A Lovely Wallpaper

In this episode, Abby interviews writer Lucy Sante about recent books *Nineteen Reservoirs* and *I Heard Her Call My Name*. Together, they present an excerpt of the poem "Zone" by Guillaume Apollinaire.Recitation begins at 45:07from "Zone"Guillaume ApollinaireNow you walk in Paris alone in a crowdHerds of buses drive past mooing loudYour throat is gripped with love's painAs if you should never be loved againIf you lived in the past you'd enter a monasteryYou're ashamed to catch yourself saying a prayerYou jeer at yourself and your laughter crackles like hellfireThe background of your life is gilded by the sparks from your laughterIt's like paintings hung in a dark museumSometimes you step up close to see them

In this episode, Abby interviews Lee Ann Brown, poet and founding editrix of Tender Buttons, about running a small press for 36 years, having Bernadette Mayer as a mentor, setting poems to music, and her own poetry book *In the Laurels Caught*. Together, they present Dickinson's poem 1056, "There is a Zone whose even Years."Recitation begins at 48:251056, "There is a Zone whose even Years"Emily DickinsonThere is a Zone whose even Years No Solstice interrupt --Whose Sun constructs perpetual Noon Whose perfect Seasons wait --Whose Summer set in Summer, till The Centuries of JuneAnd Centuries of August cease And Consciousness -- is Noon.

In this episode, Abby interviews Talon Knight aka Robert Shallow, about falconry, owls, and the SoCal Renaissance Faire. Terri Casey, director of the Queen's Court, joins in to read “An Eagle for an Emperor” by Dame Juliana Berners. Recitation begins at 24:06.An Eagle for an EmperorDame Juliana BernersAn Eagle for an Emperor,a Gyrfalcon for a King,a Peregrine for a Prince,a Saker for a Knight,a Merlin for a Lady,a Goshawk for a Yeoman,a Sparrowhawk for a Priest,a Musket for a Holy water Clerk,a Kestrel for a Knave.

In this episode, Abby interviews Andrew Tonkovich, writer, editor of the journals The Santa Monica Review and Citric Acid, and host of the KPFK radio program "Bibliocracy," about a new exhibition he mounted on the art and activism of friend and mentor Peter Carr. The show “Peter Carr: Artist for Survival” is at Cerritos College Art Gallery until December 14th. Together, they present the poem "What Am I After All" by Walt Whitman. Recitation begins at 40:34.What Am I After AllWalt WhitmanWhat am I after all but a child, pleas'd with the sound of my own name?Repeating it over and over;I stand apart to hear—it never tires me.To you your name also;Did you think there was nothing but two or threePronunciations in the sound of your name?

In this episode, Abby Walthausen interviews Kate Lebo, author of *Pie School* and *Pie and Whiskey*, about the essays and recipes in *The Book of Difficult Fruit: Arguments for the Tart, Tender, and Unruly*. For memory, Lebo presents both a short rule of thumb for pie crust and Robert Frost's "The Rose Family." Recitation begins at 32:50.

Guest Marie Darrieussecq, author of more than 20 novels, discusses two of her non-fiction books Sleepless: A Memoir of Insomnia and Being Here is Everything: The Life of Paula Modersohn-Becker. She reads an excerpt of Rainier Maria Rilke's “Requiem for a Friend.” Recitation begins at 28:31.

In this episode, Abby Walthausen interviews Ishion Hutchinson, author of the poetry collections *School of Instructions: a Poem*, *House of Lords and Commons*, and *Far District*. Born in Port Antonio, Jamaica, he is the W.E.B. Du Bois Professor in the Humanities at Cornell University. He reads William Shakespeare's Sonnet 66. Recitation begins at 43:20.Sonnet 66Tired with all these, for restful death I cry,As, to behold desert a beggar born,And needy nothing trimm'd in jollity,And purest faith unhappily forsworn,And gilded honour shamefully misplaced,And maiden virtue rudely strumpeted,And right perfection wrongfully disgraced,And strength by limping sway disabled,And art made tongue-tied by authority,And folly, doctor-like, controlling skill,And simple truth miscalled simplicity,And captive good attending captain ill:Tired with all these, from these would I be gone,Save that, to die, I leave my love alone.

In this episode, Abby Walthausen interviews Peter Orner, fiction writer and professor of English and Creative writing at Dartmouth College, for a special Bloomsday episode. For memory, they offer up James Joyce's "On the Beach at Fontana," a poem from a tiny chapbook called Pomes Penyeach, which offers a window into Joyce's family life in Trieste during the period when he was writing his masterpiece Ulysses.Recitation begins at 35:20On the Beach at FontanaWind whines and whines the shingle,The crazy pierstakes groan;A senile sea numbers each singleSlimesilvered stone.From whining wind and colderGrey sea I wrap him warmAnd touch his trembling fineboned shoulderAnd boyish arm.Around us fear, descendingDarkness of fear aboveAnd in my heart how deep unendingAche of love!

In this episode, Abby Walthausen interviews Susan Angelo, actor, educator, and founder of The Shakespeare Gymnasium! For memory, they offer up William Shakespeare's Sonnet 143 "Lo, as a Careful Housewife Runs to Catch," a very funny poem in which a baby and a chicken stand for competing lovers. Recitation begins at 22:32.Sonnet 143Lo, as a careful housewife runs to catchOne of her feather'd creatures broke away,Sets down her babe, and makes all swift dispatchIn pursuit of the thing she would have stay;Whilst her neglected child holds her in chase,Cries to catch her whose busy care is bentTo follow that which flies before her face,Not prizing her poor infant's discontent;So runn'st thou after that which flies from thee,Whilst I thy babe chase thee afar behind;But if thou catch thy hope, turn back to me,And play the mother's part, kiss me, be kind;So will I pray that thou mayst have thy ‘Will',If thou turn back and my loud crying still.

In this episode, Abby interviews Jos Kley, former singer of the long running Dutch punk band The Ex. Together, they present the poem "One Art" by Elizabeth Bishop. Recitation begins at 35:08.

In this episode, Abby interviews Catherine Robson, professor at NYU and author of "Heart Beats: Everyday Life and the Memorized Poem." Together, they present the poem "Casabianca" by Elizabeth Bishop. Recitation begins at 36:10. CasabiancaElizabeth BishopLove's the boy stood on the burning decktrying to recite "The boy stood onthe burning deck." Love's the son stood stammering elocution while the poor ship in flames went down.Love's the obstinate boy, the ship,even the swimming sailors, whowould like a schoolroom platform, too, or an excuse to stay on deck. And love's the burning boy.

In this episode, Abby interviews Susie Boyt, author of several books, among them the novel Loved and Missed and the memoir My Judy Garland Life. Together, they present the poem "Piping Down the Valleys Wild," by William Blake.Recitation begins at 25:10Piping Down the Valleys WildWilliam BlakePiping down the valleys wild, Piping songs of pleasant glee,On a cloud I saw a child, And he laughing said to me:—"Pipe a song about a lamb:" So I piped with merry cheer."Piper, pipe that song again:" So I piped: he wept to hear."Drop thy pipe, thy happy pipe, Sing thy songs of happy cheer!"So I sang the same again, While he wept with joy to hear."Piper, sit thee down and write In a book, that all may read—"So he vanished from my sight; And I plucked a hollow reed,And I made a rural pen, And I stained the water clear,And I wrote my happy songs Every child may joy to hear.