.......When interviewing legendary poet Ric Masten, one is tempted to throw out his reporter’s notebook in favor of a fish net.
It is just hard to catch so good sound bites with a simple pen and paper.
.......“I’m like the taste of cilantro, you can’t put me into words,” Masten said one day over coffee and rare late November sunshine in Carmel.  The 76-year-old promised in good spirits, having completed a recent Los Angeles tour in support of his latest book, “Words & One-liners -= Take 2.”  The coffee-table title was recently released on his own SunInk Presentations imprint.
.......His recent tour was a success, financially and personally.  He netted more than $6,000 in book sales, recouping more than half of his initial investment.  He also proved to himself that he still has some gas left in the tank after almost 40 years on the road, the last few of which he has simultaneously fought off old age and a debilitating disease.
.......“I’m feeling good enough to start touring,” Masten said, to which his wife Billie Barbara Masten replied, “He’s keeping himself alive is what he’s doing.”
..... Masten has been in perpetual  tour mode since 1966, when most of the poet’s in the modern Slam Poetry movement were simply not born yet.  He’s written 18 books of poetry and art during that time, the latest of which is anther feather in his cool writer’s cap.
.......‘Words & One-liners – Take 2” is a 224 page opus that follows his previous book “Let It Be a Dance – Words & One-liners”  His new book is broken down into six thematic sections and accompanied by his famed one-line drawings, composed with one solid black line tracing the entire work.  It features his musings on everything from his life on the road and love of sports to introspective  words about his writing process and his failing health.
.......Masten was diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer seven years ago, yet still considers himself “one of the luckiest guys on earth” in spite of his health setbacks.  He’s managed to make a career out of his poetry, helping raise his family of four and keeping his wife of 53 years, Billie Barbara in stitches the whole time.
.......“We’ve been married 34 times.  This way if I need to get out of it, I can.”  Masten said of the couple’s ritual of renewing their vows annually , a playful practice that allows them to reconsider their nuptials, which they never do.
.......The book is dedicated to his wife and makes ample use of his personal life outside of his happy marriage.  The battle with the “big C Monster” takes up a whole section, dubbed “Words for Survival” in which Masten picks a fight  with the disease and emerges triumphant on the page, while revealing his vulnerabilities in stark observation.
.......In the quaint “PSA Dread” Masten compares his trials with that of a municipal court proceeding: “In capital cases such as mine the deliberations never end and over time I’ve been both acquitted and condemned the only constant being the tide of apprehension that ebbs and flows — invisible as air — in my belly — in my brain — even seeping into positive lab results — PSA Dread.”
.......Masten has spoken before special congressional committees on his experiences earning the distinction of  “Poet Laureate of Prostate Cancer.”  Never one to give the appearance  of being down on his luck, he has taken his sentence as an opportunity to spread a new message of hope through his work
.......“(Cancer) has been the best thing that happened to me,” Masten said with a poets flair.  “This is a whole culture that knows they’re going to die and yet doesn’t believe it.”
.......Nor does he believe that he’ll be giving up his work anytime soon.  Reading from his book, he’s as excited as a schoolchild sharing with the class during show and tell.  His favorite line, however, comes from the forward written by a mysterious acquaintance he identifies as Joaquin Robert, a walking companion who delivers Masten’s eulogy.
.......“Ric’s been dying for a long time now.” Joaquin Robert states.  “Sooner or later he will be successful, We all are.”
.......Such dark dialogue is Masten’s fancy because he craves the real.  Never one to hide behind his words or his shortcomings, he revels in being a prototype for the travel9ng Big Sur poet.
.......“I call myself a professional authentic person because my writing is me, I perform that and they pay me to do that.” He said with a devious grin.
.......Therefore I want to be as authentic as I can.”

  ....................................................................................Mark Cabrero  11/29/2005

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