Poncho Peligroso (born Neil Hughes: April 10, 1990) is an American writer, poet, and poetry awareness activist. He is most widely known as the self proclaimed 2011 Poet Laureate of the Internet, and for his controversial campaign to be the 2011 United States Poet Laureate. Biography He was born in Takoma Park, Maryland on April 10, 1990, but spent the majority of his youth in San Antonio, Texas. At the age of 16, he dropped out of high school to study film at Bard College at Simon's Rock. He began his career as a poet after returning from studying at Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague and stating his dissatisfaction with film as a medium. Books Currently Peligroso has one finished collection of poetry, entitled 'the romantic' that is awaiting pubication. In an interview with Carlos Rowles 'the romantic' is described as follows: " 'the romantic' is approximately 10,000 words and covers such themes as loneliness, aliens, ambiguous homoeroticism, technology, clocks, and the difficulty of expressing romantic love in a worldview defined by existentialism, determinism, and rationality." Music Career After a long hiatus, Peligroso announced on April 6, 2011 his intent to return to making rap music. Working with the aid of a Memphis, TN-based producer, Peligroso's EP Perfect Bound is currently in the works. Criticism Peligroso's work has been criticized by some as being overly sentimental, adolescent, excessively minimalist in structure, and being too similar to earlier literary movements such as Dadaism. Peligroso has responded to critics by stating that he does not consider himself a Dadaist. Annual International Cyber Poncho Peligroso Week Peligroso and his peers organized and orchestrated a publicity stunt in November of 2010 known as Annual International Poncho Peligroso Week. The event included a range of artistic mediums, depicting or about Peligroso, being published on various Internet formats, such as blogs, online magazines, and websites.
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