Q&A: Philip Levine goes two for two

Interviewer: Do you know your own poems by heart?

Levine: No, I make an effort not to learn them by heart. I know a
lot of people memorize their poems and give readings from memory,
but I try to forget mine. I find that makes the readings more interesting
for me; I'm often actually surprised by the phrasing, really quite
delighted by it. Also, I don't want to sit down and write my own poems
again; I want my mind clear of them. At my age the big danger for
a poet is that he's going to rewrite his own work. One can feel very
secure doing another version of what already worked.

Interviewer: Do you feel a split between your life as a political person
and your life as a poet?

Levine: I'm cowardly. I should stop paying my taxes. I know that the
government in Washington is full of terrible people with terrible plans.
They will murder people here and abroad to gain more power. Those
who have dominated our country most of my adult life are interested
in maintaining an empire, subjugating other people, enslaving them if
need be, and finally killing those who protest so that wealthy and
powerful Americans can go on enjoying their advantages over others.
I'm not doing a thing about it. I'm not a man of action. It finally comes
down to that. I'm not so profoundly moral that I can overcome my
fears of prison or torture or exile or poverty. I'm a contemplative
person who goes in the corner and writes. What can we do? I guess
we can hang on and encourage each other, dig in, protest in every
peaceful way possible and hope that people are better than they
seem. We can describe ourselves as horribly racist people, which
we are, as imperialists, which we have been and are, but we can also
see ourselves as bountiful, gracious, full of wit, courage, resourceful-
ness. I still believe in this county, that is can fulfill the destiny Blake
and Whitman envisioned. I still believe in American poetry.

fr. Paris Review 107, Summer 1988/

"Scriabin came to believe in a final harmony that
would undo the world, spell an end to existence.
Play the right chord at the right place at the right
moment, and the whole shebang would collapse.

"And he was preparing to play that chord, when
blood poisoning struck him down.

"'What a disaster,' he cried, and no one knows to
what those last words referred--whether to the fact
that he himself was dying, from a pimple under his
moustache, or to his being balked in the great work
of ending the universal scheme of things."

--Keith Waldrop
fr. The Locality Principle
[Penngrove, Calif.: Avec Books, 1995]

Works in Progress, 21

1.
maneuvering around car-sized potholes
designing legal strategies
speaking solely in terms of racial justice
examining burial pits and naked skulls

2.
sticking to issues that directly affect them
bemoaning the cautiousness of today's athletes
co-opting the arguments of their opposition
tracking Latino immigrants at the border

3.
supporting any effort to unionize
failing to generate meaningful responses
feeling the centipede in oneself
getting some good poems out of it

4.
rewriting the country's labor laws
seeing a psychic map of our obsessions
building electoral coalitions that will win
emphasizing the overlapping interests of the affluent

5.
slumbering until nightfall
setting this brain of mine afire
reaching irritably after fact & reason
shunning easy consolations

6.
subsidizing extinction industries
helping women victimized by male violence
doubling the sign-up bonus for volunteers
supporting the troops while doubting the war

7.
naming the dead
waiting for him to break silence
descending the steeps of the soughing twilight
assimilating foreign cultures

8.
freeing the slaves
admonishing those who do evil
stamping out political brushfires
democratizing the US

9.
getting in touch with the cable guys
swinging the birches
testing the waters
pushing radical music agendas

10.
getting out the vote
fetching water from the well
educating the masses
confessing to our personal demons

11.
clearing minefields from past wars
laying them for wars yet to come
staying executions, pardoning the innocent
blurring the boundaries, the borders

12.
reading maps in the dark with the top light off
folding them all back up rightly
cramming them into the glove compartment
getting moving again in the right direction

13.
cooling our heels
voting early and often
keeping our fingers crossed
paying full-price for our journey

14.
assembling a glossary of oft-used phrases
keeping silent while the tea is poured
maintaining an inventory of our beliefs and belongings
finding time to clean up around the house

15.
making the world safe for plutocracy
clearing the minefields and cow pastures
converting analog files to digital
rereading An Anatomy of Melancholy

16.
fighting the high cost of prescription meditations
comparing the works of Proust, Gide, and Sartre
putting something aside for a rainy day
asking for another user's name and password

17.
scanning the shelves for news
cleaning up after the latest tsunami
taking care of our parents
looking forward to end-of-life decisions

18.
reassessing works already completed
exterminating the brutes
removing the snow from the car
rebuilding the old road from Fredrikstad to Skjeberg

19.
getting more bang for the buck
setting something aside for that rainy day
worry about what to really worry about
getting back to the Bang, the Big One

20.
teaching the Chinese how to speak English
learning more about Purim
cashing in on Homeland Security
making that list of things to make lists of

21.
deciding whether or not to escape to Canada
enhancing revenue without raising taxes
learning more about hematology
mapping talk-free zones in public parks

22.

Fragments from Thoreau, 5

erect and long between this and the tail
seen to be finely bearded or barbed
shaped like an awl, that is, a little concave

Works in Progress, 20

1.
maneuvering around car-sized potholes
designing legal strategies
speaking solely in terms of racial justice
examining burial pits and naked skulls

2.
sticking to issues that directly affect them
bemoaning the cautiousness of today's athletes
co-opting the arguments of their opposition
tracking Latino immigrants at the border

3.
supporting any effort to unionize
failing to generate meaningful responses
feeling the centipede in oneself
getting some good poems out of it

4.
rewriting the country's labor laws
seeing a psychic map of our obsessions
building electoral coalitions that will win
emphasizing the overlapping interests of the affluent

5.
slumbering until nightfall
setting this brain of mine afire
reaching irritably after fact & reason
shunning easy consolations

6.
subsidizing extinction industries
helping women victimized by male violence
doubling the sign-up bonus for volunteers
supporting the troops while doubting the war

7.
naming the dead
waiting for him to break silence
descending the steeps of the soughing twilight
assimilating foreign cultures

8.
freeing the slaves
admonishing those who do evil
stamping out political brushfires
democratizing the US

9.
getting in touch with the cable guys
swinging the birches
testing the waters
pushing radical music agendas

10.
getting out the vote
fetching water from the well
educating the masses
confessing to our personal demons

11.
clearing minefields from past wars
laying them for wars yet to come
staying executions, pardoning the innocent
blurring the boundaries, the borders

12.
reading maps in the dark with the top light off
folding them all back up rightly
cramming them into the glove compartment
getting moving again in the right direction

13.
cooling our heels
voting early and often
keeping our fingers crossed
paying full-price for our journey

14.
assembling a glossary of oft-used phrases
keeping silent while the tea is poured
maintaining an inventory of our beliefs and belongings
finding time to clean up around the house

15.
making the world safe for plutocracy
clearing the minefields and cow pastures
converting analog files to digital
rereading An Anatomy of Melancholy

16.
fighting the high cost of prescription meditations
comparing the works of Proust, Gide, and Sartre
putting something aside for a rainy day
asking for another user's name and password

17.
scanning the shelves for news
cleaning up after the latest tsunami
taking care of our parents
looking forward to end-of-life decisions

18.
reassessing works already completed
exterminating the brutes
removing the snow from the car
rebuilding the old road from Fredrikstad to Skjeberg

19.
getting more bang for the buck
setting something aside for that rainy day
worry about what to really worry about
getting back to the Bang, the Big One

20.
teaching the Chinese how to speak English
learning more about Purim
cashing in on Homeland Security
making that list of things to make lists of

21.

Live Feed, 2/7/05

In NYC it's 1:05 pm and 50 ° F

It's still burning in Centralia,
but people still use coal--a dirty,
dusty fuel. And yet I still manage
to write everyday. Funny how that works.

So few Americans remember that those
who attacked us on 9/11 were Saudis.
Pitching in now may help shorten our pledge
drive. Hillary Swank is now playing

in theaters, nationwide. She's our million-
dollar baby, baby. Hi! It's good to be
here, where there are tribes of various
stripes and the central valley extends from

the Red Sea to the Persian Gulf. Big
congratulations to Danny in Bergen. Log
on for details on Black AIDS Day.
Great to be here. Let's start with your

guiding principles. Chicken nuggets?
Surely you must be jesting, Doctor.
We've got mini-vans and SUVs both
in stock. Tune in now for our expanded

edition for Science, Health, and Healing.
Subscribe now and get Dr. Ali's packet
for a $100 contribution. We're not
hostage to pharmaceutical or any

corporate entities. Thank you
for your call.

Poems from the Book of Nanoseconds, #28

close to the top
no attempt to influence
for the good

Q&A: Pablo Neruda hits one out of the park

Rita Guibert: What are your working hours?

Pablo Neruda: I don't have a schedule, but by preference I write
in the morning. Which is to say that if you weren't here making me
waste my time (and wasting your own), I would be writing.

tr. Ronald Christ
fr. Paris Review, Winter 1971

Live Feed, 2/4/05

In NYC it's cloudy and approx. 39° F

employability skills are flowing downward
facilitating silver bullets among those workers
in need of such
if it doesn't do what it's
intended to do, continuous improvement may
not help us with entry-level jobs

students psyches are in danger
when it comes to reading, mathematics
and other career-ladder skills,
which they must learn over time, throughout

their lives I should also add that human resource
research operations are developing non-profit
well, sorry, we're running of time

our community-advisory board is open to new
members, Andy's sitting on the toilet with
the lid closed, flossing his teeth,
we're listening to the radio

getting it together for the day, we just got
word of Ossie Davis's death, a little
bit of time should be devoted to tributes to
and memories of him, we'd like to hear from you

Ossie grew up in New Rochelle, down the street
from Louis Farrakhan, one of the court
cases relating to prisoners at Guantánamo,
touched my heart around the globe

a great loss, an inspiration to us all

Q&A: Russell Edson fields a grounder

Mark Tursi: Is the choice to be a "hermit," at least in terms of the
poetry world,a political choice? That is, what are your reasons for
largely disengaging from the contemporary literary scene?

Edson: "Hermit" is one of the ways of life one naturally falls into
without even noticing it. A giraffe doesn't think of itself as a giraffe.
It just happens to be a giraffe without having to think about it.

Tursi: Another related question I've been thinking about has to do
with your fairly significant "underground" or "cult" following. There
are a lot of other poets, students, and literary-types that read your
work, and perhaps even more writers today who are clearly
influenced by your work. Yet, you are still largely marginalized by
the wider academic and literary community, and often not included
in the so-called canon. Why do you think this is?

Edson: If my work, as you put it, "is still largely marginalized by the
wider academic and literary community," it's probably because they
don't care for it. Being, as you suggest, somewhat of a hermit, I've
never thought of myself as marginal or mainstream, just happy to be
writing. Of course the literary community is very much a social club,
and I'm really too distracted for organized fun.

http://www.webdelsol.com/Double_Room/issue_four/Russell_Edson.html

Poems from the Book of Nanoseconds, #27

he put no effort into trying to shine
at athletics nor did he try to
compensate for this

Works in Progress, 19

1.
maneuvering around car-sized potholes
designing legal strategies
speaking solely in terms of racial justice
examining burial pits and naked skulls

2.
sticking to issues that directly affect them
bemoaning the cautiousness of today's athletes
co-opting the arguments of their opposition
tracking Latino immigrants at the border

3.
supporting any effort to unionize
failing to generate meaningful responses
feeling the centipede in oneself
getting some good poems out of it

4.
rewriting the country's labor laws
seeing a psychic map of our obsessions
building electoral coalitions that will win
emphasizing the overlapping interests of the affluent

5.
slumbering until nightfall
setting this brain of mine afire
reaching irritably after fact & reason
shunning easy consolations

6.
subsidizing extinction industries
helping women victimized by male violence
doubling the sign-up bonus for volunteers
supporting the troops while doubting the war

7.
naming the dead
waiting for him to break silence
descending the steeps of the soughing twilight
assimilating foreign cultures

8.
freeing the slaves
admonishing those who do evil
stamping out political brushfires
democratizing the US

9.
getting in touch with the cable guys
swinging the birches
testing the waters
pushing radical music agendas

10.
getting out the vote
fetching water from the well
educating the masses
confessing to our personal demons

11.
clearing minefields from past wars
laying them for wars yet to come
staying executions, pardoning the innocent
blurring the boundaries, the borders

12.
reading maps in the dark with the top light off
folding them all back up rightly
cramming them into the glove compartment
getting moving again in the right direction

13.
cooling our heels
voting early and often
keeping our fingers crossed
paying full-price for our journey

14.
assembling a glossary of oft-used phrases
keeping silent while the tea is poured
maintaining an inventory of our beliefs and belongings
finding time to clean up around the house

15.
making the world safe for plutocracy
clearing the minefields and cow pastures
converting analog files to digital
rereading An Anatomy of Melancholy

16.
fighting the high cost of prescription meditations
comparing the works of Proust, Gide, and Sartre
putting something aside for a rainy day
asking for another user's name and password

17.
scanning the shelves for news
cleaning up after the latest tsunami
taking care of our parents
looking forward to end-of-life decisions

18.
reassessing works already completed
exterminating the brutes
removing the snow from the car
rebuilding the old road from Fredrikstad to Skjeberg

19.
getting more bang for the buck
setting something aside for that rainy day
worry about what to really worry about
getting back to the Bang, the Big One

20.