Bob Holman (b.1948) is a founder of the Bowery Poetry Club (NYC) and the author of 22 poetry collections. His numerous publications include poetry collections The Unspoken (YBK/Bowery) and Life Poem (YBK/Bowery); Bob Holman’s India Journals (Rattapallax), The Cutouts (Matisse, Pekaboo Press) and Sing this One Back to Me (Coffee House Press). He has taught at Princeton, Columbia, NYU. As the original slam master and a director at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe, creator of the world's first spoken word poetry record label, holman has played a central role in the spoken word, slam and digital poetry movements of the last several decades. 

He has performed well over 1,000 times, around the globe, from Madison Square Garden and rock stadiums to church basements and Ethiopian tej bets (honey wine bars). Co-founder of the Endangered Language Alliance, Holman's study of Hip-Hop and West African oral traditions led to his current work with endangered languages. He is the producer/director/host of various films, including the United States of Poetry, a PBS series that won the international public television award. His film about language loss and revitalization, Language Matters with Bob Holman, won the Berkeley Film Festival's documentary of the year award.

In 2018, Holman was awarded the The Chambra d'Òc Premio Ostana award for his work in language revitalization. At Sundance in 2023, A Digital Restoration of Slam - the movie made by Marc Levin and starring Saul Williams and Sonja Sohn, was screened. The film originated at the Nuyorican Poets Café 25 years earlier when Holman was MC, a role he recreated live at Sundance.

WE ARE THE DINOSAUR
 
Blast open the gates to kingdom come!
Whoops, what happened to everyone?
Planted a seed — Grew into a gun
Dum de dum dum dum dum dum dumb
 
Life is a riot living in a cartoon
Ice-age in a dumpster - that’s our living room
Set fire to your roof - get a better view
Global warming is a warning - toodle-oo
 
We are the dinosaur
We don’t live here anymore
We got what we were asking for
Follow the dinosaur!
 
Ho ho homo sapiens
Ain’t so smart
Ka ka kamikazi, Friend
Which way is the ark?
 
The whole world is dialing 911
The Don’t Walk sign just changed to You Better Run
What we are waiting for has long since come
Dum-de-dum dum dumm dum dum
 
Cross the scorching sands with my big fat feet
It’s hard becoming diesel fuel with nothin to eat
Better catch us quick  - we’re outta here
We’re pre-winged birds & tend to disappear
 
Hurry, disappear! Back to the Past!
Did you really think the Future was gonna last?
It’s ending with a bang so let’s have a blast
Let’s dine cannibal - makes a nice contrast
 
Chauffeured ambulances race to the prom
Santa, please bring me a neutron bomb
Recycle the planet before the earth is a grave
But please excuse me — I gotta get back to my cave
 
We are the dinosaur
We don’t live here anymore
We got what we were asking for
Follow the dinosaur!