Episode 0101 Transcript

 Hello all! This is a linked transcript of everything but the read poems and poetry jams for this week's episode (our first!). If you would like a transcript of the poems, please reach out on twitter @PanLeftPoetry. 
[Intro music] (“We know what happened to those who chanced to meet the Great God Pan, and those who are wise know that all symbols are symbols of something, not of nothing.”)

HWAET! Theydies and Gentlethems, you’re listening to the very first episode of Pan Left For Poetry, celebrating the Dionysus in us. I’m G.M. Palmer & as always, the jams are provided by the faculty of funk: Professor Doom and Doctor Subtlefish. Hang out for the next half hour and get drunk on poetry! Poetry news, poetry jams, and poetry books! If you like what you hear, support me at ko-fi, cashapp ($gmpwrites), venmo (@GM-Palmer), and threadless. Links on twitter @panleftpoetry and PanLeftForPoetry.com

[Music]

Each week I’ll share what’s going on in the poetry world. In this week’s poetry news:

Andres Rojas, on twitter at OKAporia, has his first full-length book coming out in August. Now, first of all, it’s almost impossible to believe this is his first full-length. Honestly far overdue! But, Trio House Press is correcting that oversight by bringing out Third Winter in Our Second Country. I am deeply looking forward to this book and will be sharing some of it here when I can!

JD Smith, on twitter at smitroverse and the nicest person in poetry, has a new book of light verse coming out with Kelsay Books called Catalogs for Food Lovers and it is sure to be delightful.

You can always at me at PanLeftPoetry on Twitter with your poetry news to keep listeners in the loop. I need news!

[Music]

Well if you’ve listened so far, you’re a wonderful human so be sure to show how great you are by picking up your SAPPHO and DIONYSUS shirts at sapphosupreme.threadless.com to support the show and be fuckin rad. That’s sapphosupreme.threadless.com.

[Music]

Each week will also include a couple of poetry jams. The right channel is the music and the left channel is the poetry. Music plus poetry equals poetry jam! The music is provided by the faculty of funk: Professor Doom and Doctor Subtlefish. Words by me. Our first poetry jam this week is Whiteness / Witness, which was originally published by The Raintown Review. Poetry jams sound best on headphones and remember, Pan Left For Poetry!

(Whiteness / Witness)

Whiteness / Witness, which was originally published by The Raintown Review. Now it’s time for I’ve Been Drinking!

[Music]

This segment is called “I’ve been drinking” and it’s where I talk a bit about a book of poetry I’ve just been having a wonderful time with. Getting drunk on its rhythm and words. Imbibing its vibing. This week I’ve been drinking All the Places I Wish I Died by Crystal Stone. You can find Crystal Stone on twitter @justlikeastone8. It was published this year by Clash Books and it’s available at clashbooks.com. I first met Crystal a couple of years ago at a writing conference right after her first book, Knock-Off Monarch had come out and, well I just couldn’t get enough of her work.

It’s hard to describe her poetry in any one category. She plays in and out of forms and threads through topics. Reading her work is like talking to a friend whose brain keeps jumping from emotion to idea so fast you struggle to keep up but their voice and presence are so intriguing you just go on listening. Anyway I finally got a chance to read my copy of All the Places I Wish I Died and was delighted to see some poems I already knew from journals along with some lovely pieces first published in the book. 

I want to highlight just a few of the poems. The first is Pennies which sort of leaps off the page in its simplicity compared to so much of the book. For instance, the poem right before this is called “To the Flowers I Drowned Last Year.” Of course, that’s what pennies themselves do, right?

[reads poem]

Just to go from the sound of Lincoln’s unrecorded voice to the boredom of the truth is enough but the poem touches on commerce and relationships and fairy tales and religion and, really just yes. There’s nothing minimalist or even necessarily focused about Stone’s poetry. It’s efflulgent. It blossoms. It’s fractal.

Another poem I want to make sure I share with you is At the Ultrasound.

[reads poem]

“How strange / that technology hears our pain / into pictures”

I just. I don’t know about you but what I love about a poet, about an artist, is when they notice something absolutely true about existence I’d not noticed before but in seeing what they see, my understanding of the world is changed. Poem as sounds, records of our pain. Just wow. Mind fully excavated for all to see.

There are literally dozens of more wonderful poems in All the Places I Wish I Died and you should absolutely go to clashbooks.com and order a copy. There will be a link provided @PanLeftPoetry as well.

[Music]

Our second and final poetry jam this week is The Dark, Lost Helen which was originally published in my book With Rough Gods from Jagged Door Press. Poetry jams sound best on headphones and remember, Pan Left For Poetry!

(The Dark, Lost Helen)

The Dark, Lost Helen which was originally published in my book With Rough Gods from Jagged Door Press.

[Music]

That does it for this week’s show and our VERY FIRST EPISODE! Thanks everyone for listening. All our poetry jams can be listened to at PanLeftForPoetry.com and the usual places. You can always find a transcript of this week’s show and every show along with links for donations and to purchase books and shirts and other merch at PanLeftForPoetry.

Poetry jams are by me, GM Palmer on vocals, Professor Doom on strings, and Dr. Subtlefish on drums and programming. Production and engineering by Genevieve. See you next week and remember, Pan Left for Poetry!

[Outro Music]