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Paschen, Elise 2009; 2011

Wednesday, March 4, 2009
with Reginald Gibbons

Saturday, November 19, 2011
with Kevin Prufer

I had removed
the hook from which
he’d swung with such
momentous grace.
But wasn’t I snared?
That look, that flash
as I tossed him back,
alive, in air.

– Elise Paschen, “Angling”

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Listen to an interview with Elise Paschen about the collection of poetry she edited:

From milkweed to lupine a woman shadows
a monarch. Slowly makes her way, conveys
her weight with care. Inside the womb her son
flutters, then butterfly-kicks against walls.

– Elise Paschen, “Monarch”

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Read this interview with Elise Paschen from Valparaiso Poetry Review:

Elise Paschen Interviewed by Edward Byrne

EDWARD BYRNE ~ ELISE PASCHEN INTERVIEWED BY EDWARD BYRNE I n November of 2006 I was pleased to introduce Elise Paschen for her poetry reading in the excellent Writing Out Loud series of author presentations at the Michigan City Public Library, not far from Valparaiso.

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Paley, Grace 1999

Wednesday, April 21, 1999

What is sometimes called a
tongue of flame
or an arm extended burning
is only the long
red and orange branch of
a green maple

– Grace Paley, “Autumn”

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Listen to Grace Paley’s 1999 reading for the Poetry Center of Chicago:

Watch Grace Paley read some of her work:

Short story author Grace Paley reads and answers questions

Grace Paley (1922-2007), a short story writer, poet and activist, was New York’s first official state author and later poet laureate of Vermont. Paley’s “Collected Stories” (1994) was a finalist for both the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award. This rare edition of HoCoPoLitSo’s The Writing Life was videotaped at Howard Community College, October 1988.

Twenty years ago
it was believed that the roots of trees
would insert themselves into gas lines
then fall poisoned on houses and children

– Grace Paley, “On Mother’s Day”

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Read an interview with Grace Paley from the Paris Review:

The Art of Fiction No. 131

When Grace Paley visits New York, she stays in her old apartment on West Eleventh Street. Her block has for the most part escaped the gentrification that has transformed the West Village since Paley moved there in the forties. The building where Paley lived for most of her adult life and w…

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Padgett, Ron 1979; 2002; 2004

Friday, June 1, 1979
with Ted Berrigan
Wednesday, March 20, 2002
Wednesday, November 10, 2004
with Anselm Hollo

I don’t mind Walt Whitman’s saying”I contain multitudes,” in fact I like it,
but all I can imagine myself saying is
“I contain a sandwich and some coffee and a throb.”

– Ron Padgett, “Embraceable You”

Broadside of “Embraceable You” by Ron Padgett

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Listen to Ron Padgett’s 2004 reading with Anselm Hollo at the Poetry Center of Chicago:

Ron Padgett begins at 35:15 minutes.

I bang into the water pail,
blue in the morning light,
though to tell the truth
I am blue in any light,

– Ron Padgett, “Mir”

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Vintage poster of Ted Berrigan and Ron Padgett giving a poetry reading at the Poetry Center of Chicago.

Audio recording of the Poetry Center Reading Series featuring Billy Collins, Andrei Codrescu, Ron Padgett, Lucille Clifton, Mark Perlberg, Li-Young Lee, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Anne Waldman, Yusuf Komunyakaa, Lisel Mueller, Ted Kooser, Paul Carroll, Jorie Graham, and Paul Hoover.

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More info on Ron Padgett⇒