Archive by Author

Yau, John 2000

Tuesday, September 19, 2000
with Ed Paschke

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The world weeps. There are no tears
To be found. It is deemed a miracle.
The president appears on screens
In villages and towns, in cities in jungles
And jungles still affectionately called cities.
He appears on screens and reads a story.

– John Yau, “Broken Sonnet”

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Listen to an interview with John Yau from Clocktower:

It does not do you like it
Imperfect copy’s forgery
Posts its vermillion decree

– John Yau, “The Missing Portrait (1)”

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Watch John Yau’s reading at the Hammes Campus Bookstore in November 2015:

More info on John Yau⇒

Wright, Charles 2002

Thursday, November 7, 2002

Sun-sliding morning. The doors of the world stand open,
The one up and the one down.
Twice-blessed by their golden handles,
We try them both, but they don’t open, not yet, they don’t open.

– Charles Wright, “Nostalgia III”

Broadside of "Nostalgia III" by Charles Wright with Timothy Straveler.

Broadside of “Nostalgia III” by Charles Wright with Timothy Straveler.

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Ancient of Days, old friend, no one believes you’ll come back.
No one believes in his own life anymore.
The moon, like a dead heart, cold and unstartable, hangs by a thread
At the earth’s edge,
Unfaithful at last, splotching the ferns and the pink shrubs.

– Charles Wright, “Stone Canyon Nocturne”

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Watch Charles Wright read his work here:”

Charles Wright Inaugural Reading as Poet Laureate

Charles Wright gives his inaugural reading as the 20th Poet Laureate Consultant to the Library of Congress. Speaker Biography: On June 12th, 2014, Librarian of Congress James H. Billington announced the appointment of Charles Wright as the Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry. Charles Wright was born in Pickwick Dam, Tennessee on August 25, 1935.

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Paschke, Ed 2000

Tuesday, September 19, 2000
with John Yau

Paschke

I also believe that any artist always works within the context or conditions that are indigenous to their time and, in doing so, reflects the energy, temperament and attitudes of that climate.

– Ed Paschke

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Ed Paschke, “Kandy Kofax”

Watch this ArtbeaT Chicago interview with Ed Paschke:

Ed Paschke

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Ed Paschke, “Nuvo-Retro”

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Olds, Sharon

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I want to go
up to them there in the late May sunlight and say it,
her hungry pretty face turning to me
her pitiful beautiful untouched body,
his arrogant handsome face turning to me,
his pitiful beautiful untouched body,
but I don’t do it. I want to live.

– Sharon Olds, “I Go Back to May 1937”

Listen to Sharon Olds’ reading for the Poetry Center of Chicago:

Read this interview with Sharon Olds from BOMB Magazine:

http://bombmagazine.org/article/1927/sharon-olds

Watch Sharon Olds’ TEDx talk:

The Poetry of the in-between | Sharon Olds | TEDxMet

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Ostriker, Alicia

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Like a photon, like a shower
Of yellow flames–
She believes if she could only catch up

-Alicia Ostriker, “A Young Woman, A Tree”

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Listen to Alicia Ostriker’s reading for the Poetry Center of Chicago:

Check out this 2010 interview with Alicia Ostriker about her process of writing “Daffodils”:

Alicia Ostriker

Alicia Ostriker’s thirteenth collection of poems, the Book of Seventy , won the 2009 National Jewish Book Award for Poetry. Her 1980 anti-wa…

Some claim the origin of song
was a war cry
some say it was a rhyme
telling the farmers when to plant and reap
don’t they know the first song was a lullaby
pulled from a mother’s sleep
said the old woman

– Alicia Ostriker, “Song”

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Watch this short NYS Writers Institute video of Alicia Ostriker on being a poet:

Alicia Suskin Ostriker at the NYS Writers Institute in 2015

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Johnson, Denis

The traveling salesmen fed me pills that made the lining of my veins feel scraped out, my jaw ached… I knew every raindrop by its name, I sensed everything before it happened. Like I knew a certain oldsmobile would stop even before it slowed, and by the sweet voices of the family inside, I knew we’d have an accident in the rain. I didn’t care. They said they’d take me all the way.

– Denis Johnson, “Jesus’ Son”

Listen to Denis Johnson’s reading at the Poetry Center of Chicago:

Read this interview with Denis Johnson in the Yale Literary Magazine:

http://yalelitmag.com/denis-johnson-interview/

Watch the trailer for the movie version of Denis Johnson’s book Jesus’ Son:

Jesus’ Son – Trailer

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Wright, Franz 2004

Tuesday, November 30, 2004

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We speak of Heaven who have not yet accomplished
even this, the holiness of things
precisely as they are, and never will

– Franz Wright, “Presience”

Broadside of Franz Wright's poem, "Prescience."

Broadside of Franz Wright’s poem, “Prescience.”

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Listen to Franz Wright’s reading for the Poetry Center of Chicago:

Read this interview with Franz Wright from The New Yorker:

In the Beforelife: Franz Wright

Franz Wright, the author of thirteen books of poetry, talks to The New Yorker’s poetry editor, Alice Quinn, about his new book, his career as a poet, and his relationship with his father, the poet James Wright. Also, three of Wright’s new poems.

Say I had no choice, this weightless finger touched my tongue and told me to, it taught
me; when kinder and more subtle methods failed, it put a gun to my head, a zero
seared coldly in one temple, electrode glued chill to the other

– Franz Wright, “Circle”

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Watch Franz Wright read some of his poetry:

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Wiman, Christian 2003

Wednesday October 22, 2003
with Mary Kinzie

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Rain to which I wake
Cold into which I go
Little song, little song…

– Christian Wiman, “Outer Banks”

Broadside of Christian Wiman's poem, "Outer Banks."

Broadside of Christian Wiman’s poem, “Outer Banks.”

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Read this interview with Christian Wiman from Christianity Today:

Breaking News: Christian Wiman Discusses Faith as He Leaves World’s Top Poetry Magazine

Wiman’s Baptist faith lay dormant until love and cancer unearthed it.

Do you remember the rude nudists?
Lazing easy in girth and tongue,
wet slops and smacks of flesh as they buttered every crevice.

– Christian Wiman, “Do You Remember the Rude Nudists”

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Watch Christian Wiman read some of his poetry:


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Wilson, Leila 2013

Thursday, May 23, 2013

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Water meanders
to prairie potholes,
throws cordgrass
into switchbacks
as we push past
bramble and scare
a whistling wheel
of geese into air.

– Leila Wilson, “What Is the Field?”

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Read this interview with Leila Wilson from The Knox Writers’ House:

The Benefits of Hiring a Professional Essay Writer

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Some land lives
so water can comb

it into grids. This
is why lowlands

tilt still toward
the sea. This so

– Leila Wilson, “Nether”

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More info on Leila Wilson ⇒

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