It's gonna give you chills. It's gonna give you goosebumps, and I bet it will even have you discovering a thing or two about yourself. Seriously. If you're even remotely interested in poetry. Buy this book.

[Nia Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really love this book so much! I think the topics and poems were all meaningful in there own way and all very unique without taking away from the books cohesiveness. Also, the poems were pretty easy to read and very few word scramble type poems were in this book.

[Noura · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

3/5 to Some They Can't Contain

5/5 to Live for a Living

4/5 to Gentleman Practice

Buddy is special. I hope to one day meet him to give him a hug and say thank you.