Tune in to KUOW 94.9 public radio on Wednesdays between 2 and 3pm, and Saturday afternoons from noon to 1 p.m. to hear the best of Pacific Northwest poets. You’ll find previous KUOW poetry segments, including author interviews, by searching “Elizabeth Austen” at kuow.org.
On April 6, 2011, I had the great pleasure of talking poetry for an hour with former poet laureate Billy Collins and Steve Scher, the host of KUOW’s Weekday. You’ll find the audio of our conversation here.
We both read a few poems, talked about what makes a good poem, National Poetry Month, the April issue of Oprah magazine… I hope you enjoy it—it was really fun to do!
Regarding Garrison Keiler’s recitation of your “on Punctuation” poem…
Not only did I enjoy his presentation, as I almost always do, I truly savored the poem itself.
Being a Lead Teacher of “At-Risk” youth in Fairfax County Public Schools, Virginia, I look for ways to “connect” with my group of expelled and troubled younguns.
This selection WILL be passed on the them.
Thank you for sharing your insight and talent with me/us/the World.
Stanley A. Seidlitz
Lead Teacher
Interagency Alternative Schools
Computer Enhanced Instruction, Falls Church
6245 Leesburg Pike
Suite 430
Falls Church, VA 22044
(703)618-STAN (7826)
Hi, Stanley–
I’d love for you to share the poem with your students — thanks for letting me know! You might also be interested in the book A Better Man, published by my friend Kelly Johson. http://www.abettermanbook.com/index.html
She lives in Richmond, VA and her book is being used in a number of schools because kids seem to really connect with the interviews and stories she has collected there.
Be well, and thanks for writing–
Elizabeth
To Elizabeth Austen and KUOW and Michael Dickman
I (meaning me inside my automobile) drove across
The black top and right in between the white lines
Stopping just short of where my
Collapsible bumper wanted to go,
Wanted to touch, wanted to do what it was designed to do –
To crumple, sighing, in on itself
Deform in response to the touch
Of that radiant
Cherry red, electric,vibrating
Truck
Parked with his nose tipped ever so slightly over
Into the space I’d chosen.
I stopped,
I didn’t head into the QFC
to buy peaches and chili sauce
or was it chicken breasts, artichokes?
I heard your voice
Poetry in the parking lot
As I stared into
The red mirror of truck
I saw whales
Breaching with out saying so
Folding the water
Moving the salt
I had been there
On that beach
I could feel the
Sharp rocks poking through the slippery seaweed
The heat of the light
On the water, above the water
I heard them singing
And then Leif
shot up
I heard a brilliant, startling boy
Rising abruptly into the sky
How, why?
It was only later,
I was driving on the freeway
A second chance
She read it again
And I understood
It was a shock
But the whales
Were still there
[...] herself — and she has a lot to share about how to give your very best in a live interview. (Click here to find some of Elizabeth’s [...]