Twice 5 Miles Radio, hosted by James Navé, welcomes poet and young adult author Allan Wolf (www.allanwolf.com) to the microphone. You are in for a treat when you listen to this show titled The Geography of Life. What does the geography of life mean? The geography of life has ups and downs, twists and turns, marks on trees, and marks on those around you.
Of course, there's also the geography of the page in poetry. I bring this up because Alan writes novels in verse and uses the geography of the page to capture the human condition in all its forms, thus the geography of life.
Allan and I track this geography of life idea starting with the notion of greatness early in our conversation. You see, I have known Alan for over 30 years, and we both began our careers as spoken word artists and writers by driving around the country and performing poetry for school students. We drove to a town stay a day or two, hit the road, and drove 00 miles to the next town. On those rides, we spoke about what greatness meant to us.
As you might suspect, we thought we arrived at some conclusions. One conclusion that still holds today is that everybody has elements of greatness running throughout their lives, even when they don't realize it.
When you listen to this show, you'll hear the same conversation Allan and I were having 30 years ago. Yes, I enjoyed talking about greatness with Allan, and I'll bet you will enjoy listening.
We also touch on Allen's work as an author. He points out that he has published 20 books with Candlewick Press. Allan was also the leader of the Asheville Poetry Slam scene at the Green Door on Carolina Lane. You might like to know that Allan was also one of the national leaders of the Poetry Slam movement. Allan has range. Today, performance poets still quote Allan's enduring phrase, which beautifully sums up the poetry slam. The points are not the point; the point is poetry. To quote John Keats, "that is all ye know in life, and all yea need to know."
Enjoy the show.
