American poet
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It's the Stacks' Book Club Day, and we're discussing Blessing the Boats by Lucille Clifton with returning guest, Tiana Clark. We discuss how Clifton welcomes audiences usually excluded from poetry and how her work still manages to have urgency 25+ years later. We also work through some of the poems that were challenging for us, and uncover some hidden meanings.Be sure to listen to the end of today's episode to find out what our May book club pick will be.You can find everything we discuss on today's show on The Stacks' website:https://thestackspodcast.com/2025/4/30/ep-369-blessing-the-boatsConnect with Tiana: Instagram | Website | TwitterConnect with The Stacks: Instagram | Twitter | Shop | Patreon | Goodreads | Substack | SubscribeSUPPORT THE STACKSJoin The Stacks Pack on PatreonTo support The Stacks and find out more from this week's sponsors, click here.Purchasing books through Bookshop.org or Amazon earns The Stacks a small commission.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Today on The Stacks, Brian Goldstone is here to talk about his book, There Is No Place for Us: Working and Homeless in America. The book examines the growing phenomenon of the "working homeless"—people who work full time and still remain unhoused—by following five families in Atlanta over the course of a few years. Goldstone explains how he connected with the families he followed in the book, who officially is counted as homeless, and why he decided to center his book in Atlanta.The Stacks Book Club pick for April is Blessing the Boats: New and Selected Poems 1988–2000 by Lucille Clifton. We will discuss on Wednesday, April 30 with Tiana Clark returning as our guest.You can find everything we discuss on today's show on The Stacks' website:https://www.thestackspodcast.com/2025/4/23/ep-368-brian-goldstoneConnect with Brian: Twitter | WebsiteConnect with The Stacks: Instagram | Twitter | Shop | Patreon | Goodreads | Substack | SubscribeSUPPORT THE STACKSJoin The Stacks Pack on PatreonTo support The Stacks and find out more from this week's sponsors, click here.Purchasing books through Bookshop.org or Amazon earns The Stacks a small commission.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Legacy Living with Dr. Gloria BurgessIn celebration of National Poetry Month, Dr. Gloria pays tribute to one of her mentors, poet Lucille Clifton. Listen and be inspired as Dr. Gloria shares the poetry of Ms. Clifton. You'll want to listen to this podcast again and again!https://www.talknetworkradio.com/hosts/legacyliving
This week, food and culture writer, Giaae Kwon joins us to discuss her debut book, a collection of essays, I'll Love You Forever: Notes from a K-Pop Fan. We talk about what defines K-pop and the aspects of its fandom: from parasocial relationships to the exoticization of K-pop and its "idols."The Stacks Book Club pick for April is Blessing the Boats: New and Selected Poems 1988–2000 by Lucille Clifton. We will discuss the book on April 30th with Tiana Clark returning as our guest.You can find everything we discuss on today's show on The Stacks' website:https://www.thestackspodcast.com/2025/4/16/ep-367-giaae-kwonConnect with Giaee: Instagram | Twitter | WebsiteConnect with The Stacks: Instagram | Twitter | Shop | Patreon | Goodreads | Substack | SubscribeSUPPORT THE STACKSJoin The Stacks Pack on PatreonTo support The Stacks and find out more from this week's sponsors, click here.Purchasing books through Bookshop.org or Amazon earns The Stacks a small commission.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Ó Tuama's interests lie in language, violence, and religion. Growing up in a place with a long history of all three (Ireland, yes, but also Europe), he finds that language might be the most redeeming. In language, there is the possibility of vulnerability, of surprise, of the creative movement towards something as yet unseen. Any artist of words inspires him: from Krista Tippett to Lucille Clifton, Patrick Kavanagh to Emily Dickinson, Lorna Goodison to Arundhati Roy. Ó Tuama loves words — words that open up the mind, the heart, the life. For instance — poem: a created thing.
Ó Tuama's interests lie in language, violence, and religion. Growing up in a place with a long history of all three (Ireland, yes, but also Europe), he finds that language might be the most redeeming. In language, there is the possibility of vulnerability, of surprise, of the creative movement towards something as yet unseen. Any artist of words inspires him: from Krista Tippett to Lucille Clifton, Patrick Kavanagh to Emily Dickinson, Lorna Goodison to Arundhati Roy. Ó Tuama loves words — words that open up the mind, the heart, the life. For instance — poem: a created thing.
This week, we're joined by Geri Halliwell-Horner, also known as Ginger Spice from the Spice Girls. She discusses her second installment in the Rosie Frost series, Rosie Frost: Ice on Fire. Determined to learn her family history with Bloodstone, Rosie must discover what she's really made of as a new danger puts her new home and all she that she loves at risk. Halliwell-Horner also shares her journey from pop music sensation to middle grade novelist, and how her relationship with the phrase, “girl power,” has changed over the years.The Stacks Book Club pick for April is Blessing the Boats: New and Selected Poems 1988–2000 by Lucille Clifton. We will discuss the book on April 30th with Tiana Clark returning as our guest.You can find everything we discuss on today's show on The Stacks' website:https://www.thestackspodcast.com/2025/4/9/ep-366-geri-halliwell-hornerConnect with Geri: Instagram | Tiktok | FacebookConnect with The Stacks: Instagram | Twitter | Shop | Patreon | Goodreads | Substack | SubscribeSUPPORT THE STACKSJoin The Stacks Pack on PatreonTo support The Stacks and find out more from this week's sponsors, click here.Purchasing books through Bookshop.org or Amazon earns The Stacks a small commission.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
This week, we're kicking off National Poetry Month with poet and essayist Tiana Clark. Tiana's newest collection, Scorched Earth: Poems, explores themes of heartbreak, identity, and radical self-acceptance. In this conversation, Tiana reflects on what it means to be vulnerable in poetry, how she approaches the lyric “I,” and what she looks for when reading other poets' work.The Stacks Book Club pick for April is Blessing the Boats: New and Selected Poems 1988–2000 by Lucille Clifton. We will discuss the book on April 30th with Tiana Clark returning as our guest.You can find everything we discuss on today's show on The Stacks' website:https://thestackspodcast.com/2025/4/2/ep-365-tiana-clarkConnect with Tiana: Instagram | Website | TwitterConnect with The Stacks: Instagram | Twitter | Shop | Patreon | Goodreads | Substack | SubscribeSUPPORT THE STACKSJoin The Stacks Pack on PatreonTo support The Stacks and find out more from this week's sponsors, click here.Purchasing books through Bookshop.org or Amazon earns The Stacks a small commission.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Today's poem is mulberry fields by Lucille Clifton.The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Major writes… “American poetry gently mediates our rich and complicated history. It points the way to healing and affirms timeless values that secure all Americans' freedoms.” Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp
Professor Karen Weingarten joins co-hosts Whitney Terrell and V.V. Ganeshananthan to talk about a new anthology she has edited, Abortion Stories: American Literature Before Roe v. Wade. Weingarten reflects on the complicated history of abortion, the varied use of abortifacients, abortion's ties to eugenics and state control of bodies, and the rise of the anti-abortion movement. She discusses how access to abortion facilitates other kinds of resistance, and explains how the book came to include authors like Maria Sybilla Merian, Langston Hughes, Dorothy Parker, Lucille Clifton, and Eugene O'Neill alongside oral histories from formerly enslaved persons and groundbreaking politicians like Shirley Chisholm. She talks about the stories she hopes to see represented in post-Dobbs writing and reads from her foreword to the anthology. To hear the full episode, subscribe through iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app (include the forward slashes when searching). You can also listen by streaming from the player below. Check out video versions of our interviews on the Fiction/Non/Fiction Instagram account, the Fiction/Non/Fiction YouTube Channel, and our show website: https://www.fnfpodcast.net/. This podcast is produced by Whitney Terrell and V.V. Ganeshananthan. Selected Readings: Karen Weingarten Abortion Stories: American Literature Before Roe v. Wade Pregnancy Test Abortion in the American Imagination: Before Life and Choice, 1880-1940 Others Dirty Dancing Fast Times at Ridgemont High The Cider House Rules The Mothers The Art of Subtext Jessica Valenti Abortion: Our Bodies, Their Lies, and the Truths We Use to Win Peyton Place Men Without Women by Ernest Hemingway (which includes “Hills Like White Elephants” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
My intention inside this episode is to ground us inside the reality that we are constantly changing. Our motivations are changing. Our values might be experiencing a re-boot. And the things that kept us going in the past might no longer be a reliable fuel source. Instead of resenting or resisting our desire to slow down, prioritize our most meaningful relationships, or operate from a place of wholeness….What if we used these changes in our capacity, goals and desires as our new navigation tools and fuel to get us where we actually want to go instead of the destinations we were told to go in search of a false sense of safety? In this episode I'm going to share 5 approaches for staying motivated when ambition rooted in external validation has left your body.Resources Download the Creative Offer Questionnaire to Oneself: https://www.seedaschool.com/questionnaire Subscribe to the Seeda School Substack: https://seedaschool.substack.com/ Follow Ayana on Instagram: @ayzaco Follow Seeda School on Instagram: @seedaschoolCitations “i am not done yet” by Lucille Clifton. Published in Good Woman: Poems and a Memoir 1969-1980, 1987 Cover Art: Kerry James Marshall, When Frustration Threatens Desire (1990), Dimensions: 81 5/16 x 73 1/16 x 2 inches, Materials: Acrylic and collage on canvas
Dr. Thema starts with the poem Turning by Lucille Clifton. She then shares specific steps to loving more deeply and holistically. Intro and Outro by Joy Jones. Learn more with Dr. Thema's books Homecoming, Reclaim Yourself, and Matters of the Heart.
Tim Seibles reads and discusses Lucille Clifton's poem "Hag Riding." Then he reads from his newest collection Voodoo Libretto: New & Selected Poems . Tim Seibles was the Poet Laureate of Virginia from 2016 to 2018. He is a former National Endowment for the Arts fellow and Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center fellow. His seven books of poetry include Fast Animal, which was a finalist for the 2012 National Book Award, winner of the Theodore Roethke Memorial Poetry Prize and the Pen Oakland Josephine Miles Award for Poetry. This was followed by One Turn Around the Sun in 2017. His latest collection, Voodoo Libretto: New & Selected Poems was released by Etruscan Press in 2022. He received a Lifetime Achievement Award from The Furious Flower Poetry Center in 2024.
Joy in SurvivingPsalm 16:9-11Therefore my heart is glad, and my soul rejoices; my body also rests secure. For you do not give me up to Sheol, or let your faithful one see the Pit. You show me the path of life. In your presence there is fullness of joy; in your right hand are pleasures forevermore. (Psalm 16:9-11 NRSV)Many of us can probably attest to the pits and pitfalls in life that have tried to swallow us alive. Some pits were natural indents in the road, some were dug for us, and others we unknowingly, dug for ourselves.No matter what walk of life we come from, we have had to overcome something that made us who we are and brought us to our present place. For sure, those living and trying to survive in a world that is not always friendly to women, children, people of color, queer siblings, poor, and others on the margins have never been easy.But I love the words of the prophet and poet Lucille Clifton who proclaimed, “come celebrate with me that everyday something has tried to kill me and has failed.” Although we've all had challenges in life and encountered things that threatened to kill us, we survived. Despite the schemes, structures, and interlocking systems designed for our downfall, God has been present with us through it all and kept us from falling prey to the traps set before us.As the Psalmist says, “Therefore, my heart is glad, and my soul rejoices; my body also rests secure.” This Advent, celebrate with jubilant joy and endless gratitude that you are still here. All that tried to kill you has failed. So, live today. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
From reciting Langston Hughes in second grade to exploring the wilderness with John the Baptist, Rev. Tonetta Landis-Aina of The Table Church shares a fresh perspective on finding peace through poetry. Through the works of Lucille Clifton, Mary Oliver, and Ann Porter, she weaves together childhood memories, artistic wisdom, and ancient spiritual truths. This message invites viewers to experience both the sweetness and difficulty of life as paths to authentic transformation. A timely reflection for anyone seeking to reconnect with wonder and meaning in our complex world. Join The Table Church DC in discovering how poetry can help us see the sacred in everyday moments.
Shadowboxing: Unmasking the Monsters Within In this episode of the sermon series 'Shadowboxing: Confronting the Monsters Within,' we explore the concept of the 'false self' and the inner 'monster' through personal anecdotes and literary references like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. By delving into the Bible story of Isaac, Rebecca, Jacob, and Esau from Genesis 27:1-20, we uncover the masks we wear to navigate life's challenges and seek acceptance. Insights from Christian psychologist David Benner and the Enneagram help us differentiate the false self from our true God-given identity. The sermon concludes with reflections on autumn's symbolism of letting go, inspired by Lucille Clifton's poem, 'The Lesson of the Falling Leaves.' 00:00 A Memorable Mistake in London 03:06 Facing Fears and Cultural Monsters 06:43 Exploring the Monster Within 07:29 The Tale of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde 11:09 The False Self and Genesis 27 15:54 Setting the Stage: Isaac's Prayer and Rebecca's Revelation 16:20 Jacob and Esau: The Struggle Begins 17:12 The Shrewdness of Rebecca and Jacob 18:43 The Deception Unfolds: Jacob's Mask 20:12 The Consequences of Deception 20:45 Reflecting on Identity and the False Self 21:56 Understanding the False Self in Christian Context 22:46 Personal Journey: Confronting the False Self 23:34 The Enneagram and Self-Discovery 25:34 Jacob's Transformation: From Supplanter to Israel 27:00 The Struggle of Marginalized Identities 28:11 The Spiritual Journey: Losing the Self to Find the Self 28:55 Confronting Our Fears: The Lesson of the Falling Leaves
Amanda Holmes reads Lucille Clifton's “water sign woman.” Have a suggestion for a poem by a (dead) writer? Email us: podcast@theamericanscholar.org. If we select your entry, you'll win a copy of a poetry collection edited by David Lehman. This episode was produced by Stephanie Bastek and features the song “Canvasback” by Chad Crouch. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
In this month's episode, host Antonio Tijerino sits down with Jonathan Jayes-Green (they/them), a trailblazing LGBTQ+ non-binary Afro-Latinx activist and advocate for justice. Jonathan shares their deeply personal journey of returning to Panama after nearly 20 years in the U.S., reflecting on the healing, reconnection, and self-discovery that accompanied this transformative experience. Jonathan also opens up about the challenges of navigating multiple intersecting identities—Black, Latinx, queer—and the societal pressures that come with them. They offer powerful insights into the realities of racism and classism, both in the U.S. and Latin America, and discuss the ongoing struggles faced by marginalized communities.Throughout the conversation, Jonathan highlights the importance of creativity, self-care, and the boldness required to push for meaningful change. Their story is one of resilience, identity, and the power of community—an inspiring reminder that our struggles are interconnected, and together, we can create a more just and inclusive world.ABOUT JONATHAN JAYES-GREEN: Jonathan is committed to the practical and innovative deployment of capital for the public good. Jonathan brings over a decade of nonprofit, philanthropy, and political experience in senior leadership roles. Jonathan earned a Master in Public Administration from the Harvard Kennedy School. Jonathan is currently a Democracy Visting Fellow at the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation. Previously, Jonathan served as a Gleitsman Fellow at the Harvard Center for Public Leadership and as a Rappaport Institute Public Finance Fellow at the Federal Funds and Infrastructure Office within the Massachusetts Executive Office of Administration and Finance.Jonathan serves on the boards of eBay Foundation, Funders of LGBTQ Issues, and Hispanics in Philanthropy. Jonathan's profile and contributions to social justice movements are featured at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in Washington, DC.WATCH: Click here to watch this and other episodes on YouTube. FOLLOW: Follow us on Insta @FritangaPodcastCONNECT: For questions or guest recommendations, email us at Fritanga@HispanicHeritage.orgTEAM:Host: Antonio TijerinoExecutive Producer: Antonio Caro Senior Producer: Connor Coleman Producer: Ambrose Davis
Hello gentle-people, As I was organizing this series into a collection that could be accessed on my landing page, I realized I couldn't find part one. I racked my mind and my posts to see if maybe I accidently changed the name somehow or it ended up somewhere it wasn't meant to be. I gave up after my search rendered no results……it seems I have accidently deleted it.I will return later with a transcript to replace this piece—perhaps when I also get around to doing what I've resolved to do during my publishing break: move my drafts over to a safe place. I have *mumbles incoherently* drafts on here. My biggest fear has been confirmed—I have to be saving these posts somewhere else!Luckily, I had recorded part 1 before this mishap. Wishing you all a gentle landing, as I extend that same wish to my weary self today.Here is part 2 & 3:Hello, gentle people,I am always playing with phrases. Maybe you've noticed. Lately, I have been cracking myself up by dropping, “don't threaten me with a good time, into my conversations.” Today, I am playing with the phrase, I could care less, because it's true—I could give it my best try. water sign woman by Lucille Clifton the woman who feels everything sits in her new house waiting for someone to come who knows how to carry water without spilling, who knows why the desert is sprinkled with salt, why tomorrow is such a long and ominous word. they say to the feel things woman that little she dreams is possible, that there is only so much joy to go around, only so much water. there are no questions for this, no arguments. she has to forget to remember the edge of the sea, they say, to forget how to swim to the edge, she has to forget how to feel. the woman who feels everything sits in her new house retaining the secret the desert knew when it walked up from the ocean, the desert, so beautiful in her eyes; water will come again if you can wait for it. she feels what the desert feels. she waits.The troublesome work of defining careDepending on how you read my intro letter, You might be thinking, “I can't believe Rose J. Percy, writer of A Gentle Landing, is saying she wants to lean into heartlessness. I'm unsubscribing immediately!” And I blame the ambiguous nature of the word care and its many definitions. I could do a whole series on the definitions and probably write a post a week for the rest of the year. Just look at how many interpretations we could delve into. Now, here I have a screenshot of the definitions of care taken from a Google search, which you can delve into yourself and linger on these definitions, but it's interpreted as a noun and also a verb and comes with so many meanings I didn't even count. Luckily, I have already written on some definitions of care that I'm partial to. In one post, I talk about the word care through the word “tender” and how we can think about it as a way of a caring attention. One might call it tenderness, and the acceptance of ourselves as tenders. And that post is called Permission to Linger. I have also written on writing as a practice of care in my series delving into my writing praxis. And that post is called “A Place for Keeping, Writing as a Practice of Care.”Now, here are some definitions that I am fond of. And for the purposes of this post, I am understanding these four definitions of care and I added a fifth for just the ways I'm playing with the words “carrying” and “care” together. * Care as a tending (or attending), once again, with particular emphasis on attention. Since we have been here before, let's stick with “tending.”* Care as an attachment or interest. Let's stick with the word “attachment.” It often feels like the things we care of are a part of us..sometimes we are indeed connected.* Care as avoidance of danger or risk. I will “caution,” instead here, since I also love the phrase “throw caution to the wind.” We can do some fun poetic things with that.* Care as a troubling, a feeling stirred up by what we brood over. I will use the word “burden” here, since something of this definition reminds me to remember the weight.* I will also be playing with caring and carrying in order to drive home one central point: we all have a carrying capacity when it comes to care…even if we hate to admit it.“You have to turn it off. You have to learn to turn it off.” I am trying harder to care less every day.By that I mean, as a child, I used to be overwhelmed by something one might call “car(ry)ing too much. Some might also call it a sense of responsibility or conviction. And I read this book once in college, and it was treated like the pinnacle text for our general education curriculum. And it was assigned as the last text in our ethics class, the capstone text, and it was called Scandalous Obligation by Eric Severson. And I remember reading that book, which talks about Christian responsibility, and I thought, “this book is not for me.” Because I am the girl who, just upon seeing a commercial on food insecurity affecting children miles away, could not bring herself to enjoy a cookout. An auntie of mine gave me a speech which remains with me forever, and the essence was, “you can't help the children if you cry. You have to learn how to suck it up and feed yourself so you can grow big and strong. Then you can be of much better use to them." Through the years, I have either taken her advice or shaken it off. And her words led me to see my feelings as an inconvenience in a sphere of caring. And sometimes I can't help but feel she had a point when I find myself stirring in my worries for myself and others. I was a cautious child and I grew into a cautious adult.I can't help but feel her point when I seem to collect cares or grow a new interest in some injustice in the world beyond my capacity to respond or affect change. And I see her point when as a result of these new interests and attachments, I feel scattered and overwhelmed by all there is to care about.And I see her point when I feel like I'm failing, either emotionally or through physical challenges I'm still learning about in my attempt to “learn how to carry water,” as it leaks out of the sides of my eyes in this last ditch attempt to demonstrate how burdened I truly am. So as I consider her words, I felt like I had to learn how to turn something off. And back then I was just barely a teenager and I couldn't name it. So I tried hard when I was overwhelmed to shut off everything. I've included a picture of my monstera plant when I first got it a few months after I first got it in the spring of 2021. Something had to go. In the midst of what has been a hard couple of weeks, much of which was defined by embodied mental, emotional, and spiritual pain, I wanted to let something go. I had entertained many different ideas, but I was pretty certain I wanted to cut off my hair. In the past, going bald served as a foundation for embracing a new shift in focus. But I didn't want a new haircut.I wasn't ready to let go of my locs. I didn't want to get a new haircut. I wasn't ready to let go of my locks, but something had to go. I could feel it.So I chose to take some cuttings off of this beautiful monstera plant you see in these pictures. I kept the new cuttings and placed the large potted plant, which looked a bit too large to be on the bookshelf that it lived on, out to the curb to be received by some happy stranger.I first got my monstera in 2021 when I was nurturing a rather large houseplant collection. The room I was staying in had a beautiful big south-facing window. My monstera lived with me through three houses, and I had gifted cuttings from it and watched it grow to require two moss poles for support.I watched in surprise when it flourished at the last place I lived, a place where I struggled to flourish. My room, small and dark, had a tiny window taken up halfway by an AC unit that was screwed into the window. I used grow lights to try to keep a few plants alive on the bookshelf. My efforts failed. Somehow, though, new leaves kept coming up along the sides of my monstrous potted home. I wrote down my care instructions on an index card, complete with notes on the last time it was fertilized and how long ago it was repotted. I hoped the next person would not let her die, but I knew there was a chance I could have killed her myself. I worried about killing her constantly. Now she was someone else's burden. I now have one less thing to care about. I could care less. “Rose, run that song back one more time. The one where you're crying, ‘Help me, I'm dying.' I love the melody!”—me in a conversation about how my work feels sometimes. When I consider that burnout produces apathy, it makes sense that so many people experience a fatigue around their ability to care. It has been a while since I read Burnout: The Secret of Unlocking the Stress Cycle by Emily and Amelia Nagowski,but I hold onto one of my takeaways from the definition of burnout outlined in Three parts, the first being emotional exhaustion, the fatigue that comes from caring too much for too long. Many of us know this in a parallel term, compassion fatigue, which often applies to those who work in caring professions or hold domestic caregiving responsibilities.Our society is continually reinforcing individualism that harms us all, and this definitely impacts what we think caring ought to look like. This is a quote from Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha from Care Work Dreaming Disability Justice:“What does it mean to shift our ideas of access and care (whether it's disability, health care, economic access, or many more) from an individual chore an unfortunate cost of having an unfortunate body to a collective responsibility that's maybe even deeply joyful? What does it mean for our movements? Our communities/fam? Ourselves and our own lived experience of disability and chronic illness? What does it mean to wrestle with these ideas of softness and strength, vulnerability, pride, asking for help and not—all of which are deeply raced and classed and gendered?”These questions posed by Piepzna-Samarasinha serve as an inspiration for me as I write. An understanding that communal care makes a gentle landing possible undergirds all of this. Also true is the understanding that falling, failing, and flailing are often inevitable on this path.But what does that have to do with caring less? You tell me. How much can you actually hold? How much are you holding right now in this breath when you think of that question? So let's break it down further into questions that reflect the definitions I've mentioned:;* What are you tending to in this season, really? Not what you are saying you are tending to, but what is actually possible within the time you have allotted? * Are you committed to anything at present that requires more than your hands in order to be well taken care of? Have you stumbled into new interests and formed new attachments? Are these new extremities splintering your capacity? Is there anything you can cut off so that water can flow to what is flourishing? Are there ways these new attachments can be nurtured through a network of care versus your individual care? * Perhaps you are now much more aware of all there is to be afraid of, the dangers and the risks all around you. Has any of this fear contributed to loving yourself and others better? Where can you, “throw caution to the wind,” in recognition that your worrying has its limits with forecasting? I hope you're keeping track and notice that I left burden out of this list. We will return to it soon enough.But how about we take a break here? I also included a Lucille Clifton poem here. So you're free to take some time with it and we will come around to it again. because I am learning how to pace myself as an active care. I am taking time with my words, as you've seen in the “perching lines” series.I am trying to make these newsletters just a bit lighter. But trust, we will come back to the burden. I know because, well, the burden always finds its way back to me. I am learning how to carry water.I want to say this marvelous woman's poetry has changed my life. Since the day I first heard, won't you celebrate with me, recited by the dean of students in seminary. I knew it was for me somehow. In the way that I know many Black women, femmes, and men, such as my brothers Robert and Jan, find themselves in her poetry. June 27th is her birthday. Tomorrow, if you're reading this on pub day. I wanted to do something big. I wanted to have a conversation, read some poems, have folks listen. And as I planned it, the details that I wanted to line up only led me to more questions. But I kept searching for a way to honor her birthday and to recognize how becoming a Lucille Clifton scholar has shaped me. I want to honor her work like Alexis Pauline Gumbs honors the survival ethics of Audre Lorde or how adrienne maree brown devotes herself to the world building of Octavia Butler.I would be satisfied to honor her with just one twentieth of the archival devotion Professor Honorée Jeffers brought to the three-hour class she taught on the Sankofa Poetics of Lucille Clifton last month. I have been trying to find a way to study the poetics of Lucille Clifton in some official capacity other than this newsletter, but maybe this is it. And if that is the case, I am thankful to reflect on her poetry here. I am thankful for the people it has brought close to me. I am thankful for the light that came to Lucille Clifton and so glad it seems to have found its way to me.Or maybe this is my burden: to do as my faves above do in bringing the words they love into the worlds they love. Perhaps this is why it doesn't feel like enough to just do an event, read some poems, and call it a day. I need to write about the light that came to Rose J. Percy. I keep wondering if I am meant to carry it all by myself. As I sat in my sorrows about this event that never was, I realized I overlooked a very important Cliftonian idea:The event was her life.She says, won't you celebrate with me what I have shaped into a kind of life?So I sent some brave emails. I applied for a job I felt too afraid to hope I might get. I shared a burden with my closest friends. I am taking steps to learn to live and love better.21:05I am leaning into my dreams because I must do something with this quote kind of life and quote that I keep surviving. In her invitation is the audacity to believe there is something worth celebrating about being here. I will celebrate her life by living my own more deeply. If you are reading, then you are bearing witness and thus attending an event I could never plan out in my wildest dreams. So thank you for being here. Let's keep seeing where this goes. Get full access to A Gentle Landing at agentlelanding.substack.com/subscribe
Lords: * Elena * Nathalie * https://alienmelon.itch.io/ [cw:flashing lights] Topics: * Fish-based screensavers * Fire safety * The Aquarium and the Glass Harmonica * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOx7zmO5ppw * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FAc3HmfoSY * I Am Running Into A New Year by Lucille Clifton * https://nextworldover.tumblr.com/post/738271770264600576 * I went to Japan * https://nerdparadise.com/mspaint/stereogram Microtopics: * Shikiori Ink. * The Computer Museum in Berlin. * Back when you saw fish-based screen savers everywhere. * The Roku app fish screen saver. * A rock in the aquarium that says "Roku" * 11 hours of fish content. * Fish nerds sitting in a small box at the bottom of the ocean getting hype over seeing a small worm. * An animated gif of fish nerds getting hype. * A live jellyfish web cam that is just in principle. * A web cam of the thing that goes donk and everyone cheers when it goes donk. * The fish screen saver where you need to keep buying floppy disks with fish food on it or the fish die. * Don't copy that fish food! * The startup selling digital rabbit food going out of business so all the digital rabbits go into hibernation. * The Life Cycle of Software Objects. * Being unable to open your front door because the smart lock ran out of batteries. * Everybody congratulating you on the infuriating guy you made up to get mad at. * Fire safety anecdotes. * Glass top electric stoves that look just like induction stoves, as a prank. * How fire extinguishers taste. * Looking at fire extinguisher dust and thinking "let's get the blood brain barrier involved." * Leaving the stove on. * Broiling a sandwich and the whole sandwich catches fire. * A five year old doing science experiments with a lit candle. * The UX design of grease fires. * The William Shatner song about the dangers of deep frying a turkey. * Relating to the teens coming into fashion for like a week and then the next week the teens are like "You're still trying to relate? That's cheugy AF." * Self-moistening fingertips. * Soaking your fingertips in water for eight minutes to get them pruny. * The Canon of harmonica virtuoso music. * Ethereal floating tones that fade in and out of existence. * The Flat Bells. * The Mellotron as a slightly more physical sampler. * Clara Rockmore playing "The Swan" on Theremin. * Bit-doers playing "The Swan" on Otamatone. * Letting go of what you said to yourself about yourself when you were 16, 26, even 36. * The assumption that you need to be forgiven for something. * The sun coming up on this episode of Topic Lords. * Working up the courage to climb the mountain you see every day from your back yard. * Really tall hills you can walk up. * What it's like to not hear cars constantly. * Designing a building to sound good – even if it isn't a concert hall. * Car-free cities. * Biking in a bike-centric environment. * Throwing your body into traffic and hoping drivers care about the legal liability of running someone over. * The intersection where you always see the skid marks from kids doing donuts. * Doing watercolors but with ink. * Buying a bunch of art supplies and never using them because you're afraid to waste them. * How do you get your paintbrush to do what you want? * How watercolors behave depending on how wet the painting is and how wet the paintbrush is. * Scraping your knife on the painting and it just looks like a shed. * Is it a bunch of cats or is it the word "gay"? * Images that look like stereograms but aren't. * The blank canvas stereogram. * Crowds staring at the enormous stereograms hanging up in the Mall of America. * Stereogram artists accounting for pupillary distance. * Making a stereogram in MS Paint.
Knock knock, darlings! Join the queens as we talk about funny poems.If you'd like to support Breaking Form:Review the show on Apple Podcasts here.Buy our books: Aaron's STOP LYING is available from the Pitt Poetry Series. James's ROMANTIC COMEDY is available from Four Way Books.SHOW NOTESWatch Stacey Waite give a full reading here (at 38:00); here's Stacey reading one poem: "The Kind of Man I Am at the DMV." Watch Gary Jackson's poem "Tryouts" in Motionpoems (Button Poetry) here.Read Tim Dlugos's "David Cassidy, I Want to Fuck You"; listen to Terence Winch read "Incredible Risks" (the title of one of Dlugos's books) here. Read "Note Passed to Superman" as well as some other of Lucille Clifton's "Clark Kent Poems" here.Here's an interview in Adroit Journal with Denise Duhamel, in which she discusses the craft of chattiness and comedy in her poetry. Visit Nick Lantz's website.You can read Aaron Smith's "Jennifer Lawrence" here (scroll down).Watch Anita Bryant get some queer comeuppance here. James's poem about this is: "On Dark Days, I Imagine My Parents' Wedding Video." Their poem, "A Fact Which Occurred in America" can be read here.Read Matthew Olzmann's "Letter to the Person Who, During the Q&A Session After the Reading, Asked for Career Advice" (from Constellation Route).Go read A.R. Ammons's poem "Their Sex Life" here.Read Ed Ochester's "Monroeville, PA."
Lucille Clifton was born in Depew, New York, on June 27, 1936. Her first book of poems, Good Times (Random House, 1969), was rated one of the best books of the year by the New York Times.Clifton remained employed in state and federal government positions until 1971, when she became a writer in residence at Coppin State College in Baltimore, Maryland, where she completed two collections: Good News About the Earth (Random House, 1972) and An Ordinary Woman (Random House, 1974). She was the author of several other collections of poetry, including Blessing the Boats: New and Selected Poems 1988–2000 (BOA Editions, 2000), which won the National Book Award; Good Woman: Poems and a Memoir 1969–1980 (BOA Editions, 1987), which was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize; and Two-Headed Woman (University of Massachusetts Press, 1980), also a Pulitzer Prize nominee as well as the recipient of the University of Massachusetts Press Juniper Prize.In 1999, Clifton was elected a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets. She served as the poet laureate for the State of Maryland from 1979 to 1985, and distinguished professor of humanities at St. Mary's College of Maryland.After a long battle with cancer, Lucille Clifton died on February 13, 2010, at the age of seventy-three.-bio via Academy of American Poets Get full access to The Daily Poem Podcast at dailypoempod.substack.com/subscribe
I'm this episode I share some well known poems written to fathers, present and absent alike. While reading these poems I was inspired to write my own. Let me know what you think… ***Forgiving my father by Lucille Clifton, Those Winter Sundays by Robert Hayden, My Papa's Waltz by Theodore Roethke, Father from Asia by Shirley Geok-Lin Lim, and A Message on your Voicemail by Carolina Huggins ***
Many anthologies of nature poetry and Black poetry have excluded Black nature poetry. But Black people have always written poetry about nature. We write about the land that supports us and challenges us. We write about the animals we care for and the disasters that destroy our homes. We write about the rivers we cross and the soil we till. Black nature poems reflect the enormous range of experiences that we have in our physical environments. As they show us, nature can haunt, and nature can heal. In today's episode, Katie and Yves discuss the work of a few writers who train their words on the natural world. Get show notes at ontheme.show Follow us on Instagram @onthemeshow Email us at hello@ontheme.showSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
What is National Poetry Writing Month?Welcome, art enthusiasts and wordsmiths alike, to another episode of Create Art Podcast! We are diving headfirst into the enchanting world of poetry as we celebrate National Poetry Writing Month (NaPoWriMo). This annual event, which takes place every April, encourages poets and aspiring writers around the globe to embrace their creativity and commit to writing a poem each day for the entire month.The Beauty of National Poetry Writing Month:NaPoWriMo, similar to its prose-centric counterpart National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), is a celebration of the written word and the boundless creativity that can flow when one dedicates themselves to a daily practice. Poets of all levels of expertise are invited to take part, from seasoned wordsmiths to those just dipping their toes into the vast ocean of verse.Create Art Podcast has always been a haven for artists to share their creative processes, and NaPoWriMo offers a unique opportunity for poets to reflect on their craft. With a daily commitment to producing poetry, participants discover new facets of their writing style, experiment with various forms, and explore uncharted emotional territories.Prompt for todayAnd now for our (optional) prompt. Today, we'd like to challenge you to write a poem about, or involving, a superhero, taking your inspiration from these four poems in which Lucille Clifton addresses Clark Kent/Superman.Poem for TodayRight Bicep 23 April 24 The embodiment of vengeance sitting on a throne of the bones of the souls he has damned Is embedded on my right bicep Part of the right arm of justice That I use to correct the wrongs That have occurred He sits there with a face so dour He sits there looking exhausted He sits and views all the work left to be done It never ends This world isn't fair As I teach my children But there are those in this world That come in after the tragedies To make sure they never happen again I put you there Because I have always desired to be An instrument that can dispassionately dole out vengeance But I find my emotions take hold And I cannot damn another soul for their wrongs I am not the judge, jury and punisher So, you will have to sit on my arm Until I can burn out the emotions And one day be like you Without a heart Without a soul Reach Out To The PodcastTo reach out to me, email timothy@createartpodcast.com I would love to hear about your journey and what you are working on. If you would like to be on the show or have me discuss a topic that is giving you trouble write in and let's start that conversation.Email: timothy@createartpodcast.com YouTube Channel:
Get ready to spring into reading with our latest Stories from the Ashes episode, where we're showcasing a delightful lineup of children's books perfect for the season. From charming picture books to beloved read-alouds, we've handpicked a selection of stories that will spark imagination and inspire young readers. Plus, don't miss out on our exclusive Spring Reading Bundle (download below), complete with fun reading challenge bookmarks and book log sheets to keep little bookworms engaged all season long!Tune in now and let's embark on a springtime literary conversation together! And don't miss our newly updated Easter Book List!Books that came up in this episode:The Easter Treat by Roger DuvoisinThe Easter Egg Artists (also published as The Paintbrush Bunny) by Adrienne AdamsHurry, Spring! by Sterling NorthRascal by Sterling NorthSketching Outdoors in Spring by Jim ArnoskyThere's More… Much More by Sue AlexanderSpring is Like the Morning by M. Jean CraigHooray for Spring by Iwamuraby Tiny Perfect Things by M.H. ClarkSpring Things by Maxine W. Kumin and Artur MarokviaThe Story of the Root Children by Sibylle von OffersThe Winter Wren by Brock ColeBeatrice Potter, Scientist by Lindsay H. Metcalf Pick, Pull, Snap! Where Once a Flower Bloomed by Lola M. SchaeferAnywhere Farm by Phyllis RootThe Forever Garden by Laurel SnyderThe Boy Who Didn't Believe in Spring by Lucille Clifton and Britton TurkleA New Beginning: Celebrating the Spring Equinox by Wendy PfefferGoodbye Winter, Hello Spring by Kenard PakSpring an Alphabet Acrostic by Steven SchnurSpring Thaw by Steven SchnurWelcome Back Sun by Michael EmberleyWhen Spring Comes by Kevin HanksSilver by Walter de la MareSpring Song by Barbara SeulingAll's Right with the World by Jennifer AdamsThe Fox Went Out on a Chilly Night by Peter SpierMake Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey Brambly Hedge by Jill BarklemHurray for Spring! by Patricia HubbellMiss Jaster's Garden by N.M. Bodecker Hanna's Cold Winter by Trish MarkThe Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson BurnettHeidi by Johanna SpyriThe Gardener by Sarah StewartThe Librarian by Sarah StewartA Place to Hang the Moon by Kate AlbusThe Narnia books by C.S. LewisThe Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. TolkienSpring Things by Bob RaczkaHi, Mister Robin! by Alvin Tresselt and Roger Duvoisin “Sweet Afton” (poem by Robert Burns) “Pippa's Song” (poem by Robert Browning) Thanks for listening! If you're looking for more seasonal books, be sure to check out our Winter Words Wonderland episode! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.reshelvingalexandria.com
It's a queens' jubilee as we discuss Clifton and Glück poems with Diane Seuss, who concludes by reading a new poem!Support Breaking Form!Review the show on Apple Podcasts here.Buy our books: Diane Seuss's MODERN POETRY is available now from Graywolf Press. Aaron's STOP LYING is available from the Pitt Poetry Series. James's ROMANTIC COMEDY is available from Four Way Books.Louise Glück's first book is Firstborn, published in 1968 when she was 25. You can read "Here Are My Black Clothes" Recorded on March 27, 2023, here is one of Louise Glück's final recorded readings (~15 minutes).Read the text of Lucille Clifton "Study the Masters." You can see Tara Betts read that poem here.Watch an interview with Prof. Clifton here.You can read more about the first crafting, and subsequent replications, of Keats's death masks here.
Pádraig Ó Tuama's interests lie in language, violence and religion. Having grown up in a place that has a long history of all three (Ireland, yes, but also Europe) he finds that language might be the most redeeming of all three of these. In language there is the possibility of vulnerability, of surprise, of the creative movement towards something as yet unseen. He is inspired by any artist of words: from Krista Tippett to Lucille Clifton; from Patrick Kavanagh to Emily Dickinson; from Lorna Goodison to Arundhati Roy. Ó Tuama loves words — words that open up the mind, the heart, the life. For instance — poem: a created thing.
Pádraig Ó Tuama's interests lie in language, violence and religion. Having grown up in a place that has a long history of all three (Ireland, yes, but also Europe) he finds that language might be the most redeeming of all three of these. In language there is the possibility of vulnerability, of surprise, of the creative movement towards something as yet unseen. He is inspired by any artist of words: from Krista Tippett to Lucille Clifton; from Patrick Kavanagh to Emily Dickinson; from Lorna Goodison to Arundhati Roy. Ó Tuama loves words — words that open up the mind, the heart, the life. For instance — poem: a created thing.
Recorded by Sidney Clifton for Poem-a-Day, a series produced by the Academy of American Poets. Published on February 13, 2024. www.poets.org
Dorianne Laux is the author of several collections of poetry, including What We Carry (1994), a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award; Smoke (2000); Facts about the Moon (2005), chosen by the poet Ai as winner of the Oregon Book Award and also a finalist for the Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize; The Book of Men (2011), which was awarded the Paterson Prize; and Only As the Day is Long: New and Selected (2019). She has received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts, and has been a Pushcart Prize winner. Laux's free-verse poems are sensual and grounded, and they reveal the poet as a compassionate witness to the everyday. She observed in an interview for the website Readwritepoem, “Poems keep us conscious of the importance of our individual lives ... personal witness of a singular life, seen cleanly and with the concomitant well-chosen particulars, is one of the most powerful ways to do this.” Speaking of the qualities she admires most in poetry, Laux added, “Craft is important, a skill to be learned, but it's not the beginning and end of the story. I want the muddled middle to be filled with the gristle of the living.” She was first inspired to write after hearing a poem by Pablo Neruda. Other influences include Sharon Olds, Lucille Clifton, Anne Sexton, and Adrienne Rich.Laux has taught creative writing at the University of Oregon, Pacific University, and North Carolina State University; she has also led summer workshops at Esalen in Big Sur. She is the co-author, with Kim Addonizio, of The Poet's Companion: A Guide to the Pleasures of Writing Poetry (1997). She lives in Raleigh, North Carolina, with her husband, poet Joseph Millar.-bio via Poetry Foundation Get full access to The Daily Poem Podcast at dailypoempod.substack.com/subscribe
The prophet Isaiah writes poetry: to express deep love between God and God's beloveds, to convey heartache, to cleverly and poignantly pierce through word play, to evoke hope and catalyze action, to faithfully proclaim the truest nature of God. If poetry is good enough for Isaiah, pastor Megan suggests, it might just be good enough for us. We hear of sacred love, heartbreak, longing, and conviction from poets Jane Kenyon, Naomi Shihab Nye, Marwan Makhoul, Maxine Hong Kingston, and Lucille Clifton. Come along for the ride!sermon begins at minute marker 4:41 Isaiah 5.1-7; 11.1-5ResourcesBibleWorm podcast: Episode 510– The Song of the Vineyard and the Stump of Jesse, Amy Robertson and Robert Williamson, Jr.Jane Kenyon, “Briefly It Enters, and Briefly Speaks,” Collected Poems, 2005.Naomi Shihab Nye, “Kindness,” Words Under the Words: Selected Poems, 1995.Maxine Hong Kingston, The Fifth Book of Peace, 2003.Lucille Clifton, "spring song," The Collected Poems of Lucille Clifton, 1987.After sharing this sermon in poetry, someone in the congregation reminded me of this gorgeous and piercing musical rendition of Isaiah's poetry, by the inimitable Sinead O'Connor, may she rest in peace: “If You Had a Vineyard” Image: Marwan Makhoul, trans. Zeina Hashem Beck, via Gaza Poets Society, https://www.instagram.com/p/CO3URKVgw7M/Hymn: Hymn: VT 161 I Sought The Lord. Text: Holy Songs, Carols, and Sacred Ballads (USA), 1880 Music: J. Harold Moyer (USA), 1965, The Mennonite Hymnal, © 1969 Faith & Life Press/Mennonite Publishing House (admin. MennoMedia) Permission to podcast the music in this service obtained from One License with license #A-726929 and #57595. All rights reserved.
A new collaboration weaves together the artistry of a local modern dance company and the pithy lyricism of Maryland's former poet laureate. This weekend will see the premiere of “And Still, We Dream,” by Full Circle Dance Company. The show's centerpiece is inspired by the work of the late Maryland Poet Laureate and Baltimore resident Lucille Clifton. We speak with Donna Jacobs, the founder and artistic director of Full Circle Dance Company, and Sidney Clifton, the daughter of Lucille Clifton and founder of The Clifton House, a space for emerging writers, artists, and activists. Full Circle Dance Company will present “And Still, We Dream,” this Saturday at 7:30 pm and Sunday at 2:30 pm at the Baltimore Theatre Project. Do you have a question or comment about a show or a story idea to pitch? Contact On the Record at: Senior Supervising Producer, Maureen Harvie she/her/hers mharvie@wypr.org 410-235-1903 Senior Producer, Melissa Gerr she/her/hers mgerr@wypr.org 410-235-1157 Producer Sam Bermas-Dawes he/him/his sbdawes@wypr.org 410-235-1472
It has been a hot minute y'all but we are back! In this episode, we catch y'all up on our last year and a half since recording. Kicking off SZN 2.5 we question our generational responsibility to create wealth for our predecessors, what does that really look like? Does monetary wealth equate to abundance? Like the old folk say, "you can't take it with you!" but you can leave it here! What else other than money can we collect and leave to those who will inhibit this planet long after we are gone? #FreePalestineTilIt'sBackwards #FreeSudan #FreeHaiti #FreeCongo show notes: won't you celebrate with me by Lucille Clifton https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/50974/wont-you-celebrate-with-me How You Can Support Our Podcast? Share this episode with a friend/ya mama Follow us on IG: @footonyoneck Give us a 5 star rating and review on Spotify and Apple Podcasts We are fundraising to get all the monetary resources necessary to pay our artists and guests for season 3! If you would like to contribute please refer below: Venmo - @planetcrab (Jana) Zelle - footonyoneck@gmail.com Music by Playing indigo IG: @indigo.player77 (Follow and listen to Playing indigo on Spotify for healing, anti-capitalist tunes!) Title Card and Social Media Designs by Ariel Mengistu IG: @rellyrooo Arielmengistu.com For all inquiries, please email us at footonyoneck@gmail.comWebsite: footonyoneck.squarespace.com
Get on your spurs & chaps and join our country queens down at the poetry gay bar!Support Breaking Form!Review the show on Apple Podcasts here.Buy our books: Aaron's STOP LYING is available from the Pitt Poetry Series. James's ROMANTIC COMEDY is available from Four Way Books.Please consider buying your books from Bluestockings Cooperative, a feminist and queer indie bookselling cooperative.Watch Miranda Lambert calling out some selfie-takers and the ladies of The View talking about it. And watch her sing "Tin Man" here.Watch Jennifer L. Knox read "Crushing It" here.Maybe the most memorable Tammy Wynette reference is this one from Sordid Lives. "He looked just like Tammy....in the early years," one character says about her brother."Billy Collins is to good poetry what Kenny G is to Charlie Parker" reads this scathing pan of the poet. You can watch Richard Howard read from his poems here (~60 min).Anne Carson is in conversation with Lannan Foundation's Michael Silverblatt here (30 min).Terrance HayesRead B.H. Fairchild's "A Starlit Night" from 32 Poems here.Read "Chopin in Palma," the Susan Mitchell poem in Best American Poetry 2023 (first published in Harvard Review) here. Listen to Mark Doty talk all things Whitman (~50 min)You can watch Frank Bidart read his serial-killer poem "Herbert White" here (~8 min)Here's an amazing tribute to Lucille Clifton organized by SAG-AFTRA, with readings by Geena Davis, Tantoo Cardinal, Isabella Gomez, Mark St. Cyr, Candace Nicholas Lippman, Max Gail, Nicco Annan; Lynne Thompson; Sidney Clifton; Madeline di Nonno; and Rochelle Rose. (~70 min)Read Matthew Dickman's poem "Grief."Here's Susan Mitchell's CV.
In this episode, I talk more about music, I read to you from Lucille Clifton's Blessing the Boats, and talk to the uber-talented and wonderful K. Iver about their debut collection, Short Film Starring My Beloved's Red Bronco! Instagram: instagram.com/bell.biv.dahoe Instagram: instagram.com/figwidowcast Twitter: twitter.com/figwidow Bluesky: danijanae.bsky.social Substack: danijanae.substack.com
Poet, author, and co-founder of The Song Cave, Alan Felsenthal guest hosts this episode's focus on poetry. As a close friend and mentee of Michael Silverblatt's, Felsenthal recalls Michael's revelation that he had trouble finding his way into poetry until he had several formative experiences, including one he described in 2019 during a Walt Whitman tribute. We'll hear from that tribute with poet Pattiann Rogers reading Whitman. We'll also hear from poets John Ashbery, Coral Bracho, Forrest Gander, and Lucille Clifton.
On today's episode of Buffalo, What's Next? Lorenzo Rodriguez has a conversation with Yanhong Baranski, an Asian-American member of the Buffalo community who served as the President of the Chinese Club of Western New York. Afterwards, Central Library is set to unveil a new statue in honor of one of Buffalo's most noteworthy poets – the late Lucille Clifton. Barbara Cole, from Just Buffalo Literary Center, and Lucille's daughter, Sidney Clifton, join Jay Moran to discuss this new development and the legacy of Lucille's work.
You ever feel at the end of your rope? Like you must tie a knot at the end of it to simply hold on? Jan celebrates two remarkable poets, Lucille Clifton and Ada Simon, who help us see both our own power in shaping ourselves and how we can join the spring trees who unfurl new leaves of hope as if to say to the world in front of them: "I'll take it all."
This episode's got Aaron sweating, then Miguel Murphy joins the queens for some flaming hot poetry takes.Review Breaking Form on Apple Podcasts here. Please support Breaking Form and buy Aaron's and James's books:Aaron's STOP LYING is available from the Pitt Poetry Series. James's ROMANTIC COMEDY is available from Four Way Books.Or, if you'd like to shop indie, we recommend Loyalty Bookstores, a DC-area Black-owned bookshop.Read a recent Beckian Fritz Goldberg poem. Or listen to her read at the University of Arizona Poetry Center (from In the Badlands of Desire and Never Be the Horse).Rilke recalled: "I had to wear beautiful long dresses, and until I started school I went about like a little girl. I think my mother played with me as though I were a big doll." Speaking of dolls, read Eva-Maria Simms's article "Uncanny Dolls: Images of Death in Rilke and Freud" in New Literary History here.The Bernadette Mayer book Aaron references is Midwinter Day (New Directions, reissued the original 1982 book in 1999). Read more about the book's composition (in one day, as Aaron says) in this interview with Mayer conducted by Fanny Howe. Read more about Eric McHenry's discovery of Langston Hughes's real birthdayHeather McHugh's poem that Aaron references is "I Knew I'd Sing" from her first book, Dangers. Visit McHugh's website: https://www.heathermchugh.comFor more about gay sincerity, here's a Gawker article by Paul McAdory called "Gay Sincerity is Scary" and has a tagline that is too shady to not quote: "When it comes to popular gay fiction, on earth we're briefly cringe." Visit the online Whitman archive (which documents the many, many photographs of Whitman, many of them nudes), thus validating what Miguel says when he calls Walt our first Instagram poet.Richard Hugo talks about public and private poets in his essay "The Triggering Town"Read Plath's "Letter in November" and her poem "Berck-Plage" or listen to her read that poem here. Miguel references Lucille Clifton's poem "Leaving Fox," which begins "so many fuckless days and nights."
You may know Jordan Underwood (they/he) through their social media videos where they respond to questions & trolls and also proudly show their body living in the world. These videos are watched by hundreds of thousands, which of course means that Jordan is constantly attacked for being unapologetically fat. In this episode, Jordan shares their body liberation journey and how writing a blog when they were 12 years old began what became a decades-long path of defying what others assumed about their body. Oh, and Jordan talks about what it was like to have a billboard in Times Square. While fat.Jordan Underwood is a fat, trans non-binary model, multidisciplinary artist, and activist based in Brooklyn. Their focus lies primarily in the politics of representation, the body, and abolition, with an emphasis on how intersections of identity impact mental health and how we can reach collective liberation through solidarity and community care.Please connect with Jordan on their website, Instagram, and TikTok.And here's the link to Deepa Iyer's Social Change Map.This episode's poem is by Lucille Clifton and is called “won't you celebrate with me.”Sophia here, again! Centering fat and marginalized people is a core value of this podcast, and one of my goals is to offer each guest an honorarium for their time and expertise. Your support can help make that happen by subscribing to the bonus content through Apple Podcasts or Patreon. There are a range of subscription options from $3 (depending on your currency)/month, and you'll get to hear each guest answer 10 questions they didn't know I was going to ask. Don't you want to know what Jordan would put on a billboard?Please connect with Fat Joy on our website, Instagram, and YouTube (full video episodes here!). And please also give us a rating & subscribe.Our thanks to AR Media and Emily MacInnis for keeping this podcast looking and sounding joyful.
Happy National Poetry Month! We kick off this episode with Emily reading Lucille Clifton's poem, “Climbing,” and end with an in-depth conversation with poet Shuly Cawood about her poem, “Starter Marriage.” [The full text of Shuly's poem is at the end of this description if you'd like to read it before or while listening to the episode.] Both of us have Writing and Creativity on our minds. Emily started Julia Cameron's THE ARTIST'S WAY, and Chris is listening to WRITING FOR IMPACT by Bill Birchard. And we have some reading/writing synchronicity going on with Natalie Goldberg. Emily is reading & listening to her classic, WRITING DOWN THE BONES, and when visiting McNally Jackson at Rockefeller Center in NYC Chris picked up WRITING DOWN THE BONES DECK. More recently read books include WHY AM I SO ANXIOUS by Tracey Marks, MY DEAREST DARLING by Lisa Franco, BOOKSELLING IN AMERICA AND THE WORLD, ed. by Charles B. Anderson. And thanks to listener Colleen's birthday book club tradition, we revisited a childhood favorite, Judy Blume's ARE YOU THERE GOD? IT'S ME, MARGARET. There's another #buddyread on our horizon: TRAVELS WITH CHARLEY IN SEARCH OF AMERICA. We're reading this for the Vintage Book Club which is sponsored by Book Club on the Go and will meet on Thursday, April 20, 1 pm at the Wood Memorial Library and Museum in South Windsor, CT. All are welcome. We had a fantastic biblioadventure together in Boston. After spending the day working in Simmons University's Beatley Library, we visited the amazing independent bookstore, Brookline Booksmith. Emily is going to be moderating two author sessions at the Newburyport Literary Festival, April 28-30: — The Other Family Doctor: A Veterinarian Explores What Animals Can Teach Us about Love, Life, and Mortality by Karen Fine, DVM —Three Roads Back: How Emerson, Thoreau, and William James Responded to the Greatest Losses of Their Lives by Robert D. Richardson with a foreword by Megan Marshall (Emily's conversation will be with Megan). Chris is bummed that she won't be able to attend the Newburyport Literary Festival or either of the two Willa Cather conferences this June. She is, however, planning to attend a series of four virtual events with author Benjamin Taylor that the National Willa Cather Center is offering beginning on April 27th. Taylor's new book, CHASING BRIGHT MEDUSAS: A LIFE OF WILLA CATHER, is to be published in November. Visit the episode show notes for more details and links to the books, places, and events listed above.https://www.bookcougars.com/blog-1/2023/episode179 Happy Reading! Chris & Emily ______ Starter Marriage by Shuly Cawood after Erin Adair-Hodges* First there was the word and the word was trying. Trying the apartment with white walls, popcorn ceilings, footsteps heavy above, thudding over our days. Trying the job I took filing papers into squeaking cabinets, the one you took answering phones for dentists. Trying the brown bag lunches with limp sandwiches and sliced cheese, the softening apple, the room-temperature soda. Consuming it all on church steps, hunched below the overhang as it rained. Trying the cold pool after work with dead insects needing to be netted. Unraveling towels, TJ Maxx suits, the walk back on the no-car driveway. All heat evaporated. Empty stomachs. No one wanted what the other craved. Trying the red Chevrolet with the bad battery, no parking without pay, the bus rides to and from work, your stop, my stop, the sun hitting hard, us squinting at the sky. Your last day, the blue electric toothbrush they gave you as goodbye. Buzzing in your mouth with all those trapped words. Trying the new queen mattress we could not afford but bought anyway. Trying the laundry we toted to the next building, plastic hampers in our arms full of every day's dirt. Coffee but no creamer, bread but no toaster, sugar hardened in the bag. Day-old everything bagels, buy-one, get-one veggie burritos, dollar theater on Sundays. New job but less pay, new boss but no promotion. Saving for tickets for never vacations. Trying the places we gave up for each other: city salted by an ocean, all those fish and ferry rides; town with three stoplights, two policemen, a forest to get lost in. Your dreams, my dreams, weeds by the parking lot. Trying your face a broken banister, my hands an unused map. *The first nine words are borrowed from “Portrait of Mother: 1985” by Erin Adair-Hodges ______
The ladies talk about James's new book, ROMANTIC COMEDY, and James reads the title poem and talks about sex, survival, and Chicago brides.Find us at AWP:Thursday: 10:35-11:50 Panel: Building Virtual Community. Rms 440-442, Level 4, Summit Building. 12-12:30 pm Aaron signs STOP LYING at the U of Pittsburgh Press booth # 301 in the book-fair7pm James reading at Seattle Beer Company1427 Western Avewith authors from Four Way Books, Autumn House, and Barrow StreetSaturday:10:30-11:30 James signs ROMANTIC COMEDY at the Four Way Books booth # 803 in the bookfair.Buy Aaron's new book, STOP LYING.Buy James's new book, ROMANTIC COMEDY.You can read Lucille Clifton's poem "come celebrate with me" here. The Bridesmaids blooper reel Aaron references is here (hit the 9-minute mark). The poem "Pittsburgh" can be found online here. The poem "Romantic Comedy" can be found online in Bloom's archives here.
Lent 1A | Psalm 32 Our texts this week are here Our prayer this week: "Travel Blessing" from Common Prayer, Pocket Edition Check out Poetry Unbound. Some of Megan's favorite episodes feature poetry by Ada Limón, Natalie Diaz, and Lucille Clifton. Alicia also recommends the newly published book collecting together 50 poems from the podcast project. Join us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/aplainaccount Browse our curated booklists! Purchasing through this affiliate link generates a small commission for us and is a great way to support the show https://bookshop.org/shop/aplainaccount Other resources on our website: commentaries, discipleship, liturgics, music.
Amanda Holmes reads Lucille Clifton's poem “what the mirror said.” Have a suggestion for a poem by a (dead) writer? Email us: podcast@theamericanscholar.org. If we select your entry, you'll win a copy of a poetry collection edited by David Lehman. This episode was produced by Stephanie Bastek and features the song “Canvasback” by Chad Crouch. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
On Today's Show"When you're a kid, and if you love to read, you love stories, you aren't always aware of the fact that you're being erased from those stories, or you don't yet have the expectation that you should be in those books." - Zetta Elliott Scholar and author Zetta Elliott knows the long-term damage of not having representative, relatable stories to read while growing up. Growing up Black in suburban Canada in the '80s meant rarely seeing herself in the books she read. It wasn't until she was a young adult that she realized that erasure's impact on her own voice as a writer.While she is best known for her Dragons in a Bag series, Zetta has had a prolific writing career and spent a great deal of time advocating for fairness and representation in children's literature. She tells us about how she found and reclaimed her voice and her struggles with publishing as a Black author.ContentsChapter 1 - Getting to Know Zetta Elliott (2:02)Chapter 2 - Being Left Out of Literature (5:50)Chapter 3 - Zetta Finds Her Voice (10:46)Chapter 4 - Won't You Celebrate With Me? (14:49)Chapter 5 - Self-Publishing (18:03)Chapter 6 - The Future Depends on Now (23:15)Chapter 7 - Beanstack Featured Librarian (27:10)Today, Beanstack's featured librarian is Kelly McDaniel, assistant director for the Piedmont Regional Library System in northeast Georgia. We had her spill her secrets on how she gets kids excited about reading.Links http://thereadingculturepod.com/ https://www.zettaelliott.com/ https://www.beanstack.com/ https://thereadingculturepod.com/zetta-elliott
won't you celebrate with me - by Lucille Clifton --- won't you celebrate with me what i have shaped into a kind of life? i had no model. born in babylon both nonwhite and woman what did i see to be except myself? i made it up here on this bridge between starshine and clay, my one hand holding tight my other hand; come celebrate with me that everyday something has tried to kill me and has failed. --- Lucille Clifton, “won't you celebrate with me” from Book of Light. Copyright © 1993 by Lucille Clifton. Reprinted by permission of Copper Canyon Press. Source: Book of Light (Copper Canyon Press, 1993) --- How to Support How to Survive --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/how-to-survive-the-end-of-the-world/message
You ask and we deliver. We're finally revealing our favorite Trader Joe's items, awakenings and research concerns. Listen as we chew constantly, mourn discontinued items and discover what is located to the right of the bacon. Transcript Trader Joe's Molly's Now but Wow! - Lucille Clifton's “Blessing the Boats” See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
e bond's webpageStitch Please Episode 113 "e bond's GLYPHS: A Fabric Collection of Black Women Writers"Stitch Please Episode 93 "Threads Across Time" with Sarah BondLisa's teaching partner mentioned Tobiah Mundt interviewed in Episode 44: Tuft Love: Felt(ing) Emotions with Tobiah Mundte bond's Glyph fabric collection from Free Spirit fabricsSarah, e and Lisa discuss Lucille Clifton's poem, "Reply" as well as My Monticello by Jocelyn Johnson One of e bond's newest artists books is in a show RIGHT NOW. Details below:Adaptation: Artist Books for a Changing Environment, Bauer Wurster Hallat University of California, BerkeleyCheck out e bond's online Creativebug classes:Words Inform Images: 31 Prompts Using Writing as Inspiration for ArtUnconventional Book StructuresPersonal Map Making - A Daily Mixed Media PracticeUpcoming for Sarah Bond at Schweinfurth Memorial Art Center:Play with Color and Greyscale with Sarah Bond - Schweinfurth Memorial Art CenterAll the Elements: Designing Quilts with Foundation Piecing with Sarah BondAND upcoming for Sarah Bond at the Madeline Island School of the Arts: Piecing Perspectives–Medallion Madness!Y'all, ask your LQS (local quilt shop) to carry GLYPHS or find it at online retailers including Victoria Findlay WolfeHere are the garments Lisa plans to sew with GLYPHS: Zadie jumpsuit, Adrienne Blouse, Valerie DressBlackWomenStitch Instagram, homepage, Patreon