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Dennis Francis
aka "M.A.D. (Many Attitudes of Dennis)"

Feature date(s): 01/24/2005

Many Attitudes of Dennis

"MAD - ... ³furious, enraged; ⁴carried away by enthusiasm... ⁶marked by wild gaiety and merriment..." Merriam-Webster Dictionary

MAD is NOT your mono/stereo-typical spo'et (spoken word artist/poet). Some are only known as Angry Spo'ets, Political Spo'ets, Funny Spo'ets, Erotic Spo'ets (that are either Romantic or Raunchy Spo'ets), Religious Spo'ets, Revolutionary Spo'ets, Conscious Spo'ets, Abstract Spo'ets or other spo'etical typecasts. MAD, however, can fit into all of the aforementioned classifications (as well as some ones that went unmentioned). Hence the name: Many Attitudes of Dennis. This critic's comment probably sums up MAD best, "if MAD had a Tupac ‘THUG LIFE' tattoo across his stomach, it would read ‘VERSATILITY.'"

By now, you might be asking yourself, "Self, who is this MAD guy?" Good question—and one that is being asked by many folks who are curious about this new face on the Spo'etry scene. Usually the best way to describe a new face is with a comparison—not to necessarily imply that the person lacks originality, but just to give a semblance of familiarity to someone unknown (much in the same fashion that new singers are at first compared to other well known singers, but then recognized for their uniqueness later on). The following comparison appeared in a Big Mouth Bout post-fight analysis (a Big Mouth Bout is a 5 round lyrical boxing match where poetic pugilists punch each other with poems): "...an observer comments to me that MAD seems to have the voice of Lamar Hill, the humor of Flowmentalz and the metaphoric ability of Jamaal St. John neatly wrapped in one package...." ("The Problem Report" - 08/22/03, www.bigmouthbout.com)

At this point, you probably want to see some credentials. But to be honest, there's not much to list since MAD has only been doing performance poetry since March 2003. From then until now, here are a few of the accomplishments he's garnered in that short time:

• Multiple Slam Victories (Nuyorican Poets Café, NY; X and O, Baltimore; HottestPoets' 2003 Word Erotica Inaugural Slam Champ; 3x Consecutive Big Mouth Slam/Brawl Winner @ Amy Ruth's/CBGB's)
• Multiple Guest/Feature Performances (Poetry In Motion, Toronto, Canada; Bowery Poetry Café, NYC; Teasim, Washington, D.C.; Streetfolks, Baltimore, MD; Other NYC Events: 2003 Harlem Book Fair; Maria Davis' Monday Night Madness @ Soul Café; Urban Idolz @ Nell's; Covenant House)
• Undefeated Big Mouth Bout Middleweight (Promoted to Heavyweight, Sept. 2003)
• Poem published in Rolling Out Newspaper, NY edition (vol. 3, #5 - 4/17/03)
• Two poems played on-air by Egypt of 107.5 WBLS (4/22/03 & 5/08/03)
• Various performances @ Churches and Youth Events
• Independently Released Debut CD, "MAD - Many Attitudes of Dennis"
• 3 more CD's forthcoming: My Amorous Dissertations, Many Attitudes of Dennis II, Poems I Wrote To Get In Her Pants

Aside from not performing poetry for long, MAD hasn't been writing poetry for long either. Surprisingly, unlike a lot of poets, MAD doesn't claim to have been writing since age five. He recalls his first piece of significant writing to be a 5th grade essay he wrote while attending P.S. 136 in Queens, NY. The essay was supposed to be about why you would want to be president. MAD wrote that he didn't want to be president because the "white" house was only for white men. This prompted school officials to call an emergency meeting with his mother.

So although MAD doesn't have a long history of "writing poetry," he does have a long history of writing and it's always been his strong point. "I'm the one people always came to for help with school papers, business letters, love letters, letters of complaint, etc.," says MAD. His strong writing skills are further evidenced by the Bachelor's Degree in Journalism he received from St. John's University. MAD honed his natural writing ability while writing for the college paper (the highlight of which was his interviewing of Spike Lee, Denzel Washington & Angela Bassett for a full-length article on the Malcolm X movie).

After college, MAD joined the rat race for a few years, went to law school for a semester, and just got involved in a lot of drama that led to a self-diagnosed breakdown followed by a long bout of depression (also self-diagnosed). Of that period MAD says, "It got pretty bad, especially when I started keeping a file containing internet research on effective, painless methods of suicide (the consensus seeming to be carbon-monoxide poisoning)." Although he doesn't discuss here the demons that drove him to a fall from grace, MAD does tell everyone the four things that gave him the strength to get back up—the birth of his triplets (Zikiyah, D'Angelo and Anthony) and poetry.

And while poetry has been very good to MAD thus far, it must be noted that MAD's intentions were less than honorable when he made the decision to start writing poetry. "I originally started writing poems to get into a woman's pants," MAD confesses, "After learning she loved poetry, I promised to write her a poem a week." MAD still keeps that promise to this day (although he has since given up on getting in her pants). Ironically, it seems that poetry winded up getting into his pants, heart and mind. MAD now finds himself, seemingly overnight, to be a hot up-and-coming poet with the potential to do great things in poetry. When asked about his thoughts on his future in poetry, MAD (who's always been a restless soul) replies, "I've finally found my niche."

www.geocities.com/sayhellotothemadguy (website)