Welcome back to another poetry show! This week it’s Phoebe Wang (Waking Occupations) and Madhur Anand (Parasitic Oscillations). Hey, those two titles rhyme. Neat.
Great books and great conversations, listen in!
Phoebe Wang
GET LIT E35 with Aisha Sasha John and Phoebe Wang
I am really terrible at writing poetry.
Some might argue I’m really terrible at writing prose, too, and that’s fair enough. Still, at least I managed to get prose published over the years. I have never submitted a poem to be published. The last time I actively wrote poetry it was the stuff I read aloud at the Bahaus Cafe poetry night – sub-Bukowskian observations from the gutter I believed I lived in I was mostly content and angst was strictly the product of an equation (age + temporary poverty x literary ambitions + alcohol & cigarettes x loneliness รท actual talent = “Oh, lonely moon, i look upon thee and I see…myself) (and even that I stole from a Henry Rollins joke).
When I recently came back to poetry – reading poetry, that is, not writing it – I found it very difficult. I was used to reading in different ways, with more linear thinking, perhaps. I really didn’t have a clue what anyone was trying to say. Now, at the very least, I find myself able to rest inside a poem, instead of trying to follow its words to the conclusion. It makes a big difference and it’s been a wonderful learning (and re-learning) experience.
Today’s interviews are with two wonderful poets. First up is Phoebe Wang, who I had the pleasure of seeing read at a Lit Live event earlier this. She read from her most recent work Admission Requirements. Next, I speak with Aisha Sasha John, who is a poet and a performer. Her collection I Have To Live is fantastic. I highly recommend them both. Hope you enjoy the show!