Episode Forty-three

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In this interview, I spoke with Sarah Nnenna Loveth Nwafor about their latest publication Already Knew You Were Coming. We discuss Igbo cosmology and time, their process in writing this chapbook, and more.

Sarah Nnenna Loveth Nwafor (They/Them) is a queer Igbo-American Poet, Educator, and Facilitator who descends of a powerful ancestry. They believe that storytelling is magick, and they speak to practice traditions of Igbo orature. When they witness, their forebears are pleased. Sarah has been writing for a minute and is learning something new about their voice each year, but one thing they’re proud to share is that they have a chapbook out with Game Over Books! When Sarah's not writing; they’re probably sitting under a tree, reading about Love, dancing with friends or cooking a bomb-ass meal like the true Taurus they are.

Go buy Already Knew You Were Coming

Sarah’s Instagram

Sarah’s website

Books, artists, musicians, etc. mentioned in this episode:

Editor and Social Media Manager: Mitchel Davidovitz

Host and Producer: Avren Keating

Sound of Waves Breaking: Melody Loop 95 BPM, DaveJf

Episode Thirty-nine

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In this episode, I spoke with KB about their zine “a new relationship to pain,” their relationship to poetry, the pandemic, working as a poet and educator, and more.

KB is from Stop Six, Fort Worth, Texas. They are a Black queer nonbinary poet, educator, student affairs professional, and lover of most plants/people. They want to be your friend as well as your reminder to think in abundance. They have words published in Cincinnati Review, Puerto Del Sol, Palette Poetry, and other equally pretty places. Their chapbook How To Identify Yourself with a Wound (Kallisto Gaia Press, 2022) won the 2020 Saguaro Poetry Prize and was written with support from workshops with Lambda Literary, In Surreal Life, The Watering Hole, The Hurston/Wright Foundation, The Speakeasy Project, and Winter Tangerine. They are currently a 2021 PEN America Emerging Writers fellow and an African American Leadership Institute - Austin fellow.

When not on stage or in the page, they serve as Program Coordinator for the Gender and Sexuality Center at the University of Texas at Austin, Founding Executive Director of Interfaces, Co-Founder/President of Embrace Austin, and educator in various settings. Follow them on Twitter or Instagram at @earthtokb and access their exclusive teaching, writing, and other content at patreon.com/earthtokb. They live in Austin, TX where they’re writing books & trying their best.

KB’s Zine “a new relationship to pain”

KB’s Instagram

KB’s Twitter

Poets, books, etc. mentioned in this episode:

The Sound of Waves Breaking is “DesertTexasT01” by Riabad

Editor and Social Media Manager: Mitchel Davidovitz

Episode Thirty-seven

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Based on photos taken by imogen and Ben Krusling

Based on photos taken by imogen and Ben Krusling

In this episode, I dive deep into one poem from the We Want it All anthology with its authors, Anaïs Duplan and imogen xtian smith. Tune in for our conversation about of art, love, and utopias.

Anaïs Duplan is a trans* poet, curator, and artist. He is the author of a book of essays, Blackspace: On the Poetics of an Afrofuture (Black Ocean, 2020), a full-length poetry collection, Take This Stallion (Brooklyn Arts Press, 2016), and a chapbook, Mount Carmel and the Blood of Parnassus (Monster House Press, 2017). He has taught poetry at the University of Iowa, Columbia University, Sarah Lawrence College, and St. Joseph’s College.

His video works have been exhibited by Flux Factory, Daata Editions, the 13th Baltic Triennial in Lithuania, Mathew Gallery, NeueHouse, the Paseo Project, and will be exhibited at the Institute of Contemporary Art in L.A in 2021.

As an independent curator, he has facilitated curatorial projects in Chicago, Boston, Santa Fe, and Reykjavík. He was a 2017-2019 joint Public Programs fellow at the Museum of Modern Art and the Studio Museum in Harlem. In 2016, he founded the Center for Afrofuturist Studies, an artist residency program for artists of color, based at Iowa City’s artist-run organization Public Space One. He works as Program Manager at Recess.

imogen xtian smith (fka xtian w) is a poet & performer. Recent work is featured or forthcoming in Peach Mag, Cosmonauts Ave, the Rumpus, & WE WANT IT ALL: An Anthology of Radical Trans Poetics. They live in Brooklyn.

Places, people, art, books etc. mentioned in this episode:

Editor and Social Media Manager: Mitchel Davidovitz

The Sound of Waves Breaking is "Gymnasium, Class Reunion in Distance" by ecfike. Meeting people in-person and hugging after a long period of time? I miss that and them.

Episode Thirty-six

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In this episode I spoke with noor ibn najam about her recent work and writing process. they also discussed showing work to friends and skill-sharing. Sorry that the intro and outro audio is a little wonky this time around, but the bulk of the interview itself is still good.

noor is a poet who teases, challenges, breaks, and creates language. she's received fellowships from Callaloo and The Watering Hole and is a recent resident of the Vermont Studio Center. her poems have been published and anthologized with DIAGRAM, ANMLY, The Academy of American Poets, the Rumpus, Bettering American Poetry, and others. her chapbook, PRAISE TO LESSER GODS OF LOVE, was published by Glass Poetry Press in 2019.

noor’s website

purchase Praise to Lesser Gods of Love

noor’s Patreon

Writers, poems, books, events mentioned in this episode:

The Sound of Waves Breaking is “Walking on Snow,” recorded by rivernile7.

Editor and Social Media Manager: Mitchel Davidovitz

Episode Thirty-five

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This month’s guest is Aeon Ginsberg. We dug into their recently published book Greyhound and also talked about PoBiz/Big Lit, death, and teeth poetry.

Aeon Ginsberg (they/them) is an agender transfeminine writer and performer from Baltimore City, MD. They are the author of Greyhound, the 2019 winner of the Noemi Press Poetry Prize, and their work has been published in various magazines in print and online. Aeon is a Taurus, a bartending, and a bitch.

Aeon’s website

Aeon’s Twitter account

Go get Greyhound!

Writers, news, books, events mentioned in this episode:

The Sound of Waves Breaking is this video Aeon sent me of Vin Diesel singing Rhianna.

Editor and Social Media Manager: Mitchel Davidovitz

If you want to get in contact with me, you can email me at wavesbreakingshow@gmail.com and/or message me @WavesBreakPod on Twitter.

Episode Thirty-three

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kiki nicole

In this episode, I spoke with poet kiki nicole about their manuscript, Autobiography of the boi Venus which not published (yet!), their embroidery work, film work, and current interests.

kiki nicole is a Black, Queer, and Non-binary multimedia artist and poet based in Charlotte, North Carolina.. They’ve received invitations to fellowships such as Pink Door Writing Retreat, The Watering Hole, and Winter Tangerine. kiki nicole is currently a reader for Muzzle Magazine. They work to explore a Black, queer, femme & genderless universe that un/bodies, un/genders, & re/news, kiki hopes to lend a voice for the void in which Black femmes not only exist in plain view, but thrive.

from kiki’s Autobiography of the boi Venus, also using a still from ariella tai’s "she's not going to get more dead"

from kiki’s Autobiography of the boi Venus, also using a still from ariella tai’s "she's not going to get more dead"

kiki’s site

kiki’s instagram

Donation link to support kiki

Media, artists, books, etc mentioned in this episode:

The sound of waves breaking is Sylvester's “You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real).”

This episode was edited and social media managed by Mitchel Davidovitz.

Stay safe, everyone!!

Episode Thirty-one

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This episode, I got to talk with sung about their thoughts on writing, the poetry biz, and what its like to publish a memoir. sung is a writer and interdisciplinary artist from Korea. They are the author of What About the Rest of Your Life (Perfect Day Publishing) and Flowers Are for Pussies (Ghost City Press). Their work has appeared in Nat. Brut, Kweli Journal, Contrary, The James Franco Review, The Wanderer, and Crab Fat Magazine.

The sound of waves breaking is "Wynd" by weerm

This episode's editor and social media manager is Mitchel Davidovitz

Episode Thirty

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Photo by: Neon M Esc

Photo by: Neon M Esc

In this episode, I had the opportunity to talk with Zefyr Lisowski about her book Blood Box.

Zefyr Lisowski is a trans and queer writer, artist, and North Carolinian currently living in NYC. She's a Poetry Co-editor for Apogee Journal and the author of Blood Box, winner of the Black River Editor's Choice Award from Black Lawrence Press and forthcoming fall 2019; she's also the author of the microchap Wolf Inventory (Ghost City Press, 2018) and is a 2019 Tin House Summer Workshop Fellow.

Zefyr's work has appeared or is forthcoming in Lit Hub, Nat. Brut., Muzzle Magazine, and DIAGRAM, among many other places; she's also received support from Sundress Academy for the Arts, McGill University, the New York Live Ideas Fest, and the 2019 CUNY Graduate Center Adjunct Incubator Grant for the arts. A 2018 nominee for the Pushcart Prize, she also goes by Zef.

Zefyr Lisowski's website
Go buy Blood Box! 

Media, artists, books, etc mentioned in this episode:

Editor and Social Media Manager: Mitchel Davidovitz
Sound of Waves Breaking is "Cicada Single" by Jedo.

Episode Twenty-nine

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Photo by: Nicole Myles

Photo by: Nicole Myles

This episode, I had the chance to speak with Cyrée Jarelle Johnson about his book, SLINGSHOT.

Cyrée Jarelle Johnson (He/They) is a poet and writer from Piscataway, NJ. His work has appeared in The New York Times, Boston Review, Wussy, The Wanderer, Vice, Rewire News, The Root, and Nat. Brut among other publications. They earned an MFA in Creative Writing from Columbia University with support from Davis Putter Scholarship Fund.

SLINGSHOT, his first collection of poetry, is available now from Nightboat Books. Development of the work was supported by Astraea Foundations' Global Arts Fund, CultureStrike Climate Change and Environmental Justice Fellowship, and Rewire News Disabled Writers Fellowship.

They tweet with significant queer millennial ennui at @CyreeJarelle 

Cyrée's website 
Cyrée's TED Talk "What is Autism Neutrality?" 

Authors and books mentioned in the episode:

The Sound of Waves Breaking was "Natural Disaster" by @davidthomascairns 

Editor, Social Media Manager: Mitchel Davidovitz
Host, Producer: Avren Keating

Episode Twenty-eight

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It's been a minute! Thanks for your patience as I've slogged through life. In this episode I spoke with Samuel Ace about his book Our Weather Our Sea.

Samuel Ace is a trans/genderqueer poet and sound artist. He is the author of several books, most recently Our Weather Our Sea (Black Radish 2019), the newly re-issued Meet Me There: Normal Sex and Home in three days. Don’t wash., (Belladonna* Germinal Texts 2019), and Stealth with poet Maureen Seaton. He is the recipient of the Astraea Lesbian Writer Award and the Firecracker Alternative Book Award in Poetry, as well as a two-time finalist for both the Lambda Literary Award and the National Poetry Series. Recent work can be found in Poetry, PEN America, Best American Experimental Poetry, Vinyl, and many other journals and anthologies. He currently teaches poetry and creative writing at Mount Holyoke College in western Massachusetts.

Sam's website

Buy Our Weather Our Sea

Also buy Meet Me There: Normal Sex & Home in three days. Don’t wash.

Books, poets, artists, etc mentioned in this episode:

The Sound of Waves Breaking: Samuel Ace's "These Nights" 

Editor and Social Media Manager: Mitchel Davidovitz

Episode Twenty-seven

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I had the opportunity to talk with S. Brook Corfman at AWP this year! S. Brook Corfman is the author of Luxury, Blue Lace, chosen by Richard Siken for the Autumn House Rising Writer Prize, and two chapbooks: the letterpress Meteorites from DoubleCross Press and the digital collection of performance pieces The Anima from GaussPDF. The recipient of grants and fellowships from Lambda Literary, the Vermont Studio Center, and the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council, recent work has appeared in DIAGRAM, Indiana Review, Muzzle, The Offing, Territory, and Quarterly West (Best of the Net Nomination), among other places. Born and raised in Chicago, Sam now lives in a turret in Pittsburgh.

S's website

Luxury, Blue Lace

Meteorites (chapbook)

Writers, topics, etc, mentioned in the show:

This episode's Editor and Social Media Manager is Mitchel Davidovitz

The Sound of Waves Breaking is a field recording of kids playing at a park during the day by JohnnyBeCrafty

Episode Twenty-six

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Hello, hello! Happy Spring! I'm here with another interview for you fine people. I had the opportunity to interview B'ellana Johannx aka Chloe Rose about their two upcoming chapbooks Satanic Verses: A Guidebook for the New Transfaggot (2019) and The Fatbergs (2019).

B'ellana Johannx's gender is Rilke’s dark god: a webbed scrim made of a thousand roots drinking in silence. Also known as Chloe Rose, she/they are a fat, queer, femme, non-binary womxn-of-color living with disabilities and their cats Franz and Pepper in Tacoma, WA. Rose/Johannx has been published in The Wanderer, Dream Pop, and Aspasiology, with Pushcart and Bettering American Poetry nominations henny, so watch out! Tweet them about conlangs, antifa, witchcraft, and drag names @llanaandsuchas. If you are a faggot, you are her/their kin and they love you. May the peace of the Goddess and God be upon you. #SMIB

B'ellana's website

B'ellana's Twitter 

Writers, books, ideas, musicians mentioned:

"The Sound of Waves Breaking" is titled "Ghost Merkel Beat" by stanrams and made me laugh my ass off.

This episode was edited and media managed by Mitchel Davidovitz

Episode Twenty-three

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In this episode I got to speak to Chase Berggrun about their new book R E D (Birds, LLC, 2018). Their work has appeared or is forthcoming in POETRY, Pinwheel, PEN Poetry Series, Sixth Finch, Diagram, The Offing, Prelude, Beloit Poetry Journal, and elsewhere. They received their MFA from New York University. They are Poetry Editor at Big Lucks.

Chase's website

Chase's Twitter

Go Buy R E D

List of things and people mentioned in this episode:

Editor and Social Media Manager: Mitchel Davidovitz

Sound of Waves Breaking

Episode Twenty

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This month(ish) I got to interview Nat Raha! Nat Raha is a poet and trans / queer activist, living in Edinburgh, Scotland. Her poetry includes two collections countersonnets (Contraband Books, 2013) and Octet (Veer Books, 2010); and numerous pamphlets including ‘de/compositions’ (Enjoy Your Homes Press, 2017), '£/€xtinctions' (sociopathetic distro, 2017), '[of sirens / body & faultlines]' (Veer Books, 2015), 'radio / threat' (sociopathetic distro, 2014) and 'mute exterior intimate' (Oystercatcher Press, 2013). She's performed and published her work internationally. Nat co-edited the Radical Transfeminism zine, and is currently finishing PhD in on queer Marxism and contemporary poetry at the University of Sussex.

http://sociodistro.tumblr.com (if you go here, there's pdfs of £/€xtinctions, the first edition '[of sirens...], and 'radio/threat')
http://sociopatheticsemaphores.blogspot.com

Ideas and writers discussed in this episode:

This episode was edited and social media managed by Mitchel Davidovitz

The Sound of Waves Breaking is from CadereSounds, freesound.org

Episode Nineteen

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This month I got to speak with Chely Lima and Margaret Randall, the translator for his new collection of poetry What the Werewolf Told Them/ Lo que los dijo el licantropo.

Chely Lima is a queer Cuban-American writer who has published numerous books (poetry, novel, short story, theater, literature for children) in his country of origin, and also in Spain, United States, Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela and Ecuador. Some of these books are the novels Lucrecia quiere decir perfidia (2015), Triángulos mágicos (2014) and Confesiones nocturnas (1994), as well as the poetry books Zona de silencio (2004), Discurso de la amante (2013), and Lo que les dijo el licántropo / What the Werewolf told them (2017). His texts have been translated into English, French, Portuguese, German, Italian, Russian, Czech and Esperanto, and numerous selections and anthologies of literature from various parts of the world collect samples of his work. 

** Listeners can use the code WAVES for a 20% on ANY *Operating System* book directly through their online store, here: https://squareup.com/store/the-operating-system/ ** Thanks, Lynne DeSilva-Johnson

Books, authors, and ideas mentioned in this episode:

Editing and Social Media Management mangaed by none other than Mitchel Davidovitz

Sound of Waves Breaking: Wolves in Finland

Episode Eighteen

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This month I had the opportunity to interview H. Melt about the anthology they've just edited: Subject to Change: Trans Poetry & Conversation. 

H. Melt is a poet, activist, and educator whose work proudly celebrates Chicago’s queer and trans communities. Their writing has appeared many places including In These Times, The Offing, and Them, the first trans literary journal in the United States. They are the author of The Plural, The Blurring and editor of Subject to Change: Trans Poetry & Conversation. Lambda Literary awarded them the Judith A. Markowitz Award for Emerging LGBTQ Writers and they've been named to Newcity's Lit 50 list, as well as Windy City Times' 30 under 30. H. Melt co-leads Queeriosity at Young Chicago Authors and works at Women & Children First, Chicago’s feminist bookstore.

Writers, books and artists mentioned in this episode:

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Sound of Waves Breaking: butter melting in a pan

Editing and Marketing by: Mitchel Davidovitz

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You can, of course, always reach me at wavesbreakingshow@gmail.com