Shows
A Lovely Wallpaper"The Pity of Love" with Mary LattimoreIn this episode, Abby interviews harpist and composer Mary Lattimore about her most recent album Goodbye, Hotel Arkada, her musical collaborations, and her instrument in all its epic visceral and metaphorical power. Together, they present “The Pity of Love” by William Butler Yeats.Recitation begins at 34:38The Pity of LoveWilliam Butler YeatsA pity beyond all tellingIs hid in the heart of love:The folk who are buying and selling,The clouds on their journey above,The cold wet winds ever blowing,And the shadowy hazel grove 2025-06-1842 minA Lovely Wallpaper"Zone" with Lucy SanteIn this episode, Abby interviews writer Lucy Sante about recent books *Nineteen Reservoirs* and *I Heard Her Call My Name*. Together, they present an excerpt of the poem "Zone" by Guillaume Apollinaire.Recitation begins at 45:07from "Zone"Guillaume ApollinaireNow you walk in Paris alone in a crowdHerds of buses drive past mooing loudYour throat is gripped with love’s painAs if you should never be loved againIf you lived in the past you’d enter a monasteryYou’re ashame...2025-03-2053 minA Lovely Wallpaper"There is a Zone whose even Years" with Lee Ann BrownIn this episode, Abby interviews Lee Ann Brown, poet and founding editrix of Tender Buttons, about running a small press for 36 years, having Bernadette Mayer as a mentor, setting poems to music, and her own poetry book *In the Laurels Caught*. Together, they present Dickinson’s poem 1056, "There is a Zone whose even Years."Recitation begins at 48:251056, "There is a Zone whose even Years"Emily DickinsonThere is a Zone whose even Years No Solstice interrupt --Whose Sun constructs perpetual Noon Whose perfect Seasons wait --Whose Summer se...2025-02-2554 min
Community of Writers PodcastsBibliocracy Radio: Andrew Tonkovich on A Lovely WallpaperFor this month’s fund drive first edition I air an edited version of a terrific podcast hosted by writer Abby Walthausen featuring me --- of all people! --- as a guest. Its topic is the writer and artist whose work I curated for an exhibition on December 3rd through December 13 at Cerritos College.The views expressed in this program are those of its presenter and guests, and do not necessarily reflect the values of the Community of Writers or its Board of Directors.2025-02-1846 minA Lovely Wallpaper"An Eagle for an Emperor" with Talon Knight and Terri CaseyIn this episode, Abby interviews Talon Knight aka Robert Shallow, about falconry, owls, and the SoCal Renaissance Faire. Terri Casey, director of the Queen’s Court, joins in to read “An Eagle for an Emperor” by Dame Juliana Berners. Recitation begins at 24:06.An Eagle for an EmperorDame Juliana BernersAn Eagle for an Emperor,a Gyrfalcon for a King,a Peregrine for a Prince,a Saker for a Knight,a Merlin for a Lady,a Goshawk for a Yeoman,a Sparrowhawk for a Priest,a Musket for a Holy...2025-01-2030 minA Lovely Wallpaper"What Am I After All" with Andrew TonkovichIn this episode, Abby interviews Andrew Tonkovich, writer, editor of the journals The Santa Monica Review and Citric Acid, and host of the KPFK radio program "Bibliocracy," about a new exhibition he mounted on the art and activism of friend and mentor Peter Carr. The show “Peter Carr: Artist for Survival” is at Cerritos College Art Gallery until December 14th. Together, they present the poem "What Am I After All" by Walt Whitman. Recitation begins at 40:34.What Am I After AllWalt WhitmanWhat am I after all but a child, pleas'd with the sound of m...2024-12-0546 minA Lovely Wallpaper"The Book of Difficult Fruit" with Kate LeboIn this episode, Abby Walthausen interviews Kate Lebo, author of *Pie School* and *Pie and Whiskey*, about the essays and recipes in *The Book of Difficult Fruit: Arguments for the Tart, Tender, and Unruly*. For memory, Lebo presents both a short rule of thumb for pie crust and Robert Frost's "The Rose Family." Recitation begins at 32:50.2024-11-1837 minA Lovely Wallpaper"Requiem for a Friend" with Marie DarrieussecqGuest Marie Darrieussecq, author of more than 20 novels, discusses two of her non-fiction books *Sleepless: A Memoir of Insomnia* and *Being Here is Everything: The Life of Paula Modersohn-Becker*. She reads an excerpt of Rainier Maria Rilke's “Requiem for a Friend.” Recitation begins at 28:31.Rainier Maria Rilke: from “Requiem for a Friend”And fruits: I will buy fruits; and in their sweetnessthat country's earth and sky will live again.For that is what you understood: ripe fruits.You set them before the canvas, in white bowls,and weighed out each one's fullness...2024-10-2839 minA Lovely Wallpaper"Sonnet 66" with Ishion HutchinsonIn this episode, Abby Walthausen interviews Ishion Hutchinson, author of the poetry collections *School of Instructions: a Poem*, *House of Lords and Commons*, and *Far District*. Born in Port Antonio, Jamaica, he is the W.E.B. Du Bois Professor in the Humanities at Cornell University. He reads William Shakespeare's Sonnet 66. Recitation begins at 43:20.Sonnet 66Tired with all these, for restful death I cry,As, to behold desert a beggar born,And needy nothing trimm'd in jollity,And purest faith unhappily forsworn,And gilded honour shamefully misplaced,And maiden virtue rudely strumpeted,2024-08-0756 minA Lovely Wallpaper"On the Beach at Fontana" with Peter OrnerIn this episode, Abby Walthausen interviews Peter Orner, fiction writer and professor of English and Creative writing at Dartmouth College, for a special Bloomsday episode. For memory, they offer up James Joyce's "On the Beach at Fontana," a poem from a tiny chapbook called Pomes Penyeach, which offers a window into Joyce's family life in Trieste during the period when he was writing his masterpiece Ulysses.Recitation begins at 35:20On the Beach at FontanaWind whines and whines the shingle,The crazy pierstakes groan;A senile sea numbers each singleSlimesilvered stone.2024-06-1643 minA Lovely Wallpaper"Sonnet 143" with Susan AngeloIn this episode, Abby Walthausen interviews Susan Angelo, actor, educator, and founder of The Shakespeare Gymnasium! For memory, they offer up William Shakespeare's Sonnet 143 "Lo, as a Careful Housewife Runs to Catch," a very funny poem in which a baby and a chicken stand for competing lovers. Recitation begins at 22:32.Sonnet 143Lo, as a careful housewife runs to catchOne of her feather'd creatures broke away,Sets down her babe, and makes all swift dispatchIn pursuit of the thing she would have stay;Whilst her neglected child holds her in chase,...2024-05-2935 minA Lovely Wallpaper"One Art" with Jos KleyIn this episode, Abby interviews Jos Kley, former singer of the long running Dutch punk band The Ex. Together, they present the poem "One Art" by Elizabeth Bishop. Recitation begins at 35:08.One ArtThe art of losing isn't hard to master;so many things seem filled with the intentto be lost that their loss is no disaster.Lose something every day. Accept the flusterof lost door keys, the hour badly spent.The art of losing isn't hard to master.Then practice losing farther, losing faster:places...2024-04-0755 minA Lovely Wallpaper"Casabianca" with Catherine RobsonIn this episode, Abby interviews Catherine Robson, professor at NYU and author of
"Heart Beats: Everyday Life and the Memorized Poem." Together, they present the poem "Casabianca" by
Elizabeth Bishop. Recitation begins at 36:10.
CasabiancaElizabeth BishopLove's the boy stood on the burning decktrying to recite "The boy stood onthe burning deck." Love's the son stood stammering elocution while the poor ship in flames went down.Love's the obstinate boy, the ship,even the swimming sailors, whowould like a schoolroom platform, too, or an exc...2024-03-0348 minA Lovely Wallpaper"Piping Down the Valleys Wild" with Susie BoytIn this episode, Abby interviews Susie Boyt, author of several books, among them the novel Loved and Missed and the memoir My Judy Garland Life. Together, they present the poem "Piping Down the Valleys Wild," by William Blake.Recitation begins at 25:10Piping Down the Valleys WildWilliam BlakePiping down the valleys wild, Piping songs of pleasant glee,On a cloud I saw a child, And he laughing said to me:—"Pipe a song about a lamb:" So I piped with merry cheer."Piper, pipe that song ag...2024-02-1736 min
Stuff You Missed in History ClassHorace Fletcher, the Great MasticatorHorace Fletcher is best known for starting a food fad in that came to be known as Fletcherism. This early 20th century fad involved, in part, chewing your food A LOT. Research: Bauerlein, Mark. "The Correspondence of William James. Vol. 3: William and Henry. 1897-1910." The Henry James Review, vol. 16 no. 1, 1995, p. 115-117. Project MUSE, doi:10.1353/hjr.1995.0002. Crowninshield, Francis W. “Manners for the Metropolis: An Entrance Key to the Fantastic Life of the 400.” New York. D. Appleton and Company. 1909. Via Babel Trust. https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.31175009622302 Feltman, Rachel. “Fact: Horace Fletcher became a millio...2023-01-2546 min