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Cross Cultural Poetics

hosted by Leonard Schwartz


Image credit: Carlos David

Cross Cultural Poetics is produced in the studios of KAOS-FM at The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington.

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2003

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    Promos

    Cross Cultural Poetics promo (0:59): MP3

    Episode #1: Poetry and Dissent, October 21, 2003

    Episode #2: Cosmopolitan, November 3, 2003

    • Argentine poet Mercedes Roffe, at home in both Buenos Aires and New York, discusses her writing.
    • Complete Program (27:57): MP3

    Episode #3: Language Under Fire, November 3, 2003

    Leading American poet Michael Palmer, based in San Francisco, reads from his work and discusses the dilemma of poetry in the Age of Bush

    1. Introduction (0:45): MP3
    2. Words and production of meaning (2:21): MP3
    3. Palmer reading from "Autobiography" (3:25): MP3
    4. Russian influence on "Autobiography" (3:45): MP3
    5. Schwartz reading a passage from a Palmer essay (1:43): MP3
    6. Discourse of power and meaning in language (3:54): MP3
    7. Poets' role in war (6:31): MP3
    8. Palmer's view of Poets Against War (4:01): MP3
    9. Palmer reading "Este Mundo" (2:14): MP3
    10. Palmer reading "Untitled, February 2003" (1:10): MP3
    11. Discussing "Untitled" (2:25): MP3
    12. Conclusion (0:59): MP3

    Complete Program (33:18): MP3

    Episode #4: How Arab Is It, November 3, 2003

    • Victor Reinking, translator of Abellatif Laabi, a leading Moroccan poet, reads from Laabi's book The World's Embrace as well as Laabi's prison notebooks, and discusses the relationship between French and Arabic in Laabi's writing.
    • Complete Program (33:19): MP3

    Episode #5: Doubt, November 3, 2003

    • Leading American poet, fiction writer and essayist Fanny Howe discusses Irish culture, her new books Selected Poems and Gone (both from The University of California Press), and reads her major prose poem "Doubt."
    • Complete Program MP3 (27:56)

    Episode #6: Fighting Back, November 17, 2003

    • Poet, novelist, and Evergreen faculty member Bill Ransom reads from his new manuscript War Baby, and discusses his experiences in Central America during the 1980's.
    • Complete Program (28:01): MP3
    • Show #7: If I Were Writing This, November 24, 2003

      Elder of the Tribe of Poetry and Black Mountain great Robert Creeley discusses his new book If I Were Writing This.

      1. Introduction (0:56): MP3
      2. Form as extension of content (1:34): MP3
      3. Poem in memory of Allen Ginsberg (3:09): MP3
      4. Discussing Allen Ginsberg (2:07): MP3
      5. Influence of Robert Graves; matriarchy in poetry (4:38): MP3
      6. "Conversion to Her" (2:49): MP3
      7. Presence of rhyme (1:32): MP3
      8. "John's Song" (1:55): MP3
      9. Poetry and language during the Bush administration (2:52): MP3
      10. On repetition (1:35): MP3
      11. "If I Were Writing This" (3:13): MP3
      12. Discussing "If I Were Writing This" (1:50): MP3

      Complete Recording (28:12): MP3

      Episode #8: The Inferno, November 24, 2003

      The great Canadian poet Robin Blaser discusses Dante's Inferno and the American-made Inferno in Iraq.

      1. Introduction by Leonard Schwartz (1:07): MP3
      2. Image Nation 13: Telephone (2:47): MP3
      3. Discussing Image Nation (2:33): MP3
      4. Discussing The Irreparable (4:42): MP3
      5. Blaser discussing his new poetry (2:25): MP3
      6. Blaser discussing his dual citizenship (1:49): MP3
      7. Responsibility in language (1:15): MP3
      8. As If By Chance (4:58): MP3
      9. Discussing As If By Chance (4:20): MP3
      10. Language as a source of poetry (2:41): MP3

      Complete Recording (28:38): MP3

      Episode #9: Vancouver Writing, December 1, 2003

      • Vancouver British Columbia poet Meredith Quartermain discusses the experimental poetry scene in Vancouver as well as her new book One Thousand Mornings.
      • Complete Recording (27:52) MP3

      Episode #10: American In Paris, January 7, 2004

      • Leading American poet Alice Notley, based in Paris, discusses her masterwork The Descent of Alette.
      • Complete Recording (54:42): MP3
        • Episode #11: Refusing The Wall, January 7, 2004

          • Peter Cole, from Jerusalem, discusses his own writing and his Ibis Press, publishing literary work in translation from both Arabic and Hebrew into English.
            1. introduction (0:43): MP3
            2. on moving to Jerusalem and starting Ibis Press (3:44): MP3
            3. bringing together distant and different literary works (4:09): MP3
            4. translating into English and the tradition of translation (6:53): MP3
            5. Peter Cole on his book Hymns & Qualms, linkage, and nourishment (2:41): MP3
            6. discussing the section "I Sing A Doubled Song," from Hymns & Qualms (4:38): MP3
            7. reading "I Sing A Doubled Song" (3:33): MP3
            8. on "Speech's Hedge" and using the whole range of speech's possibility (1:08): MP3

          • Complete Recording (28:49): MP3

          Episode #12: Carved Water, December 8, 2003

            Zhang Er and Bob Holman talk about their translation collaboration on Zhang Er's book of poems Carved Water. Zhang Er & Bob Holman (22:04): MP3

          Episode #13: Before Spanish, December 8, 2003

          • Poet Jerome Rothenberg reads from his new collection A Book of Witness, and discusses his work on the Mazatac shaman Maria Sabina.
          • Complete Recording (27:45): MP3

          2004

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            Episode #14: Another Language, January 26, 2004

            Rosmarie Waldrop discusses her translations of the Egyptian-Jewish poet Edmond Jabes as well as her own poetry in Another Language (Talisman House).

            1. Introduction by Leonard Schwartz (1:05): MP3
            2. Discussing Edmond Jabès and Judaism (5:00): MP3
            3. Jabès and experience with persecution (1:49): MP3
            4. "At the Threshold of the Book," from The Book of Questions (3:59): MP3
            5. Schwartz reading from Section 5 of The Book of Questions, and Jabès' idea of the "book" (2:53): MP3
            6. Derrida's view of Jabès (1:14): MP3
            7. Waldrop's relationship with Jabès (2:34): MP3
            8. Discussing A Key Into the Language of America (3:38): MP3
            9. Chapter 23: On Marriage (1:54): MP3
            10. Final Chapter: On Death and Burial (2:51): MP3
            11. Waldrop discussing her current work (2:17): MP3

            Complete Recording (29:15): MP3

          Episode #15: In the Room of Never Grieve, January 26, 2004:

          • Anne Waldman discusses her latest book, a new and selected from Coffee House Press.

            1. Introduction (1:02): MP3
            2. Discussing In the Room of Never Grieve: New and Selected Poems (2:37): MP3
            3. Global Positioning (3:30): MP3
            4. Government, politics, and language (3:31): MP3
            5. In Memory of His Muse, dedicated to Matthew Shepard (3:45): MP3
            6. Buddhist influence of Waldman's writing (4:56): MP3
            7. I Remember Being Arrested (4:22): MP3
            8. Discussing Allen Ginsberg (2:17): MP3
            9. "In the Room of Never Grieve" (2:12): MP3
            10. Discussing "In the Room of Never "Grieve" (3:50): MP3

            Complete Recording (32:04): MP3

          Episode #16: Nation Language and other Revolutions, February 2, 2004

          • Kamau Brathwaite talks about his new work, Caribbean poetry, and the ancient art of making it new.
          • Complete Recording (59:58) (55MB): MP3

          Episode #17: Ochre Tones, November 17, 2004

        • Filipino poet Marjorie Evasco discusses the relationships between English and Cebuano in her book Ochre Tones.
        • Complete Recording (25:08): MP3

        Episode #18: Filipino Poetics, January 18, 2004

      • Ramil Gullia and Dina Roma discuss their poetry in the general context of contemporary Filipino writing.
      • Complete Recording (31:39): MP3

      Episode #19: Complexity of Words, January 18 2004

    • Malaysian poet Eddin Khoo meditates on poetry, puppetry, English, and minority Hinduism in Muslim Malaysia.
    • Complete Recording (27:12): MP3
      • Episode #20: My Mojave, February 16, 2004

      • Donald Revell talks about poetry, the paradise of being awake, and life in the desert.
      • Complete Recording (29:09): MP3

      Episode #21: The Poetry of Arab Women, February 23, 2004

      • Nathalie Handal, Palestinian-American poet and editor of the award-winning anthology The Poetry Of Arab Women, discusses this important book.
      • Complete Recording (28:33): MP3

      Episode #22: Seattle and Other Worlds, Feburary 23, 2004

      Some time Seattle poet Joseph Donahue, whom John Ashbery has called "one of the major American poets of this time," discusses his latest book, Incidental Eclipse.

      1. Introduction (0:57): MP3
      2. Discussing Incidental Eclipse (1:46): MP3
      3. Reading "Here/Beyond" (4:30): MP3
      4. Landscape of Pacific Northwest in "Here/Beyond" (3:09): MP3
      5. Reading "Aria Nowhere" (5:56): MP3
      6. Sense of color in "Aria Nowhere" (4:15): MP3
      7. Discussing and reading "Targets Mongolia," after a painting by Randy Hayes (5:48): MP3
      8. Images in "Targets Mongolia;" discussing current work (2:22): MP3

      Complete Recording (28:43) MP3

      Show #23: Forum Singapore, January 19, 2004

    • Singaporean poets Alvin Pang, Toh Hsien Min, and Yong Shu Hoong discuss the complexities of their poetry and their city. (Taped at the Word Feast Poetry Festival, Singapore)
    • The Bears: Moscow Poet Alexei Parschikov, on the phone from Germany, speaks about his new poems.
    • Complete Recording (56:23) (53MB): MP3

    Episode #24/25: The Forest of Symbols, March 8, 2004

    • Leading avant-garde playwright Richard Foreman talks about anti-theater, language, and surprise.
    • Complete Recording (31:02): MP3
    • Paris/Morocco/LA: poet, translator, and publisher Guy Bennett talks about his poetry, his publishing venture Seeing Eye Books, and his translations of Valerie Novarina and Mostafa Nissabouri.
    • Complete Recording MP3

    Episode #26: Word in Words, March 8, 2004

    • Chilean poet Cecilia Vicuna reads from her poems and discusses the intermingling of Spanish, English, Mapuche, and Quechua in her poems.
      1. Introduction (0:46): MP3
      2. Reading from "Water Poems" (4:20): MP3
      3. Water and fluidity of language and culture in poetry (2:37): MP3
      4. Influence of Quechua language (2:31): MP3
      5. José María Arguedas' influence on Vicuna's work (1:49): MP3
      6. Performance of poetry (1:12): MP3
      7. Reading a poem performed for St. Mark's Poetry Project in 2002 (5:56): MP3
      8. Form and content of performance poetry (1:25): MP3
      9. Discussing current work (0:52): MP3
      10. Overlaps of Quechua and Chinese artistic production (5:07): MP3
      11. Comments on upcoming work; conclusion of first half (2:52): MP3

      Complete Recording (29:28): MP3

    • Susan Parenti - playwright, composer, poet - discusses her book The Politics of the Adjective Political.
    • Complete Recording (29:51): MP3

      Episode #27: History/Lyric/Speech, March 15, 2004

      • Charles Bernstein discusses the play of the signifier across these dimensions of language, and reads from World on Fire and The Sophist. (31:53): MP3
      • Belgian poet Michel Delville reads from his work as well as from translations of other contemporary Belgian poets, discussing both Belgian surrealism and the poetics of the prose poem. (28:22): MP3

      Episode #28: EuroNorthAmerica, 2004

      • Alice Notley, from Paris, returns to read from Mysteries of Small Houses.
      • Jim Kates, poet, translator, and publisher of Zephyr Press, reads his translations of the Russian poet Tatiana Scherbina.
      • Leading Romanian poet Carmen Firan reads from her work and discusses her love affair with New York City.
      • Complete Recording (60:00): MP3

      Episode #29: The Levant, 2004

      • Scholar of classical Arabic Michael Sells discusses his new book Stations Of Desire: Love Elegies From Ibn 'Arabi and New Poems.
      • Aharon Shabtai, one of Israel's major poets, on the phone from Tel Aviv, discusses
      • J'Accuse, his book of poems recently published in English translation by New Directions.
      • Complete Recording (59:55): MP3

      Episode #30: Sydney/New York, 2004 = Cairo/Seattle

      • Australian poet John Tranter discusses his new book Studio Moon and the influence of the New York School on his writing.
      • Egyptian poets Mohammed Metwalli and Maged Zaher return to talk about the interactions between their own poems, classical Arabic, and the American cultural landscape.

        1. Introduction (1:58): MP3
        2. Reading Five Modern Myths (1:32): MP3
        3. Comments on Five Modern Myths (2:05): MP3
        4. Tranter Discusses Australian Poetry (5:06): MP3
        5. Tranter Discusses Influence and Process (2:40): MP3
        6. Reading Radium (2:43): MP3
        7. Comments on Radium (1:07): MP3
        8. Tranter Discusses Australian Poetry Distinctions (4:42): MP3
        9. Tranter Discusses Jacket Magazine (2:06): MP3
        10. Comments on Three Poems About Kenneth Koch (1:09): MP3
        11. Reading Three Poems About Kenneth Koch (4:09): MP3

      • Complete Recording (1:00:55): MP3

      Episode #31: Riot/And Then Something Happened, 2004

      • Indian novelist, poet, and Under Secretary General of the United Nations Sashi Tharoor talks about his most recent work of fiction, Riot.
      • Poet and publisher of Tinfish Editions, out of Hawaii, Susan Schultz talks about Pacific Basin writing and her own new book of poetry, And Then Something Happened.
      • Complete Recording (1:00:27): MP3

      Episode #32: The Real Image, 2004

      • Poet and Talisman House publisher Edward Foster discusses Turkish culture and his new book of poems Mahrem: Things Men Should Do For Men, as well as some recent and planned Talisman House anthologies.
      • Afghan-American filmmaker and writer Lida Abdullah reads from her work and discusses her forthcoming trip to Kabul to make a film that is not documentary.
      • Complete Recording (1:00:10): MP3

      Episode #33: Addressing These Wars, 2004

      • Rick Simonson - Evergreen graduate, Copper Canyon Press Board Member, and the man who makes the Elliot Bay Book Company run - talks about the work of making literature possible in and around Seattle.
      • Novelist Micheline Marcom reads from her new novel The Day Dreaming Boy - and discusses the Armenian genocide.
      • Novelist Russell Banks reads his essay "Letter to My Granddaughter On The Eve Of Another War" - and discusses the embedded writers of Operation Homecoming.
      • Complete Recording (1:00:28): MP3

      Episode #34: Ecstacy, Dissonance, and The City of Dreams, 2004

      Episode #35: Making It Happen, 2004

      • San Francisco poet Leslie Scalapino reads from It's go in/quiet illuminedgrass/land, from Post-Apollo Press.
      • Mary Margaret Sloan, editor of Moving Borders: Three Generations of Innovative Writing By Women, discusses that monumental book, and reads from her new sequence of poems "On Method".
      • Judith Roche, poet and literary director of Bumbershoot Arts Festival, reads a poem deeply grounded in her experience of the New College in San Francisco during one of American poetry's richest moments.
      • Complete Recording (59:53): MP3

      Episode #36: Time Juxtaposition,2004

      Arthur Sze, based in New Mexico, reads from The Red Shifting Web as well as his book of translations from Chinese, The Silk Dragon.

      1. Introduction (1:01): MP3
      2. On teaching at the Institute of American Indian Arts (0:53): MP3
      3. On "khipu" as a principle of composition (3:36): MP3
      4. Reading from "The Red Shifting Web" (3:09): MP3
      5. Discussing the structure of "The Red Shifting Web" (3:33): MP3
      6. Sense of time in Chinese Linguistics (2:07): MP3
      7. Using juxtaposition to create richness (1:20): MP3
      8. Translation process in The Silk Dragon (1:56): MP3
      9. Reading "Flying Light" by Li Ho (3:32): MP3
      10. More poetry by Li Ho (1:15): MP3
      11. Discussing previous translators of Chinese poetry (3:06): MP3
      12. Sze's current work (1:52): MP3
      13. Reading the first section of "Before Completion" (2:23): MP3

      Leung Ping-Kwan discusses the situation of poetry in Hong Kong, and reads from his book Travelling With A Bitter Melon.

      Complete Recording (58:57): MP3

      Episode #37: The Other Tradition, 2004

      • British poet Martin Corless-Smith discusses and reads from his latest book Nota, as well as Rick Caddell's last book Writing In The Dark and the new edition of the Collected Poems of Basil Bunting.
      • Complete Recording (53:25): MP3

      Episode #38: Permutations, 2004

      • Rodrigo Toscano, poet and labor activist, on the phone from New York, winds and unwinds his poems from The Disparities and Platform.
      • Ariel Goldberger - Argentine-born theater director, Evergreen Professor, and puppeteer - discusses his ideas concerning the theatrical image, the poetics of space and Artaud's Theater of Cruelty.
      • Complete Reading (1:00:06): MP3

      Episode #39: Only The Nails Remain/Crash, 2004