A Conversation between John Kinsella and Thurston Moore

FromThe Poetry Magazine Podcast

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A Conversation between John Kinsella and Thurston Moore

FromThe Poetry Magazine Podcast

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Length:

23 minutes

Released:

Mar 30, 2020

Format:

Podcast episode

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In this special episode, Thurston Moore and John Kinsella read their collaborative poems from the March 2020 issue of Poetry and have an extended conversation about collaboration, music, poetry, and activism.

Released:

Mar 30, 2020

Format:

Podcast episode

Titles in the series (99)

The editors go inside the pages of Poetry, talking to poets and critics, debating the issues, and sharing their poem selections with listeners.

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Leila Chatti and Sharon Olds in Conversation: When we asked Leila Chatti who she wished to speak with most, she chose one of the poets who gave her permission to be a poet herself: Sharon Olds. And not just to be a poet, but to write from a voice she thought wasn’t possible. You’ll hear why. This episode features more poems than we’ve ever had on the Poetry Magazine Podcast. Chatti asked Sharon to read a selection of poems that span 40 years – ranging from her first book, Satan Says, to her most recent book, Arias. Leila also reads from the December issue of Poetry, and her latest collection, Deluge, a chronicle of illness, womanhood, and faith. by The Poetry Magazine Podcast
53 min listen
Carolyn Forché and Fernando Valverde read “The Balada of New England”: The editors discuss Fernando Valverde’s “The Balada of New England,” translated by Carolyn Forché, from the March 2020 issue of Poetry. by The Poetry Magazine Podcast
16 min listen
Joy Ladin reads “Forgetting”: The editors discuss Joy Ladin’s poem “Forgetting” from the April 2020 issue of Poetry. by The Poetry Magazine Podcast
14 min listen
A Conversation with Jeffrey Yang on Mary Oppen: The editors talk with Jeffrey Yang about the poet Mary Oppen and her autobiography, Meaning a Life. Jeffrey Yang’s essay “Mary Oppen, Meaning a Life” appears in the February 2020 issue of Poetry. by The Poetry Magazine Podcast
19 min listen
Dujie Tahat reads “salat to be read from right to left”: The editors discuss Dujie Tahat’s poem “salat to be read from right to left” from the February 2020 issue of Poetry. by The Poetry Magazine Podcast
11 min listen
A Conversation with Justice Leah Ward Sears on Margaret Walker’s “For My People”: Justice Leah Wards Sears talks about how Margaret Walker’s poem “For My People” has been a resource for her throughout her life. Justice Sears’s essay, “Love for My People,” appears in the June 2020 issue of Poetry. by The Poetry Magazine Podcast
29 min listen
Janice N. Harrington reads “Wind Shear”: The editors discuss Janice N. Harrington’s poem “Wind Shear” from the May 2020 issue of Poetry. by The Poetry Magazine Podcast
15 min listen
Nicole Sealey reads “And”: The editors discuss Nicole Sealey’s poem “And” from the March 2020 issue of Poetry. by The Poetry Magazine Podcast
8 min listen
Tishani Doshi reads “They Killed Cows. I Killed Them.”: The editors discuss Tishani Doshi’s poem “They Killed Cows. I Killed Them.” from the April 2020 issue of Poetry. by The Poetry Magazine Podcast
14 min listen
Ashley M. Jones and Faisal Mohyuddin in Conversation: Poetry can be a great connector. It can connect us to our bodies and our histories. For Ashley M. Jones, poetry is also a way to connect with faith. In today’s episode, Jones sits down with the poet Faisal Mohyuddin, whose poem “Allah Castles” appears in the May issue of Poetry, the first under Jones’s guest editorship. Mohyuddin and Jones explore faith, the things that move them into action, and their shared pride as high school writing teachers. Jones says she doesn’t believe in coincidences, only an otherworldly alignment. Today’s conversation is a testament to that. Ashley M. Jones reads from her book dark//thing and Faisal Mohyuddin reads from the May issue of Poetry and from his book The Displaced Children of Displaced Children. by The Poetry Magazine Podcast
33 min listen
John Kinsella and Thurston Moore read “Signal Jamming”: The editors discuss John Kinsella and Thurston Moore’s “Signal Jamming” from the March 2020 issue of Poetry. by The Poetry Magazine Podcast
9 min listen
Ashley August reads “Superstition”: The editors discuss Ashley August’s poem “Superstition” from the March 2020 issue of Poetry. by The Poetry Magazine Podcast
8 min listen
A Conversation between John Kinsella and Thurston Moore: In this special episode, Thurston Moore and John Kinsella read their collaborative poems from the March 2020 issue of Poetry and have an extended conversation about collaboration, music, poetry, and activism. by The Poetry Magazine Podcast
23 min listen
Michael Hofmann reads “Famous Poets”: The editors discuss Michael Hofmann’s poem “Famous Poets” from the April 2020 issue of Poetry. by The Poetry Magazine Podcast
15 min listen
Bradley Trumpfheller reads “Speculative Realism”: The editors discuss Bradley Trumpfheller’s poem “Speculative Realism” from the June 2020 issue of Poetry. by The Poetry Magazine Podcast
15 min listen
Ocean Vuong reads “Not Even This”: The editors discuss Ocean Vuong’s poem “Not Even This” from the April 2020 issue of Poetry. by The Poetry Magazine Podcast
18 min listen
A.E. Stallings reads “Daedal”: The editors discuss A.E. Stallings’s poem “Daedal” from the May 2020 issue of Poetry. by The Poetry Magazine Podcast
12 min listen
Su Cho and Gabrielle Calvocoressi in Conversation: This week, Gabrielle Calvocoressi talks about their series of “Miss you” poems. The poems exist as a kind of spell or enchantment, a way to create an actual space for the dead to inhabit. We also hear the incredible poem, “My Perimenopausal Body Cistern Disappointing How Surprising.” Gabrielle was nervous to share the poem but read it anyway, and how lucky we are. This conversation holds a lot of pain and a lot of joy, including their shared love of feasting with friends. It was an historic event as Su never expected to meet a poet who loves food as much as she does. by The Poetry Magazine Podcast
38 min listen
A Conversation with Vidyan Ravinthiran and Vahni Capildeo: Don Share speaks with Vidyan Ravinthiran and Vahni Capildeo about Ravinthiran’s essay on Capildeo’s work in the May 2020 issue of Poetry. by The Poetry Magazine Podcast
38 min listen
Alison C. Rollins and Latria Graham in Conversation: Poet Alison C. Rollins recently finished her first outdoor survival training program. Part of her preparation was to read Latria Graham’s essays about the experience of being a Black woman in the outdoors. Graham is a journalist and fifth-generation farmer living in South Carolina. In “Out There, Nobody Can Hear You Scream,” published in Outdoor Magazine, Graham describes a moment when—right before leaving for the Great Smoky Mountains—her mother handed her the gun of her late father for protection. Rollins had a very similar experience. Her mother’s first question, when hearing of her daughter's desire to journey into the outdoors, was, “How are you going to protect yourself?” This moment of recognition led Rollins and Graham together, to talk about writing, survival, and, as Rollins calls it, “Black nature joy.” by The Poetry Magazine Podcast
40 min listen
Ed Roberson and Lyn Hejinian in Conversation: When we asked Ed Roberson who he’d like to speak with on the show he said: Lyn Hejinian. Longtime friends despite living vastly far apart – Lyn in Berkeley and Ed in Chicago – they’ve been in close dialogue for almost 20 years. Now, for the first time, we have the pleasure of listening in. Topics discussed include the survival of the human species, the safety in friendship, and a pesky octopus at a Pittsburgh aquarium. Ed also reads from a new series of poems in the October 2020 issue of Poetry. by The Poetry Magazine Podcast
33 min listen
avery r. young in conversation with LaTasha N. Nevada Diggs: young and Diggs both work with words, sound, image – and bodies – as Diggs’s puts it. On today’s show, they talk about about funk, Dolly Parton, taking notes, polyglots, and how these different cadences resonate in young’s series “peestain.” In these collages and poems, featured in the November issue of Poetry, young weaves his own history with the lives of his students and characters like Willis Jackson from the sitcom Diff'rent Strokes. The familiarity and openness of the references are as heartening as they are devastating. Nothing is neat. Nothing is predictable in young’s work—or Digg’s—as you’ll hear today. In the course of the conversation, Diggs reads one of her own poems and a poem by Carl Hancock Rux. by The Poetry Magazine Podcast
39 min listen
Marilyn Nelson and Nikki Grimes in Conversation: This week: thoughts on form. Both Marilyn Nelson and Nikki Grimes agree, playing with poetic constraints can create an expansive world to write within. Listen as two of the most celebrated authors writing for young readers today share their thoughts on poetic forms. You’ll hear about two of their favorite forms to experiment with, as well as excerpts from both of their memoirs in verse. The impact Nelson and Grimes have had on the field of writing for younger audiences is profound. Both are featured in this month’s special issue of Poetry dedicated to poems for young people. by The Poetry Magazine Podcast
23 min listen
Mary Ruefle reads “Vapor Wake”: The editors discuss Mary Ruefle’s poem “Vapor Wake” from the May 2020 issue of Poetry. by The Poetry Magazine Podcast
13 min listen
Joshua Bennett and Justin Rovillos Monson in Conversation: In this week’s episode, Bennett and Monson get into literary ancestors, Monson’s top 5 rappers of all time, and what the future of poetry in this country might look like (if we are brave enough to invest in our young people). Monson spoke to us from the Michigan Department of Corrections in Freeland, Michigan. His poems are featured in “The Practice of Freedom” issue, which focuses on poetry and visual art produced by artists who have been directly affected by the criminal legal system. Joshua Bennett guest edited the issue alongside Tara Betts and Sarah Ross. In Bennett words, “Justin Monson is one of the most courageous, original, daring poets working today. I first encountered his work three years ago, as a judge for PEN America’s Writing for Justice Fellowship, and was absolutely taken aback from the very first lines. The work shimmered. Monson has a fantastic ear, and a citational breadth that is truly a wonder to beho by The Poetry Magazine Podcast
40 min listen
Jillian Weise and Ishmael Reed in Conversation: This week, The Cyborg Jillian Weise speaks with Ishmael Reed. Reed is a writer whose decades of work have been immensely influential to Weise. They’ve shared stages and pages as poets, performers, editors, and activists. They both wield humor and satire to seriously consider the violence of our governments, our literature, and the many other forms of erasure that are enacted on the lives and works of disabled people. Born 43 years apart, Reed in Tennessee in 1938, and Weise in Texas in 1981, they share a sort of poetic kinship. Today, they talk about smashing tokenism and the joy of making up new words and new paths. The Cyborg Jillian Weise reads from the April 2021 issue of Poetry, and Ishmael Reed reads from his newest poetry collection, Why the Black Hole Sings the Blues, Poems 2007-2020. by The Poetry Magazine Podcast
33 min listen
Karen Ah-hwei Lee reads “On June Blossoming in June”: The editors discuss Karen Ah-hwei Lee’s poem “On June Blossoming in June” from the June 2020 issue of Poetry. by The Poetry Magazine Podcast
16 min listen
Tongo Eisen-Martin and Sonia Sanchez in Conversation: On today’s show, Tongo Eisen-Martin talks with activist, icon, legend, Sonia Sanchez. Listen to these brilliant poets pass fire, life, and love between them. Eisen-Martin is a poet, movement worker, and educator. His poem “Pennies for the Opera” is featured in the December 2020 issue of Poetry as part of a portfolio of work from the book Carving Out Rights from Inside the Prison Industrial Complex. Both Eisen-Martin and Sanchez appear in the book, alongside artists incarcerated at Stateville Prison in Crest Hill, Illinois. Sonia Sanchez is a poet, playwright, professor, and activist. You can read “Haiku and Tanka for Harriet Tubman”—which you’ll hear in this episode—in the April 2018 issue of Poetry. by The Poetry Magazine Podcast
53 min listen
Ashley M. Jones and Donna Aza Weir-Soley in Conversation: This week, Ashley M. Jones speaks with one of the most important mentors in her life: poet and scholar Dr. Donna Aza Weir-Soley. They speak about protest and power, Weir-Soley’s mentor Audre Lorde, and the legacies they inhabit and continue as Black poets writing toward liberation. Weir-Soley met Audre Lorde as a student at Hunter College, and came to run the Audre Lorde Women’s Poetry Center. Today, they invite Lorde into the room with the poem, “Power.” You’ll also hear “8 Minutes and 46 seconds,” by Weir-Soley, which appears in the July/August issue of Poetry magazine. by The Poetry Magazine Podcast
52 min listen
Ashley M. Jones and Sidney Clifton in Conversation: One thing Ashley M. Jones knows to be absolutely true is that her work is made possible by the poetry and spirit of Lucille Clifton. This week, Jones speaks with Sidney Clifton, one of Lucille Clifton’s daughters. Sidney Clifton is the President of the Clifton House, a new endeavour to transform her childhood home in Baltimore into a gathering place for writers and artists. They speak about mothers, their impenetrable connection to family, and how important it is to honor our journeys, no matter how winding they might be. Jones says, “It was unreal for me to get to spend time with Sidney, and what a joy to also get to invite Ms. Clifton’s poems into the room to join the conversation. What a celebration, indeed.” by The Poetry Magazine Podcast
34 min listen

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Cathy Park Hong and Cindy Juyoung Ok on Shit Moms and More: This week, Cindy Juyong Ok talks with Cathy Park Hong, who has published three volumes of poetry and the collection of essays Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning, which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. Hong introduces us to a new selection from “Spring and All,” featured in the September 2023 issue of Poetry. She discusses how feeling like a “shit mom” during the early days of the pandemic has influenced her new writing, as did the work of other artists and writers who address “failing” at motherhood, like that of visual artist Tala Madani and her “Shit Moms” series. by The Poetry Magazine Podcast
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Kevin Young and Cindy Juyoung Ok on All the Things Poetry Does: This week, Cindy Juyoung Ok speaks with Kevin Young, who has authored or edited over twenty books including the poetry collection Stones (Knopf, 2021) and the nonfiction investigation Bunk: The Rise of Hoaxes, Humbug, Plagiarists, Phonies, Post-Facts, and Fake News (Graywolf Press, 2017). In addition to directing the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture, Young is also the poetry editor at the New Yorker, so perhaps it’s not surprising that the conversation today focuses on all that poetry does. As Young says: “It does the most important things … It’s waiting for you.” We’ll also hear two new gorgeous poems by Young from the July/August 2023 issue of Poetry: “The Stair” (4:20) and “Diptych” (38:06). by The Poetry Magazine Podcast
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Tishani Doshi and Holly Amos on Shape Poetry and Loving the Process, PLUS a Writing Prompt: For the month of January, we’re focusing on what keeps us writing. How do poets sustain their writing practices? Are there generative tips and tricks we can learn from them? Today, Holly Amos enlists the help of poet, writer, and dancer Tishani Doshi, whose essay in the December 2022 issue of Poetry is about shape or concrete poetry. Doshi lives in Tamil Nadu, India, and is joining us today from Abu Dhabi, where she is a New York University visiting associate professor. Doshi’s latest book of poetry is A God at the Door (Copper Canyon Press, 2021) and her latest novel is Small Days and Nights (W.W. Norton, 2020). Today, she offers listeners a wonderful writing prompt drawn from one of her favorite concrete poems, which, fascinatingly, is not technically a poem but the dedication that E.E. Cummings included in his book No Thanks. by The Poetry Magazine Podcast
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Esther Belin and Tacey M. Atsitty on Monsters: This week, Esther Belin speaks with Diné poet Tacey M. Atsitty. Atsitty’s debut full-length collection, Rain Scald, was published in 2018, and Arthur Sze described the book as filled with a poetry “where rain, expected to be nourishing, is also a torrent, burning with sensation.” Today, we’ll hear two new poems by Atsitty, “Things to Do with a Monster” and “Lady Birds’ Evening Meetings” from the December issue of Poetry. Atsitty’s new poems come out of her desire to create a bestiary of Diné monsters. The poems explore how and why we create and abandon monsters, what we learn from them, how monsters humble us, and more. by The Poetry Magazine Podcast
35 min listen
Esther Belin and Diamond Forde on poetry as self-definition, self-reclamation, and biomythography: This week, Esther Belin speaks with Diamond Forde, who joins us from Asheville, North Carolina, which she describes as a sort of homecoming. One of five recent recipients of the 2022 Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellowships, Forde’s debut collection, Mother Body, is described as “an intersectional exploration of the trauma and agency held within a body defined by its potential to mother.” Today we’ll hear from a new series of poems by Forde, which appear in the December 2022 issue of Poetry. The poems continue an exploration of maternal lineage, this time centering Forde's grandmother and addressing the complex processes of self-definition, self-reclamation, and biomythography. Belin and Forde also discuss the practice of joy and how poetry is an “assertion of love.” by The Poetry Magazine Podcast
40 min listen
Ashley M. Jones and Marcus Wicker on Afrofuturism, OutKast, and Living in the American South: This week, Ashley M. Jones speaks with Marcus Wicker about a project he began early in the pandemic while looking for sources of calm in books and music. Many of these were space-influenced—OutKast’s album ATLiens, Robert Hayden’s poem “American Journal”—and Wicker began exploring what an extraterrestrial who lands in Atlanta in 2020 would think of America and the way humans treat one another. We’ll hear two poems from this project, “Dear Mothership,” and “How did you learn to speak English?” which appear in Poetry’s December 2022 issue. Like much of Wicker’s poetry, these pieces incorporate popular culture and music references alongside unflinching observations and exciting wordplay. by The Poetry Magazine Podcast
43 min listen
Su Cho and Tariq Luthun on Joy, Apocalypse, Crying, and Pokémon by The Poetry Magazine Podcast
36 min listen
Taneum Bambrick and Su Cho on Intimacy and Poetry: This week, Su Cho sits down with Taneum Bambrick to talk about two of her favorite things: poetry and intimacy. Bambrick is the author of Intimacies, Received, recently out from Copper Canyon Press, and Vantage. Their chapbook, Reservoir, was selected by Ocean Vuong for the Yemassee Chapbook Prize. Vuong wrote, “This is poetry that encompasses, that let's no one turn away.” That’s exactly how Cho felt reading Bambrick’s poems in the November 2022 issue of Poetry. Cho says, “Bambrick’s poems make me feel incredibly shy and brave at the same time. I say make me because I can’t look away from them. The poems are telling me to sit down and listen.” Join us for a conversation about break ups, vulnerability, rodeos, and so much more. by The Poetry Magazine Podcast
41 min listen

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A Conversation between John Kinsella and Thurston Moore

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