The 1960s was an era of big thoughts. And yet, amazingly, each of those thoughts could fit on a T-shirt.
– P.J. O’Rourke, “The Baby Boom”
Watch P.J. O’Rourke discuss his books and lifetime:
Author P.J. O’Rourke reflects on life in the sixties to today with nostalgia and humor
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In harmony with the rule of irony–
which requires that we harbor the enemy
on this side of the barricade–the shell
of the unborn eagle or pelican, which is made
to give protection till the great beaks can harden,
is the first thing to take up poison.
– Kay Ryan, “Soft”
Listen to Kay Ryan’s 2006 reading for the Poetry Center of Chicago:
Read this interview with Kay Ryan from the Paris Review:
The Art of Poetry No. 94
Kay Ryan, who was named the sixteenth poet laureate of the United States in July, lives in Fairfax, California, where for more than thirty years she has taught remedial English part-time at the College of Marin at Kentfield. She is often referred to as a poetry “outsider” and underdog. S…
It seems like you could, but
you can’t go back and pull
the roots and runners and replant.
It’s all too deep for that.
You’ve overprized intention,
have mistaken any bent you’re given
for control. You thought you chose
the bean and chose the soil.
– Kay Ryan, “A Certain Kind of Eden”
Watch Kay Ryan read some of her work:
Poetry & Science: Kay Ryan Reads her Poems
“Poetry & Science: A Shared Exploration” event on October 16, 2013. C.P. Snow complained of a world in which the “two cultures” of science and the humanities have grown increasingly separate.
We sink into the dust,
Baba and me,
Beneath brush of prickly leaves;
Ivy strangling trees–singing
Our last rites of locura.
Homeboys. Worshipping God-fumes
Out of spray cans.
– Luis J. Rodriguez, “The Concrete River”
Audio recording of the Poetry Center Reading Series featuring Tom Raworth, Diane di Prima, Kimiko Hahn, Eugene Gloria, Patricia Smith, Luis Rodriguez, Robert Bly, Brian Turner, Bruce Weigl, Tyehimba Jess, A. Van Jordan, Arielle Greenberg, Billy Corgan, Franz Wright, Czeslaw Milosz, Louise Glück, and Alicia Ostriker.
Buy this audio recording featuring Luis Rodriguez and more⇒
Watch Luis J. Rodriguez’s Tedx Talk, “From Trauma to Transformation:”
Trauma to Transformation | Luis Rodriguez | TEDxLAPL
Luis Rodriguez talks about how gang life wasn’t his final destination. Out of trauma came transformation. Luis gives us his view on how poetry can be used as a source of medicine. Luis is Poet Laureate of Los Angeles. He also has 15 books, co-founded Tia Chucha’s Center, ran for California governor in 2014, endorsed by the Green Party.
My grandmother’s hands recognize grapes,
the damp shine of a goat’s new skin.
When I was sick they followed me,
I woke from the long fever to find them
covering my head like cool prayers.
– Naomi Shihab Nye, “The Words Under the Words”
Read this interview with Naomi Shihab Nye from Sukoon Magazine:
Interview with Naomi Shihab Nye
“Poetry flourishes in the margins” Interview with Naomi Shihab Nye BY REWA ZEINATI In the world of poetry and writing, the name needs no introduction. In the world of art and photography, Nye has been an active participant, offering image after image, using the tools she uses best: words.
Letters swallow themselves in seconds.
Notes friends tied to the doorknob,
transparent scarlet paper,
sizzle like moth wings,
marry the air.
– Naomi Shihab Nye, “Burning the Old Year”
Watch Naomi Shihab Nye discuss the art of teaching poetry:
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Recorded at the 2013 Poets Forums as part of the Chancellors Discussions-a series of intimate talks in which some of the most renowned poets of our time examine issues central to poetry today. In this video, Naomi Shihab Nye speaks on the discussion topic: The Art of Teaching Poetry.
It isn’t enough we know this pain
down the ganglionic stem to its roots,
its intercellular ratchets and tufts, it
isn’t even enough the doctor mumbojumbos
various possible treatments, oh an entire
thriving industry of pills and saw-toothed pincers,
no what we want is a name
– Albert Goldbarth, “Finely Written Labels”
Albert Goldbarth on why he turns down interviews:
DIVEDAPPER // Albert Goldbarth
“My poems are pretty much all I care to offer the world.”
Sleep, sleep–then the kitchen trap
snaps, and my brain like the bait brie
leaps and lands spinning. Now morning
means a mess to sweep and a similarly
skewed conscience to tidy, so all night,
for the jumpy remainder of night, it’s
hazy half-dreams of Mickey from somewhere
out of a childhood Saturday, manly
– Albert Goldbarth, “Reel Estate”
Listen to Albert Goldbarth at the 2013 National Book Festival:
The day folds up like money
if you’re lucky. Mostly
sun a cold coin
drumming into the blue
of a guitar case. Close
up & head home.
– Kevin Young, “Busking”
Broadside of “Busking” by Kevin Young.
RUN AWAY from this sub-
scriber for the second time
are TWO NEGROES, viz. SMART,
an outlandish dark fellow
– Kevin Young, “Reward”
Watch Kevin Young read and discuss some of his poetry:
We cannot push ourselves away
from this quiet, even in our sprees
of inattention, the departing passengers
stubbing out their smokes, arrivees in tears,
lots of cellophane, the rumpus over parking.
– Dean Young, “Sleep Cycle”
Listen to Dean Young’s reading with Kenneth Koch for the Poetry Center of Chicago on February 10, 2000:
You shouldn’t have a heart attack
in your 20s. 47 is the perfect time
for a heart attack. Feeding stray shadows
only attracts more shadows. Starve a fever,
shatter a glass house. People often mistake
thirst for hunger so first take a big slurp.
– Dean Young, “Folklore”
Read NPR’s segment on Dean Young’s Pre-Transplant Poetry:
The Heart Of Dean Young’s Pre-Transplant Poetry
The poet’s latest collection, Fall Higher, was published just days after he received a life-saving heart transplant. Now, Young is on the mend, but his book recalls when he was staring down death.
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”
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)”
Watch John Yau’s reading at the Hammes Campus Bookstore in November 2015:
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.
Buy a signed copy of this broadside⇒
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”
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.
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
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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