The Nomad Poet-Buddy Wakefield

Buddy Wakefield was born in Shreveport, Louisiana, but grew up in Texas.  In 2001 he quit his job as an Executive Assistant at a biomedical firm and either sold or gave away everything he owned, except for the necessities.  He moved into his Honda Civic and began touring North America and going to various poetry venues.

Buddy Wakefield is the first person to win two back to back World Poetry Slam Championship (2004-2005).

Wakefield makes his poems very personal, touching on human emotions from different perspectives.  For example in Convenience Stores (my personal favorite), he touches on the struggle, frustration, and pain of being lonely from the perspective of a trucker/traveler and a woman behind the counter of a convenience store.  It is a sad poem but has a oddly uplifting presence to it, like a bitter sweet ending where all that matters is how you handle your life not what you achieve, "Live for your living". (You may agree or disagree with this interpretation if so i would love to hear your interpretation, because we all have different takes on meaning.)

Wakefield is the author of two books, So They Can't Contain (2004) and Live For a Living (2007).  He has also has released three spoken word records, A Stretch of Presence (1999), Run On Anything (2007), and Live at the Typer Cannon Grand (2009).

Buddy Wakefield has been featured on NPR, HBO's Def Poetry Jam, and the BBC.  If you ever are lucky enough to catch a performance of Wakefield you will realize you are not only there for the spoken word, but also he even has mild comedy, like in his piece Arizona Summers, a reflection on the blood boiling heat of there scorching summers.