February 17, 2013- Kathleen Fraser Part 2

This Sunday, we played the second part of our lively discussion with Kathleen Fraser. We pick up from where we left off last week, discussing the assignment Kathleen received from Steve Benson, and continue on to talk about her encounter with Oppen's work. In his work, she discovered 'being true to the voice.' She talked about her artist books, which are comprised of poetry written off of visual art. Her book, movable TYYPE (Nightboat Books, 2011), includes poems constructed by physically taping cut up words on the wall. She talked about her experience writing in Washington at a research center for oceanography (please contact us at poetasradio@gmail.com if you know the name of this center) and her move, as a young writer, to New York City.
Please tune in next week when we play part 3 of this fabulous interview!!!
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February 10, 2013 Kathleen Fraser part 1

We sat down with Kathleen Fraser early in January, and are now sharing the lively and inspiring interview on Poet as Radio! This week we played the first part of our talk, when we discussed the visual aspect of Kathleen's poetry. Much of her work is in conversation with visual art. Her book movable TYYPE (Nightboat Books, 2011) is rich in its visual diversity, employing space, form and illustrations. Because she lives part time in Italy, she is also influenced by Etruscan language. She talked about the writing and illustrations she created out of an assignment given to her by Steve Benson; he asked her to write in conversation with the work of French director, Robert Bresson.
We'll play part 2 of Kathleen's interview on February 17th.
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February 3, 2013- Round Table Discussion on LABELS

On Sunday, sans interview, the three of us discussed how 'labels' are used when talking about writing. These labels could be references to literary criticism, artistic movements or poetic forms. How does this talk differ from the 'technical vocabulary' we use in our work, if at all? Do these labels exclude others from the conversation? Do they pigeonhole our writing? Or do they facilitate the conversation by providing a common vocabulary? If we have read literary criticism, in what different ways have we engaged with it? And if we have not, how do we still participate in a conversation about our writing, and the writing of others? And what is that stuff anyway???? We reach no conclusions, but create, what we hope you'll find, a stimulating and thought-provoking inquiry. And if not, don't worry. We'll be playing the first part of our awesome interview with Kathleen Fraser next Sunday!
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