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Frank Dent's avatar

Nice catch with the Limón interview. My mind normally starts wandering within a few minutes with podcasts, so I really appreciate ones like this that post complete transcripts, so I can skim over the boring intros, for example.

Some of Limón’s poems feel a little muffled in places, but her “The Quiet Machine,” despite being prose, is a zinger, with its tension building almost unnoticed until the explosive shout at the end. Here it is if readers don’t want to search for it in the transcript:

https://www.best-poems.net/ada-lim-n/the-quiet-machine.html

I’m always a little suspicious of poets who cite big-time canonical poems as their starting point in poetry, as she does here with Bishop’s “One Art.” Limón’s predecessor laureate once removed, Tracy K. Smith, cited Dickinson’s “I’m Nobody! Who Are You?” when asked a similar question. I’d like to hear just one poet say, oh, I don’t really remember, or maybe just admit it was the rhymes in “Love Me Do” or something.

Another great recent interview:

https://johnaugust.com/2023/scriptnotes-episode-583-the-one-with-sarah-polley-transcript

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Jolene Handy's avatar

Wonderful photos and words, Lisa. Also: I love Krista Tippet!

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