And the signifieds butt heads with the signifiers,
and we all fall down slack-jawed to marvel at words!
(Joanna Newsom)
Poetry in the Morning came out of a practice I’ve had for years. As a young teenager I started to read a handful of favorite poems over and over again, aloud. I was nearly always alone, and the point was to sit with the pleasure of the words for their own sake, for the joy of the sounds in my mouth. Usually, these sessions happened on weekend or summer mornings, when there was time to lounge in bed after waking. Over the years, different pieces have cycled in and out of this group. Poetry in the Morning is an attempt to capture some of those pieces–past, present, and future–in the minutes soon after waking. No prepping or dressing. Maybe some coffee.
Most simply, these are pieces I love.
Session 14 — “Summer Solstice” by Stacie Cassarino
Session 1 — “Switching” by Juliana Spahr, From Fuck You-Aloha-I love you
Session 2 — “Sonnet 17” by Pablo Neruda
Session 3 — “Barefoot” by Anne Sexton
Session 4 — from Eunoia by Christian Bok
Session 5 — (1/2) “The Quiet World” by Jeffrey McDaniel
(2/2) “When a Man Hasn’t Been Kissed” by Jeffrey McDaniel
Session 6 — (1/2) from Tender Buttons by Gertrude Stein
(2/2) “A Box.” by Gertrude Stein, from Tender Buttons
Session 7 — “Milk” by Eileen Myles
Session 8 — “On Talking” by Khalil Gibran, from The Prophet
Session 9 — “A Dream of Justice” by Steven Cramer
Session 10 — “Number Song” by Anne Waldman
Session 11 — From A Visit to William Blake’s Inn by Nancy Willard
Session 12 — “Icarus” by Emily O’Neill
Session 13 (1/2) — “Ideas” by Kathryn Starbuck
Session 13 (2/2) — From Deaf Republic, “10” by Ilya Kaminsky