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Monday, September 16, 2013

Throats and ears

Last night's reading at Small Press Traffic was great! Lourdes read from Yolotl and it was the first time I had heard her read a good portion of the text aloud. I have read Yolotl several times now (full disclosure: I, along with my wife and co-editor Ammie, published Lourdes in our Spooky Actions Books chapbook series) but hearing the poems arc and dive through the air to my ear reminded me how much poetry is an experience of the body. Lourdes includes throats in many of her poems, insisting on the body, so that I began paying more attention to both the sounds emitting from her throat and the way that these waves of sounds are actually things themselves too.

A beautiful poem can be read horribly, but when a gorgeous poem is read by someone so that the poem comes to life with the reader's voice, wow--there is definitely some magic there. If you live in the Bay Area definitely keep an eye out here and here for other readings!

Lourdes with her book Yolotl