In this episode, editor emeritus Justin Boening talks with Daniel Khalastchi.
The Subvocal Zoo: Daniel Khalastchi and Justin Boening in the Landscape of Poetry [ 38 min 56 s ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Downloads 1014
Poetry Northwestâs monthly podcast series, The Subvocal Zoo, features editors and friends of the magazine interviewing poets. Episode 6 features Timothy Donnelly in conversation with Justin Boening.
The Subvocal Zoo: Episode 6 - Timothy Donnelly [ 39 min 53 s ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Downloads 1341Rough Day Ed Skoog Copper Canyon Press, 2013 âPoetry is how to live with almost nothing,â proclaims the speaker of Ed Skoogâs wildly expansive yet personal and grief-filled second book of poetry, Rough Day. And though this ideaâthe belief that poetry can instruct us on how to live more attentivelyâmay have never been rendered exactly in these terms before, the path it points toward is one we recognize. We see this kind of philosophy acted out by holy people in nearly every religion, such as nuns or monks who practice their faith primarily through abstinence. Skoogâs version of this ascetic character is a secular American oneâthe poet who needs little more than a book of elegies, fresh mink oil in his boots, and a sign so he might flag down his next interstate ride across the country. But the thinking that drives Skoogâs book forward isnât always so declamatory or even imagistic. âIâm trying to find where influence end,â the speaker says. This sentence first reads like a typo. âInfluence,â of course, is a singular …
Almost Invisible Mark Strand Knopf, 2012 By Justin Boening, Associate Editor for Poetry Northwest 2012 was a remarkable year for poetry. From Eduardo C. Corral’s outstanding debut, Slow Lightning, to Jorie Graham’s finest effort in years, Place, there was much that dazzled, provoked, and inspired. When pressed to make a choice, however, as to which 2012 collection could be called my absolute favorite, I landed firmly on a book of poems not even considered a book of poems by its author: Almost Invisible. Mark Strandâs most recent collection of short prose pieces (as he calls them) has all the trappings of his previous attireâthe infamously repetitive diction, the drippy nostalgia, and, of course, that hallmark debonair fatalism. But these poems are far from being placid guff. The poems of Almost Invisible are nimble and tonally varied, smart and introspectiveâthe epitome of Strandâs best late-period work. In an episode of the Poetry Foundationâs podcast Poetry Off the Shelf, Vijay Seshadri says of Strand: â…to some extent all of Strandâs poems are about the situation of the …
