Sunday, August 3, 2014

August 3, 2014: Jaime Robles

Today, amidst technical difficulties and incessant beeping, we interviewed poet Jaime Robles about her book Hoard (Shearsman Books, 2013). 'Hoard' is a term used for buried treasure and this collection focuses on a domestic hoard found in Hoxne, England. These poems were written while Jaime was getting her PhD at the University of Exeter. She used the act of burying one's belongings as a metaphor for the act of burying one's emotions. Since the hoard that inspired this book was comprised of the artifacts of women and domesticity, love is the central emotion investigated. There are reoccurring images of tongues, swans and a red boat. Jaime talked about how English is multi-layered in the U.K. and how this affected her interaction with language while living there. She also worked on public art installations and she shared these projects with us, including one commemorating the centenary of WWI, which will be shown on August 4th, called The Long Good-bye. You can find more information at http://thelonggoodbye.exeter.ac.uk/. There is also a Facebook page for 'The Long Goodbye project.' In additon, Jaime has written librettos for song cycles and one-act operas. She spoke about the process of a composer interpreting her words. Her creative projects come from a love of public art and collaboration. She ended our interview with a piece from her earlier book Anime, Animus, Anima (Shearsman Books, 2010).
You can find Jaime's blogs at jaimerobles.blogspot.com and trobairitzj.workdpress.com
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