Lorenzo Buj in black-and-white photograph from 1980sA reception Saturday, May 6, will launch a cinematic recitation of Lorenzo Buj’s punk rock poem The Rogue Remembers.

Film features professor’s ode to 1980s punk scene

A multi-person recitation of his punk rock poem The Rogue Remembers is the subject of a short film by Lorenzo Buj, an instructor in the Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures.

The film will enjoy a launch Saturday, May 6, at the Meteor Lounge, 138 University Ave. West.

A two-time UWindsor graduate, Dr. Buj (BA 1984, MA 1986) returned to the University to teach in 1993 after earning his PhD at the University of Michigan.

The 2021 launch of his first book of poetry, Earlybloom Bombs, included friends of the poet taking turns at the mic to give voice to a selection. It inspired Buj to imagine some of those readers and other old punks from the local scene reciting the longest poem from the book.

Spoken by a fictional persona looking back at the Windsor-Detroit punk scene of the early 1980s, The Rogue Remembers references punk mayhem in Detroit, Windsor’s infamous Coronation Tavern, British and American punk bands and albums, glam rock figures, and many other subcultural groupings, along with a steady supply of literary allusions and topical grumblings on life and society.

Buj enlisted his brother Otto, a filmmaker, in the project. The completed film will be screened during Saturday’s launch event at 5:30 and 6:30 p.m. and find a permanent home thereafter on YouTube. All are welcome to attend. Watch a clip here.