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-five

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aeon author photo.jpg

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-four

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Photo by Laurence Philomène

Photo by Laurence Philomène

This month I got to speak with Kama La Mackerel about their just-released book, ZOM-FAM, published by Metonymy Press. We go in-depth in discussion about their decolonial artistic practices and inspiration for the book.

Kama La Mackerel is a Montreal-based Mauritian-Canadian multi-disciplinary artist, educator, writer, community-arts facilitator and literary translator who works within and across performance, photography, installations, textiles, digital art and literature. Kama’s work is grounded in the exploration of justice, love, healing, decoloniality, hybridity, cosmopolitanism and self- and collective-empowerment. They believe that aesthetic practices have the power to build resilience and act as resistance to the status quo, thereby enacting an anticolonial practice through cultural production.

Kama has exhibited and performed their work internationally and their writing in English, French and Kreol has appeared in publications both online and in print. They have lived in far-flung places such as Pune, India and Peterborough, Ontario. ZOM-FAM, their debut poetry collection is published by Metonymy Press.

GO BUY ZOM-FAM!

Kama's website

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

The Sound of Waves Breaking: "Ay Ay Lolo" by Menwar

Editor and Social Media Manager: Mitchel Davidovitz

Episode Thirty-two

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Photo credit: Ananda Lima

Photo credit: Ananda Lima

Như and I discussed her recent chapbook A System of Satellites and her writing practice, finding dignity as a trans poet, and writing past ingrained fear and doubt.

She also asked me questions. Hear me stumble trying to answer questions about my writing practice and how I approach writing with personal experiences.

Như Xuân Nguyễn is a queer and trans Vietnamese American poet and writer. A Kundiman Fellow and a graduate of the MFA program in Creative Writing at Rutgers-Newark, she won the 2018 Poetry Society of America Chapbook Fellowship with her debut chapbook A System of Satellites. Her work has appeared in The Offing, DELUGE (Radioactive Moat), The Journal, The Shade Journal, and Juked. She is currently based in New York City, where she lives with her two cats, Arya and Azula. 

Như's website
Buy Như's chapbook

Note: I refer to a NOLA poetry fest panel that is no longer happening due to COVID-19. Wash your hands and stay at home, everyone.

People and Books Mentioned:

Editor and Social Media Manager: Mitchel Davidovitz

The Sound of Waves Breaking: Lunar Wind, @Walter_Odington

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 Twenty-four

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june gehringer

This month I got to talk to June Gehringer about her latest book! June Gehringer is the author of I Love You It Looks Like Rain (Be About It, 2017), and I Don't Write About Race (Civil Coping Mechanisms, 2018), the latter of which was the winner of Civil Coping Mechanisms's 2017 Mainline contest. She lives in Philadelphia and has more crushes than she can count. She tweets about it @june_gehringer, and if you're a press interested in her next book you can reach her at gehringercat@gmail.com .

She's also an editor over at tenderness lit. 

I Don't Write About Race can be purchased here. 

 

Writers, presses, musicians mentioned in the show:

Editor and Social Media Manager: Mitchel Davidovitz

The Sound of Waves Breaking

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-one

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This month I got to chat with Kayleb Rae Candrilli. Kayleb is author of What Runs Over, winner of the 2016 Pamet River Prize, with YesYes Books. What Runs Over is a 2017 Lambda Literary finalist for Transgender Poetry. Candrilli is published or forthcoming in Puerto del Sol, Booth, RHINO, Cream City Review, Hayden's Ferry Review, Adroit, Bettering American Poetry, Boaat Press, Vinyl, CutBank, Muzzle, New Orleans Review, and many others.

They have served as the nonfiction editor of the Black Warrior Review and as a feature editor for NANO Fiction. They are now an Assistant Poetry Editor for Boaat Press. In 2015, Candrilli was a Lambda Literary Emerging Fellow in Nonfiction, and again in 2017 as a fellow in poetry. Kayleb is a Best of the Net winner and has been nominated for Pushcart Prizes (in prose and poetry) and for Best New Poets. They were also a 2017 recipient of a Leeway Art and Change Grant.

Kayleb's website

Purchase What Runs Over here.

Artists and musicians mentioned in this episode:

The Sound of Waves Breaking is here.

This episode is edited by Mitchel Davidovitz. 
Mitchel Davidovitz is also the Social Media Manager.

You can contact Avren on twitter @WavesBreakPod, and on Facebook at Waves Breaking Podcast, and through email wavesbreakingshow@gmail.com

Episode Sixteen

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This month I speak with Raquel Salas Rivera from their residence in Puerto Rico.

Raquel Salas Rivera es una poeta, traductora, ensayista y educadora puertorriqueña que vive y trabaja en Filadelfia. Ha publicado poemas, traducciones y ensayos en numerosas revistas y antologías; también ha publicado cuatro libros de poesía: Caneca de anhelos turbios (2011), oropel/tinsel (2016), huequitos/holies (2016) y tierra intermitente (2017). En el 2018, publicará el libro lo terciario/the tertiary con Timeless, Infinite Light. Actualmente, es editora contribuyente y traductora para The Wanderer. Si para Roque Dalton no existe revolución sin poesía, para Raquel no existe poesía sin Puerto Rico. Puedes aprender más sobre su trabajo si visitas raquelsalasrivera.com.

Raquel Salas Rivera is a Puerto Rican poet, translator, essayist, and educator living and working in Philadelphia. They have published poetry, translations, and essays in numerous anthologies and journals, and as well as four poetry books: Caneca de anhelos turbios (2011), oropel/tinsel (2016), huequitos/holies (2016), and tierra intermitente (2017). In 2018, Timeless, Infinite Light will publish their fifth book, lo terciario/the tertiary. Currently, they are a Contributing Editor at The Wanderer. If for Roque Dalton there is no revolution without poetry, for Raquel there is no poetry without Puerto Rico. You can find out more about their work at raquelsalasrivera.com.

Artists, teachers, and other things mentioned in this month's episode:

This episode was edited by Mitchel Davidovitz and produced by me.

The Sound of Waves Breaking is of the coquí hanging out at night, found on freesound.org

Episode Fifteen

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I got to talk on the phone with poet Kenyatta JP Garcia and their most recent collection Slow Living. 

Kenyatta JP Garcia is the author of They Say, Slow Living and ROBOT. JP was raised in Brooklyn but currently resides in Albany, N.Y. where they received degrees in English and linguistics. They are an editor at both Rigorous and Five 2 One Literary Magazine. In a past life, they were a cook for about a dozen years. In this modern incarnation, they get paid to put boxes on shelves by night and by day they read comics, pine, worry, and attempt to craft something worth reading. 

Artists, Music, and Writers Mentioned in This Month's Episode:

The Sound of Waves Breaking is this sound effect of Time Travel.

This episode was edited by Mitchel Davidovitz. 

Lucky Episode Thirteen

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This month I had the pleasure of interviewing Ching-In about their recent publication, recombinant. We got to talk about archive, language, history, and gender. 

Ching-In Chen is the author of The Heart's Traffic (Arktoi Books) and recombinant (Kelsey Street Press) and co-editor of The Revolution Starts at Home: Confronting Intimate Violence Within Activist Communities (South End Press; AK Press) and Here is a Pen: an Anthology of West Coast Kundiman Poets (Achiote Press). A Kundiman, Lambda, Watering Hole and Callaloo Fellow, they are part of the Macondo and Voices of Our Nations Arts Foundation writing communities. Their work has appeared in The Best American Experimental Writing, The &NOW Awards 3: The Best Innovative Writing, and Troubling the Line: Trans and Genderqueer Poetry and Poetics. They are a senior editor of The Conversant and poetry editor of the Texas Review. They serve on the Executive Board of Thinking Its Presence: Race, Advocacy, Solidarity in the Arts as the Director of Membership and Social Media. www.chinginchen.com

Have a listen, spread the word!

Artists and works mentioned in this episode:

The Sound of Waves Breaking this week is from Jon Jang and the Pan-Asian Arkestra's "Night in Tunisia," just in case you're curious. 

This episode was edited by Mitchel Davidovitz, whose sound project you can find here on bandcamp

Episode Twelve

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While I was on the East Coast to attend/table AWP, Tyler Vile and I got the chance to meet up with each other in D.C.'s Green Lantern bar to talk poetry and punk. The photo for this month's episode was taken just after our interview.  

Tyler Vile is a writer, performer, and activist from Baltimore, MD whose novel-in-verse, Never Coming Home, is available on Topside Press. She is a member of the Baltimore Transgender Alliance leadership team and the vocalist in a punk band called Anti-Androgen. Her interactive poetry zine, Hassidic Witch Murderer is available on her website. She aspires to one day become the world’s greatest transsexual yenta.

Artists/Bands Mentioned in the show:

Episode Eleven

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It was such a gift to speak with emerging-talent Aristilde Kirby for this month's episode! Aristilde Kirby is a twenty-five year old lesbian trans-woman poet and songsmith originally from Bronx, NY, but now resides from Carrollton, GA. She is a UGA Master Gardener. She is working on a chapbook entitled [bitácora total bust] and an EP entitled [LA POESÍA DEL CANTE JONDO], which will be out sometime in future recent history, hopefully. 

Click through the poems below to read Aris's poems "Strawberry Resirper / Achene Returner" and the four poems in her cycle "Intermediate Starved Aster Egretta SAE."

Authors, artists, and books mentioned in this episode:

The Sound of Waves Breaking is Aris's poetic soundscape "Opaline Y Hyalite" which you can find here at her bandcamp. 

Editing was done by Mitchel Davidovitz. 

Episode Nine!

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I am so honored to get to speak with Vita E. Cleveland about her recent chapbook Dedications. The conversation, of course, wanders elsewhere: toward her percussion expertise, musings on art's intersection with activism, slut shaming in activist circles, and more.

Poets Mentioned in this episode:

This episode was edited by Mitchel Davidovitz, whose experimental audio work "Window of Normalization" you can check out at his bandcamp. 

"The Sound of Waves Breaking" was Vita E's drum solo "Clave." You can listen to the entirety of "Clave" at her SoundCloud page. 

Transcripts forthcoming, I promise!

Lucky Episode Seven

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In this episode I talk with Cameron Awkward-Rich about his approaches to poetry and theory, and the poetry in his new book Sympathetic Little Monster.

Cameron has published poems in The Journal, cream city review, Muzzle Magazine, Hobart, The Seattle Review, The Offing and elsewhere. He is a Cave Canem Fellow, a poetry editor at Muzzle Magazine, and currently a doctoral candidate in Modern Thought & Literature at Stanford University. Cam is the author of the chapbook Transit (Button Poetry, 2015) and his debut collection, Sympathetic Little Monster, was published by Ricochet Editions in 2016.

Go check out Sympathetic Little Monster, its a wonderful collection. 

Writers who were mentioned in the shout outs: 

The Sound of Waves Breaking this week is the sound of opening an attic, as found on freesound.org

Transcripts are by Amir Rabiyah: https://www.scribd.com/document/378843639/Interview-with-Cameron-Awkward-Rich

Theme Music by Bahati Kiro and the transition music is by Chris Zorn. 

The podcast is produced by banging my head into a desk until something cohesive comes together. 

Episode Six

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photo by Scott Shaw

photo by Scott Shaw

Jai Arun Ravine talks to me about their newest book, The Romance of Siam, just released from Timeless, Infinite Light. We talk about their use of humor in critiquing orientalism, the tourist industry in Thailand, and their process as an interdisciplinary artist. 

I have no idea what Jim Thompson's "jungle box" looked like, but maybe it was something like this

I have no idea what Jim Thompson's "jungle box" looked like, but maybe it was something like this

The sound of waves breaking is a section of the (incredibly long) "Once in a Lifetime" theme song for Thailand's tourism campaign. 

Transcripts by Amir Rabiyah: https://www.scribd.com/document/378843274/Interview-with-Jai-Arun-Ravine

External materials mentioned in this episode:

Episode Five

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In this episode, I had the lovely opportunity to talk to Zoe Tuck in a coffee shop in Oakland. We discuss speculative fiction and poetry, the second wave feminism she navigated during her coming-of-age years, spirituality, trans/ gender variant identities and collective memory, and more. 

Zoe's website is here

and you can order Terror Matrix from TIL here

Other writers and thinkers brought up in this show: 

David Antin

Interview that Tom Léger was part of that I mentioned

"What is Bay Area Poetry" Podcast

Zoe’s review of Archipelago

Connie Willis

Ursula K. Le Guinn

Laura Moriarty

Alice Notley

Zach Ozma

bell hooks on arts education and visual politics

The sound of waves breaking was a bunch of turkeys, as per my partner's request.

Theme music is by Bahati Kiro, and the transition music is by Chris Zorn.

Transcripts by Amir Rabiyah: https://www.scribd.com/document/378479204/Zoe-Tuck-Interview

Email me at: wavesbreakingshow@gmail.com or find me on Twitter @MxAvren

Episode Two!

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Today's show features a conversation between Loma and me about the government's influence on poetry, the boundaries of a poem between other objects and being, poetry & activism, struggling with how to write poetry about domestic abuse, fearlessness, and more.

Transcripts for this episode can be found here. 

As always, comment, rate and subscribe to this podcast on iTunes! I'll love you forever.

Poets mentioned in this episode:

Episode One is Here!

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Here it is, the first episode of Waves Breaking. In this episode I interview Amir Rabiyah about the anthology they just co-edited, Writing the Walls Down. 

Here's the show on iTunes. Please rate, subscribe, and share widely. :) 

Transcripts for this episode, as transcribed by Amir Rabiyah, are here. 

If you would like to support Amir Rabiyah's writing residency, go to gofundme.com/amirgoestohambidge to donate.

And if you would like to support Aurora Levins Morales' goal to get safe housing, go to littlevehicleforchange.org to donate.