LAUNCH

CLEBO RAINEY’S college career could be set to the tune of B.B. King’s blues guitar riffs. He was caught with pot, arrested, kicked out of SMU and disowned by his parents, all in one week. Now 61 and married to Noemi, a lawyer, he’s come a long way since those college days in the ’60s. And he’s seen it all: drugs, tumultuous love affairs, traveling on a motorcycle from Dallas to Arizona in one night. Rainey has lived in Oak Cliff since 1990, and now he is one of the most reputable slam poets in Dallas. His larger-than-life persona, combined with his booming voice and physical stature, help him live up to his reputation as the “god of slam poetry”.

How did you get involved in poetry?

I’m up on Mulholland Drive[in L.A.]. I get off my bike. I walk up to this little park. It’s got a little round patio, and across from me is the Hollywood sign. Down below me is the Hollywood Bowl. I wrote my very first poem right there. I met these friends of mine, who are friends of mine to this day, who were poets. They took me to Austin where I read these poems, and everyone loved them. I remember pulling into Dallas on I-35 on my motorcycle — 6,000 miles and my bag full of poetry, and all the stories, and thinking to myself, ‘I’m going to be a poet. That’s what I’m going to do.’ grab-bag