Speedway and Swan Poem Playlist for Episode 2, May 31, 2015, with guest co-host John Melillo
Writer and musician John Melillo and host Brian Blanchfield talk waves, wave machines, drone versus decadence, and “words that tend toward pure sound.” Lots of great work from the new poetry shelves (Donna Stonecipher, Caroline Bergvall, Eric Ekstrand, Tyler Brewington, etcetera), some polyglot poetics of reclamation, and a featured voca archive performance by Ofelia Zepeda.
Musical selections by The Carter Family, OV Wright, Alvin Lucier, Woody Guthrie, The Persuasions, and Rufus Wainwright. And, the radio premier of our theme song in its full length, “Poetry Man” (orig. by Phoebe Snow), arranged and performed by Sam Christopher, Prabjit Virdee, and Mike Barnett. Genius.
Etel Adnan | from “Sea,” Sea and Fog. Nightboat Books, 2012.
Caroline Bergvall | “Song 1,” Drift. Nightboat Books, 2014.
Eric Ekstrand | “Hedonic Tone Assessment,” Laodecia. Omnidawn, 2015.
Donna Stonecipher | “Model City (14-17),” Model City. Shearsman Books, 2015.
Clark Coolidge | “Station Stratum,” Calmer or Mer. Teahupoo Press (John Melillo), 2005.
Susan Howe | “Articulations of Sound Forms in Time,” Singularities. Wesleyan University Press, 1990.
M. NourbeSe Philip | from “Sal,” from Zong! Wesleyan University Press, 2011.
Tyler Brewington | “In Hawaii I Learned This Proverb,” Boyfriend Mountain. Poor Claudia, 2014.
Lisa Robertson | from “Early Education,” Lisa Robertson’s Magenta Soul Whip. Coach House Books, 2011.
Brandon Shimoda | from “Yellow Picnic,” Portuguese. Tin House Books, 2013.
Ofelia Zepeda | “Blessings for Water,” voca recording from March 2015, The University of Arizona Poetry Center.
Algernon Charles Swinburne | from “By the North Sea,” Studies in Song, 1880.