WFHB Bloomington Community Radio
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Today we present Part 2 of the Producer’s Choice Awards – The Poetry Show. Poetry – Many might turn away at even the mention of the word, but to do so would miss out on work that reveals humans grappling with the great questions of their moments.
Today we feature four poets who help us see our own predicaments – one who shows us we contain multitudes; one whose life and writing was always antifascist; one who challenges expectations of female submissiveness; and one who interrupts the falsifications of narrative structures.
Those poets are Fernando Pessoa, Muriel Rukeyser, Sylvia Plath, and Thalia Field – and we’ll hear from them in that order.
I. We did two shows on Pessoa’s life and work with our guest, translator and biographer Richard Zenith. This segment centers on Pessoa’s notion of cultural imperialism, but begins with a discussion of his most famous poem, “Autopsychography.”
II. This segment comes from “How to be an Anti-Fascist” which centers on Muriel Rukeyser’s 1949 book The Life of Poetry. Our guest is Eric Keenaghan – and we’ll hear two clips of Rukeyser as well.
III. This segment comes from “Fixing the Stars” and our guest was Heather Clark, author of the new biography of Plath called Red Comet, published by Knopf. In the following selection we’ll also hear Plath read from her work (“Lady Lazarus” and “Mushrooms”).
IV. This segment comes from our show “Captivating Fictions” with our guest Thalia Field – an experimental novelist, essayist, and poet – modes of writing that are often combined in any of Field’s texts. Field reads “Crossroads” from Bird Lovers, Backyard, and “HI ADAM!” from Personhood.
Links to programs excerpted:
Presenting Pessoa: 1915
The Presence of Pessoa – Part Two with Richard Zenith
How to Be Anti-Fascist: Muriel Rukeyser and The Life of Poetry
Fixing the Stars: Sylvia Plath at the Edge of Sight
Captivating Fictions with Thalia Field (Extended)
MUSIC – All of today’s music is by jazz drummer and composer Max Roach.
“Man from South Africa” (Percussion Bitter Sweet)
“Conversation” (Deeds, Not Words)
“Tender Warriors” (Percussion Bitter Sweet)
“Deeds, Not Words” (Deeds, Not Words)
“Mendacity” (Percussion Bitter Sweet)
CREDITS
Producer & Host: Doug Storm
Executive Producer: Kade Young
