This past Sunday, Stephen Ratcliffe came to Lightrail Studios to discuss his book Selected Days (Counterpath, 2012). This aptly named collection contains a selection from much larger collections, in which Stephen wrote a poem a day for several years. The book is divided into six sections; three sections contain consecutive day poems chosen from 474-poem collections and three sections contain consecutive day poems from 1000-poem collections. Stephen used rather strict constraints when constructing these pieces, both in form and in content. The poems largely contain the morning view from Stephen's home but he also lets artists, musician and characters from To The Lighthouse into the pieces. He injects thought into the poems, so they combine the internal world with the external. His interest in photography is evident in these pieces which perfectly depict the changes in sky, greenery and wildlife from day to day; the reader witnesses the slow changes of season and the passing of time. Stephen performed the larger collections four times; three of which can be listened to on Pennsound at http://writing.upenn.edu/pennsound/. The readings were several hours long, during which he performed with musicians. Listen to our show and then listen to his readings!
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