Ron Padgett, "Joe Brainard's Painting Bingo" & "The Austrian Maiden"
LISTEN TO THE SHOW
Al Filreis brought together James Berger and Richard Deming (who traveled together from Yale) and Sophia DuRose to talk about two poems by Ron Padgett. The poems are “The Austrian Maiden” and “Joe Brainard’s Painting Bingo.” Our recording of “The Austrian Maiden” comes from a February 26, 2003, reading Padgett gave at the Kelly Writers House; the poem had just recently been published in Padgett’s book You Never Know (2002). The recording of “Joe Brainard’s Painting Bingo” — a poem published in Great Balls of Fire (1969) — was performed at a November 20, 1979, reading given at a location that is now (sadly) unknown. That reading in its entirety is available at Padgett’s PennSound page; the recording comes to us courtesy of the Maureen Owen Collection of Greenwich Village Poetry, now housed at the Yale Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.
April 17, 2024
Kiwi-Pasifika lady poets
Talofa lava.
Pasifika (migrants and their descendants originating from Pacific island groups such as Fiji, Sāmoa, Tonga as just some examples) poets in Aotearoa-New Zealand are increasingly audible and visible, which is a reflection of a rapid Pasifika population increase in the country; indeed the percentage of Pasifika youth under the age of 25, at 60% of overall Pasifika population, is the highest in the country. More, Pasifika poets are standing up to be counted, proudly proclaiming their Pacific islands heritage in a country, Aotearoa-New Zealand, which ironically does not seem to ever equate itself as a Pacific island, which of course it is, as Leilani Tamu points out later.