Wordsalad is taking a break from the airwaves to do some traveling and will resume with broadcasts after the first of the year. In the mean time you are welcome to download or stream archives of the show.
November 20, 2009
November 19, 2009
playlist 19 november
artist. track. cd title. source.
anne tardos & jackson mac low. Laboratory. festschrift for jackson mac low. crayon
anouch & zuga. les entrailles du monde. les nubians presents
Daniel goode. juicy cantata. festschrift for jackson mac low.
dipalma andrews Silliman. the sun is so … legend. pennsound
Joel levies. you locate. textsound journal
Johanna drucker. figuring the word. radio reading project. pennsound
Leslie scalapino. it’s go in quiet. textsound journal
Malcolm Goldstein. vocabulary gatha for malcolm Goldstein. festschrift for jackson mac low
molly rainor. as we sit around. my words consume me
sailor jay. miss America. my words consume me.
Music: Miles Davis. Great Expectations. Big Fun.
November 17, 2009
Text consumes festschrift legend; drucker fun
Selections this week from some fabulous compilations: Textsound Journal, My Words Consume Me, Festschrift for Jackson Mac Low, Legend (andrews, bernstein, silliman, et al), Les Nubians, and some engaging work from Johanna Drucker. Music from Miles Davis’s Big Fun.
November 12, 2009
playlist 12 november
Artist. Track. Cd title. Source
anne sexton. after the operation. poetry speaks. sourcebooks
gertrude stein. she bowed to her brother. poetry speaks. sourcebooks
hoa nguyen. no sleep. FELIX series.
jayne cortez. chano pozo. poetry in motion.
lee ann brown. nascent toolbox. segue reading series.
matt dalby. vetch. fight.
muriel rukeyser. night feeding. poetry speaks. sourcebooks
paul austerlitz. high modes. double take. innova
peter gizzi. revival. pennsound.
philip levine. peace. hear me.
pierre joris. a calm vademecum dose. close listening. pennsound
piers plowright. radio radio. martin spinelli. 2003.
robert frost. the onset. voice of the poet. random house audio.
rodney koeneke. chary of gary. segue reading series. pennsound
rusty russell. specific gravity. a jungle of roses.
serbo croatia. alex hamburger. sound poetry today.
A mesostic approach
Sequencing poems for each 60-minute Wordsalad program has always been fun, and today is no different. My guiding principle was a mesostic.
You know that, in an acrostic, the first letter of each line of text spells out a word or series of words: You scan down the lines and a phrase appears. I sequenced today’s Wordsalad program using a mesostic, where the phrase in question appears not at the beginning of a line, but in the middle. To compose a mesostic, you choose a word or phrase, then read through a text, looking for words containing the letter you seek, in strict sequence. Then you transcribe the word containing that letter.
Today I chose the word poetry. My ‘text’ was the spines of my shelved poetry CDs. They’re arranged by poets’ last names, and compilations follow separately. To begin, I selected the first CD beginning with the letter P–in my case, Paul Austerlitz. The second CD had to have the letter O as the second letter–Robert Frost. The third had to have the letter E as the third letter, and so forth. Here’s how things fell out:
Paul austerlitz
rObert frost
leE ann brown
rusTy russell
poetRy speaks 1
poetrY speaks 2
Poetry speaks 3
pOetry in motion
piErs plowright
matT dalby
pierRe joris
rodneY koeneke
Philip levine
hOa nguyen
poEsia Sonora
flaTus vocal trio
peteR gizzi
melodY sumner carnahan
The next step was to choose individual tracks. That was guided (a little loosely) by searching for poem titles including the letter in question. It will be interesting to see what, if any, difference appears as the program unfolds in real time. I have not yet heard the entire program as sequenced.
November 5, 2009
playlist 5 november
artist. track. cd title. source
ed roberson. day and night don’t organize anything; et al for A.L. FELIX series. private recording
flatus vocal trio. Nana; sintaxis. ubu.com
greg djanikian. brief history of border crossings. kelly writers house. pennsound
jane ormerod. hello i’m johnny cash. recreational vehicles on fire. www.janeormerod.com
k silem mohammad. dusty the oncologist; poems about trees. FELIX series. private recording
kathryn mockler. cross eyed. kathrynmockler.blogspot.com.
kathy acker. face to face with death; outside the law which is language. redoing childhood. ubu.com.
majena mafe. lovelovelove song. that unsound.
timothy yu. this is the era. FELIX series. private recording
Music
hanah jon taylor artet. selections. madison performance august ‘09. private recording
October 29, 2009
playlist 29 october
Artist. Track. Cd title. source
amanda stewart. happily ever onward. i / t selected poems. split records
ed roberson. eclogue. FELIX series. private recording
greg djanikian. in the city of languages alexandria. kelly writers house. pennsound
jane ormerod. Saboteur; termites. youtube.
kathryn mockler. wedding reception. the reluctant narrator.
kathy acker. president bush. redoing childhood. ubu.com
Öyvind fahlström. O F eavesdrops. the holy thorsten nilsson. ubu.com
timothy yu. from Bestiary; drive. FELIX series. private recording
k. silem mohammad. rocking the sprint campus. FELIX series. private recording
sheila chandra. speaking in tongues. moonsung. real world
Music: selections from Blood Money. Blood Brotherhood. Killerpimp.
October 15, 2009
playlist 15 october
artist. track. cd title. source.
allen ginsberg. lines written at night. the lion for real. mouth almighty
anne waldman. empty space. poetry in motion.
charles bukowski. report on the consumption of myself. solid citizen. chinaski
denise levertov. her sadness. poetry speaks v 3. sourcebooks
diane di prima. my poem. poetry in motion.
diane wakowski. i have learned to live w my face. century of recorded poetry v 4. rhino word beat
gary snyder. why i take good care of my mac. century of recorded poetry v 3. rhino word beat
gregory corso. hair. die on me. paris – KOCH
gwendolyn brooks. kitchenette building. poetry speaks v 3. sourcebooks
k silem mohammad. mr watery eyes. SUNY Buffalo 2003. pennsound
kenneth patchen. i went to the city. with chamber jazz sextet. cadence
lawrence ferlinghetti. allen ginsberg dying. live @ poetry center chicago.
marge piercy. right to life. century of recorded poetry v 3. rhino word beat
The Beats and friends
It’s the 1960s again on today’s program: We’ll hear the voices of Anne Waldman, Diane DiPrima, Denise Levertov, Gregory Corso, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Kenneth Patchen, Allen Ginsberg, Gary Snyder, Charles Bukowski, Jack Kerouac, and others. 1 pm Central, www.wsum.org.
October 10, 2009
Take advantage of this teacher
I have not attended the u. of pennsylvania and have not enjoyed the privilege of attending classes with charles bernstein. but you know what? Bernstein has been one of my most valuable and appreciated teachers over the past 5 years or so. How? because of his poetry, his radio programs, his books of essays and criticism, his conference appearances, his blog (which, yes, promotes his own work, but to a much larger degree promotes the work of others), and because of his work with Al Filreis, producing the audio content on Pennsound. I met Charles at a conference last year sponsored by the Academy of American Poets and the guy’s passion and counter-establishment perspective will always be attractive to me.
