March 24, 2012 Amick Boone Part 2

On Saturday, we played the second half of our interview with writer and reading series co-curator Amick Boone. As hosts of Bang Out reading series, Amick and Kevin Hobson conjure a theme for which writers 'bang out' a submission. Writers are chosen, based on that submission, to read at a bi-monthly reading. To submit to Bang Out, go to submissions@bangoutsf.com. Amick talked about her past work with Ecstatic Monkey, as well as other reading series that strive towards turning the usual reading format into a more interactive experience. Amick shared her poetry with us, her inspirations ranging from meditation to online dating. Click Here to Listen

March 17, 2012 Amick Boone

Last month we had a lovely interview with Amick Boone, writer and co-curator of the popular Bang Out reading series. This Saturday we played the first part of that interview. Amick discusses the process of being a writer post-graduate school. She talked about the concept of 'negative capability' and 'anxiety as a misuse of imagination.' She reflected on how travel, retreat and meditation fueled her writing and the writer's impulse.  It was a great discussion about BEING a writer. Part 2 airs on 3/24/12. Click Here to Listen

March 10, 2012- The Letters of Robert Duncan and Denise Levertov

This past Saturday we did our official wrap-up from our Aaron Shurin interview shows of the preceding four weeks. During this interview we talked about the poetic conflict between Robert Duncan and Denise Levertov. We used this portion of Shurin's interview as a launching pad for our own discussion about the debate between Duncan and Levertov. We read excerpts from the The Letters of Robert Duncan and Denise Levertov, published by Stanford University Press in 2004. We then had our own lively, if not inconclusive, discussion about the debate between didactic and expansive poetry. Click here to listen

March 3, 2012 Aaron Shurin Part 4!

This past Saturday, we played our fourth and final installment of our interview with writer and teacher Aaron Shurin. He continued to talk about his book King of Shadows. He discussed how he tackled the didactic and the personal and how the narrative element is integral to these prose pieces. We heard more about his writing about the AIDS epidemic. We unfortunately encountered some technical difficulties which kept us from closing the show as planned. So we will be doing our wrap up show next week, closing with more discussion about Aaron Shurin's interview and the Robert Duncan and Denise Levertov letters. Click here to listen

February 25, 2012 Aaron Shurin, Part 3

On Saturday February 25th, we played part 3 of our interview with Aaron Shurin. During this segment we moved into talking about his book of personal essays King of Shadows. Aaron talked about what was made possible through writing in prose rather than poetry. We talked more in depth about the letters and conflict between Denise Levertov and Robert Duncan and discussed the balance between moral and poetic 'imperitives' in poetry. He also talked about his older work Unbound, which tackled the HIV epidemic in both the 'factual' and the 'creative.' And again, we got to hear his wonderful work. Click here to listen

February 18, 2012- Aaron Shurin Part 2!

This past Saturday, we played part 2 of our interview with Aaron Shurin, which concluded our talk about his new book Citizen, recently published by City Lights Books. We touched on how characters emerge in the book, including the use of gender in the text. Again, Shurin generously shared his process with us and how this book benefitted from a 'permission' to intensity that he reached at this point in his wonderful writing career. We got to sink our teeth into his complex, 'exuberant' language and hear him read quite a bit from the book. We started to talk about how (political) content is tackled in poetry without slipping into the didactic. Click here to listen

February 11, 2012- Aaron Shurin Part 1

This Saturday, we played the first part of our interview with Aaron Shurin, writer and professor at USF, who recently published his book Citizen with City Lights Books. Besides hearing some of his wonderful work, he discussed the construction of his book, his writing and editing process and his use of sound and sensuality in his poetry. Shurin generously tells us about the building blocks of Citizen, including his use of found text, his ideas about language and how place informs the work. Please listen on February 18th for part 2! Click here to listen