Al Filreis

Fuck no to all that (PoemTalk #209)

Sadie Dupuis, “Cry Perfume”

From left: Hannah Albertine, Sadie Dupuis, Dorothea Lasky

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This episode of PoemTalk brought together Hannah Albertine, Sadie Dupuis, and Dorothea Lasky to talk about three poems in Sadie’s book Cry Perfume. We took advantage of Sadie’s presence in the very studio where we make our poetry recordings and asked her to perform the poems as part of our conversation about them. The book can be acquired HERE

This was one of those PoemTalk episodes where the four people in the room knew each other well in various contexts and relational vectors, so — you will notice almost immediately: it gets particularly digressive and almost riotously friendly — all to the better, we feel. Thus during editing Al and Zach decided in favor of leaving in all the deviations, parentheses, detours, and periphrasis. The mode befits Sadie’s verse and, especially, her critique of commodified versions of media from which a poem (or at least these poems) can be exceptions and alternatives. Fuck no to all that, she says — and the PoemTalkers agree.

Words were gods (PoemTalk #207)

Rae Armantrout, “Further Thought” & “Here I Go”

from left: Julia Bloch, Rae Armantrout, Laynie Browne

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During a visit to the Writers House during which she joined an interactive ModPo webcast and gave a poetry reading, Rae Armantrout also joined Al Filreis, Laynie Browne, and Julie Bloch in our Wexler Studio to record an episode of PoemTalk. We talked about two poems in Rae’s book Go Figure. The poems are “Here I Go” and “Further Thought.” Rae’s PennSound author page didn’t yet have any recordings of performances of poems from this new book, so we asked the poet to read them during the podcast session.

Radioaction Riding Regal (PoemTalk #205)

June Jordan, “Financial Planning” & “Song of the Law Abiding Citizen”

From left: Herman Beavers, Bob Holman, Christy Davids

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Al Filreis convened Bob Holman, Christy Davids, and Herman Beavers to talk about two poems by the late June Jordan. The two poems are “Financial Planning” and “Song of the Law Abiding Citizen,” and the easiest place to find the texts of these poems is Directed by Desire: The Collected Poems of June Jordan (Copper Canyon Press, 2007), with its foreword by Adrienne Rich. Our recordings of Jordan’s performance of these poems comes from the “Poetry Spots” series which was created by our Bob Holman and aired on WNYC-TV as “non-commercial commercials” from 1987 through 1993. The original air date of the two June Jordan segments was April 26, 1989. For PoemTalk we play audio-only versions (this and this) but we want to urge our listeners to watch copies of the old videos available through YouTube. HERE is June performing “Financial Planning.” And HERE is the spot in which she presents her “Song of the Law Abiding Citizen.”

To empty rooms (PoemTalk #204)

Horace Gregory, “Chorus for Survival”

Horace Gregory

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Al Filreis convened Cristos Kalli, Jon Hoel, and Henry Steinberg to talk about two poems about the once hugely famous and now mostly forgotten communist and communist-affiliated poet who thrived for decades but most notably in the 1930s. In the middle of the Depression decade — in the momentous year of 1935 — he published the book Chorus for Survival with Covici-Friede. Our group discussed two poems in the Chorus for Survival series — numbers 5 and 11. In 1944, Gregory traveled to Cambridge, Mass., to record some poems for the Harvard Vocarium, performing six poems include the two we discuss. Jon and Al had met up nearly a year before, discovered a common interest in Gregory, and have co-curated this episode.

Raw from the bellicose tumble (PoemTalk #203)

Callie Gardner, “Culture Warrior”

From left: Laynie Browne, Julia Bloch, Iain Morrison

Julia Bloch, Laynie Browne, and Iain Morrison joined Al Filreis in KWH’s Wexler Studio to talk about a poem — or rather two versions of a poem — by the late Callie Gardner. One version, titled “when will my love return from the culture war?,” is 6-quatrains long. A second, for which we have a recorded performance, is four quatrains; there’s a variation on the second that seems to invite us to call it a sonnet. Callie added a version — organized in the quatrains — to their blog on May 1, 2020. On November 19, 2020, Callie read the shorter version of the poem as part of a live-streamed reading given by eight poets. Callie was the fifth to read. We link the YouTube recording HERE, and PoemTalk listeners are invited to watch and listen to our poem at 53 minutes into the group reading.

Every flower a reminder (PoemTalk #202)

Harryette Mullen, “Chasing Dirt”

From left: Laynie Browne, Harryette Mullen, Simone White

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Simone White, Harryette Mullen, and Laynie Browne joined Al Filreis to talk a six-page section of Harryette’s new book Open Leaves. The book, subtitled “poems from earth,” was published by Black Sunflowers Poetry Press of London in 2023. The section discussed by the group is titled “Chasing Dirt” and consists of two epigraphs, a prose-poem paragraph, a mixed media artwork titled Silent Talks by Tiffanie Delune, and a sequence of three-line poems across four pages of four poems each. Since PennSound’s Harryette Mullen author page did not yet include a recording of Harryette performing poems from Open Leaves, we asked her to read “Chasing Dirt” at the start of the recorded session. The pages from Open Leaves are available HERE.

The colors of death (PoemTalk #193)

Ariana Reines, “To the Reader”

From left: Pattie McCarthy, Eric Shoemaker, Michelle Taransky

Al Filreis brought together Michelle Taransky, Pattie McCarthy, and Robert Eric Shoemaker, who had traveled from Chicago to join us — to talk about a poem by Ariana Reines, “To the Reader.” The poem was included in Reines’s A Sand Book (Tin House, 2019). Eric and Al co-curated the selection, in part because of Eric’s work with magical poetics. Our recording of Reines performing this poem dates from 2020 and was hosted by the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art. The audio we hear toward the beginning of the episode is extracted from a video that is available on YouTube and Vimeo, produced by Christian Lund, with sound editing by Tomás Guiñazú. Click HERE to read a text of the poem (scanned from A Sand Book).

Of shredded love (PoemTalk #192)

“For Billie Holiday” & “Sorrow Is the Only Faithful One” by Owen Dodson

from left: Herman Beavers, Tracie Morris, Amber Rose Johnson

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Al Filreis convened Herman Beavers, Tracie Morris, and Amber Rose Johnson to talk about two poems by Owen Dodson: “Sorrow Is the Only Faithful One” and an elegaic sonnet “For Billie Holiday—Finally, Lady, You are Gone From Us.” Our recordings of these poems come from the Library of Congress, where on December 13, 1960, Dodson entered the Recording Laboratory there to perform a selection of his verse. Our poems are the fifth and thirteenth Dodson read, respectively, during that recording session.

Discussion of Joan Retallack’s “Not a Cage”

From a 2021 ModPo webcast

Joan Retallacks poem “Not a Cage” has been discussed often by the ModPo community over the years. By now there are ten different resources relating to this poem: text, audio, video; recitation, analysis, discussion. Click HERE to see all ten in one view. Here, below, we feature an 8-minute video made in 2021 in which we discuss Retallack's procedure and strategy further.

The whole world smiles (PoemTalk #184)

John Giorno, “Everyone is a complete disappointment”

From left: Brooke O’Harra, Michelle Taransky, Chris Funkhouser.

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Al Filreis brought together Michelle Taransky, Brooke O’Harra, and Christopher Funkhouser to talk about a piece created, performed, and recorded by John Giorno, titled “Everyone is a complete disappointment.” It was included on the album John Giorno and Anne Waldman: A Kulchur Selection, released in 1977 from the Giorno Poetry Systems label. Among the album’s cuts are two Giorno pieces and four by Anne Waldman (famously among the latter: “Fast Speaking Woman” and “White Eyes”). “Everyone Is a Complete Disappointment” was recorded on May 1, 1977, at ZBS Media.