The purpose of Spells is made clear in many ways, from the chant-like lyrical prose introduction “The Broken Open” by So Mayer to the subtitle: “21st-Century Occult Poetry.” This is a book of poetry that does magic, that believes in the magic of word-casting and spell-ing. Spells introduces a variety of ways to spell in poems from a diverse cast of poets who echo the ideas of precursors like Ursula K. LeGuin: by naming something, magic is done and change is created.
Language work is a making and remaking of the world around us, a casting of spells: “To be a witch, then, is to know words.”[1] Spells, an anthology edited by Sarah Shin and Rebecca Tamás, attempts to show the magical side of poetry and “the moment before the word, when everything inside you is broken open” (ix).
PennSound’s Jonas Mekas page includes two readings, both in the Segue series — one from 2006 and a second from 2015. And a bonus track: Allen Ginsberg performing “Sunflower Sutra,” an audio clip from a 1960 Mekas film. Thanks to the efforts of PennSound staffer Luisa Healey, we now offer segmentations from the two Segue readings. In 2006, he read “End of the Year Letter to Friends” (13:28).
Michael Hennessey, one of the founding participants of the PennSound archive, and now its editor, stopped by the Wexler Studio of the Kelly Writers House a few months back. He and Al Filreis played and discussed five recordings Mike chose from among the tens of thousands of recordings available in the archive: Bernadette Mayer, “Chocolate Poetry Sonnet”: LINK; Allen Ginsberg, “After Lalon”: LINK; Lew Welch, “A Round of English”: LINK; Harryette Mullen, “Sleeping with the Dictionary”: LINK; and Tuli Kupferberg, “The Hidden Dissuaders”: LINK.
Ginsberg & Burroughs talking with Studs Terkel — a PennSound recording now segmented into topics. It is now available at PennSound’s Allen Ginsberg page. (Many thanks to Domenic Gibby Casciato, PennSound staffer, for expertly doing the segmenting.)
Ginsberg & Burroughs talking with Studs Terkel — a PennSound recording now segmented into topics. It is now available at PennSound’s Allen Ginsberg page. (Many thanks to Domenic Gibby Casciato, PennSound staffer, for expertly doing the segmenting.)
Thanks to George Drury, who is working on the Studs Terkel archive, PennSound has just made available a delightful and wacky 30 minute recording of Allen Ginsberg, Gregory Corso and Peter Orlovsky on Studs Terkel’s WFMT (Chicago) radio show in 1959. They were in Chicago to support Paul Carroll’s Big Table.
“… that which is sacrificed (the lamb, the deer, the ram, the boy, the girl, the body) and that to which it is sacrificed (the prima causa, but of course if it needs sacrifice to function then isn’t the sacrifice itself the prima causa?) call out to each other with images of flora and fauna…”
The Google map below shows places, dates, and events from Artaud’s life. The red symbols mark biographical elements, the yellow symbols mark performance- or art-based elements, and the blue symbols mark Artaud’s continuing legacy. Where possible there are photographs, video, or links to further materials.
The Google map below shows places, dates, and events from Artaud’s life. The red symbols mark biographical elements, the yellow symbols mark performance- or art-based elements, and the blue symbols mark Artaud’s continuing legacy. Where possible there are photographs, video, or links to further materials.
New at PennSound. In a 1978 appearance on the "Stonewall Nation" radio program (WBFO-FM), Allen Ginsberg talks about coming out to his family: http://bit.ly/1wEQMen. Here is a link to the entire recording of the program.
Chinas Comidas, copyright 2006 Exquisite Corpse Records
One the real perks of living in Austin is the live music, and in April, I was fortunate enough to see Patti Smith in concert— and even though she is 66 years old now, she was spectacular. After a two hour set (including an encore), I was floored that the original punk-poet-goddess could still embody so much of the artistic anti-establishment energy almost forty years after she first came on the scene. But it also made me reflect on the long relationship between poetry and punk music, and what their intertwined history in the 1970's could mean.
Jonas Mekas at PennSound
Recording of 'A Requiem for a Manual Typewriter' and more
PennSound’s Jonas Mekas page includes two readings, both in the Segue series — one from 2006 and a second from 2015. And a bonus track: Allen Ginsberg performing “Sunflower Sutra,” an audio clip from a 1960 Mekas film. Thanks to the efforts of PennSound staffer Luisa Healey, we now offer segmentations from the two Segue readings. In 2006, he read “End of the Year Letter to Friends” (13:28).