May 5, 2013 Tinker Greene Live!

On May 5th poet, and awesome chapbook-maker, Tinker Greene joined us in the studio. We started off the interview talking about how Tinker began making chapbooks of his poetry. Tinker makes his chaps at home, incorporating photographs and art, and passes them out to those who want them. We discussed the tendency towards seriality. Tinker dates most of his poems; this fact led us to discuss time and writing, how time informs process and construction. We had the pleasure of hearing quite a few of his poems read in the studio. As a photographer, Tinker's poetic attention to the visual strongly conveys emotional content without sentimentality. Due to this interplay of the visual and written, his poems end up being inter-media pieces. He trusts that the images that come to him should be gathered in the poem. Tinker gives away his chaps to those who want them so if you can email us or comment on this post, and we can connect you with him. He is creating a new chap so expects to be doing readings soon. Keep your eyes open for announcements!!!!
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April 28, 2013 Round Table Discussion 4: Writing as Revolution

On April 28th, we sat down to chat amongst ourselves about writing as a revolutionary act. We hope that hearing our discussion will spur our listeners to join the conversation. First we tossed around the idea of 'revolution' itself and the different ways that writing can affect change. Through this conversation, we briefly returned to the subject of audience and how might writing and poetry reach enough people to create societal change. Also, who owns language and where does the poem come from? When we put words on paper, from where do those words originate? How do we strive to be political in our own writing. What attracts us to writing and talking about writing? And lastly, what kind of revolution are we looking for in the world?
This coming Sunday we'll have our first live interview in some weeks, but for now, we hope this round table talk encourages further consideration of poetry and social transformation.
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April 7, 2013 Round Table Discussion 3: Audience

On April 7th, the three of us sat down to talk about poetic audience. Who reads our writing and what agency does the poetry have in the larger world? We discussed 'difficult' poetry and whether this type of work is only read by other poets. We hope this work has a broader reach than just other experimental or Bay Area writers, but in this case, how do we share our work with those who might not otherwise feel drawn to it? We talked about how poetry and literature are taught in schools and how we may have come to be attracted to experimental work. As poets, we may or may not consider who we are writing to or about when we write the poem. We started to tackle issues of words and ownership (which we we delve further into in our next round table). Towards the end, we discussed the editing process and how community effects our writing.
Post a comment! Join the conversation!
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March 31, 2013 Steve Saari reads poetry, Candy Shue reviews Hazel White, and we talk nature poetry

This week we had a bit of a grab bag show, including a poetry submission, a book review, and an insightful (ahem!) conversation about nature poetry. First, we played an audio submission from Minnesotan poet Steve Saari, who luckily discovered himself to be a writer later in life, and who shared with us his beautiful poems, which are strongly influenced by his interaction with his natural, social and professional environments. He pays enormous attention to the every day habits and occurrences in a given place, those that we often forget to notice. And in this vein, Candy Shue joined us again in the studio to read her review of Hazel White's Peril as Architectural Environment (Kelsey Street Press, 2011). White, who is the author of many books on gardening and landscape design, investigates "language and poetry as ecosystem." As always, Candy did an incredible job of presenting and responding to this book of eco-poetics. After the break, we had our own conversation about nature poetry, what it is capable of doing and how it interacts with the environment and the body. We talked about ideas of what eco-poetics can do and how we might trouble the traditional concept of nature poetry. Candy also talked about how culture affects how the speaker sees the land and rights to that land. Lastly, we talked about writing reviews and what responsibilities we take on when we present a writer's work to the world. 

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March 24, 2013: Chris Daniels Part 2

This Sunday we played the second half of our interview with Chris Daniels. During this segment, we talked about Chris's translation work, most specifically that of Fernando Pessoa, a Portuguese writer who wrote under 81 heteronyms. Through discussing how Pessoa used varying personas in his work, we came to discuss the human personality as other than 'monolith.' We as people are able to change our thoughts and points of view, and for Chris, poetry is a way of working through this fluidity.  Also, the act of translation allows the opportunity to try on another persona. We talked about the considerations of form and language in translation work. The conversations inherent in translation (and in poets' interviews) create a social space for poetry, where a poet can engage with another poet. We were reminded of the fun and beauty in poetry, along with its inherent value, which we should remember if ever we question why we write.
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March 17, 2013 Chris Daniels Part 1

On March 17th, we played part one of our interview with poet and translator Chris Daniels. We opened and closed with his reading of "Ode to the West Wind," which we had the pleasure of hearing live at Occupy Oakland in late 2011. During our conversation, we talked about his chapbook porous nomadic, (airfoil, 2010), which challenges ideas of form and ownership. In this vein, the chapbook opens with a number of epigraphs; Chris later added addenda erratum, including more quotes that have influenced his writing. He discussed how his poetry and translation are a manifestation of "art as a social act," how politics inform his writing, and his engagement with the baroque. He talked about his translation work, especially the works of Fernando Pessoa, and how he came to love the Portuguese language. Lastly, during this segment we discussed the culture around poetry and writing poetry in Brazil, in contrast with the United States. We will play part two next week!

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Excerpt from porous nomadic

Excerpt from porous nomadic

March 10, 2013 Toni Mirosevich Part 2!

On March 10th, we played the second half of our interview with writer Toni Mirosevich. We spent the majority of this section talking about her book of poetry The Takeaway Bin, (Spuyten Duyvil, 2010), which employed Oblique Strategy prompts. The book is divided into three sections which focus on 'human frailty,' politics and hope. Toni talks about what the takeaway is both in the book and in life. She talks about the Oblique Strategy cards specifically and how they attempt to offer ways to address an issue from in an indirect way, as well as how those cards helped spur the pieces in the book. Toni works in both prose and poetry and discussed how these different forms can manifest an idea. She references her aikido practice: "If you're thinking about it, it can't happen." In other words, being too directive in writing can be stifling. We had a rich discussion about how the mind works in the process of creating.
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