Hearsay Poetry

Four poets walked into a room and…well. We shared poetry. This episode of Hearsay Poetry is simple and sweet. Featuring a handful of works from Austin poets Jack McCabe, Elaine Fife, Laine Thompson, and myself. Sit back, listen, and we hope you enjoy. Jack McCabe, a Rhode Island-born singer-songwriter, poet, and artist, decided Austin, Texas was the right place to be after many years of working on the railroad. Known around town as "Magic Jack," Austin's flourishing art and music community appeals to him as much as the weather (aka it's all good). Jack majored in fine arts, obtaining a BFA from the University of Rhode Island and a minor in Philosophy. He currently focuses on songwriting, performing, poetry, activism, and supporting the arts in Austin Texas. Laine Thompson has been writing most of his life. The first open mic he hosted was in Rochester, NY at a place called Starry Nites café. When he moved to Austin, TX in 2006 he jumped into the open mic scene and was eventually introduced to Kickbutt Cafe where he became a co-host of the Austin open mic Spoken and Heard [https://www.facebook.com/spokenandheardatx/]. With fellow hosts Ernie B. and Hot Tamale, Laine adopted the stage name Lost In Thought. You can see some of Laine’s poetry on his fan page, facebook.com/litfaceup [http://facebook.com/litfaceup]. Elaine Fife is a San Martian poet and author. She is the host of the San Marcos open mic Poet’s Universe and Facebook group Poetry and Art Share [https://www.facebook.com/groups/1539761776202670/]. She believes in sharing artistic expression to further understanding and love between people. Her writing focuses on universal feelings and metaphorical expression. She uses her gifts to connect others and hold space for intense emotional exploration. When she isn't writing she's going to school to become a therapist, practicing yoga or tarot, and manifesting beautiful things. She does everything with the goal of the higher ascension of community and family in mind.

Mathew Clouser is a poet and bon vivant. His works include Dereliction Omnibus, and the forthcoming Who Do You Think Works Here? He has worked in varying editorial capacities at The Rio Review [https://sites.austincc.edu/crw/for-students/the-rio-review/] and DUENDE [https://www.duendeliterary.org/]. He lives in Austin, Texas where he is a volunteer with Chicon Street Poets [http://chiconstreetpoets.org/]. Take a listen as we discuss his recent thesis on mischief in poetics, the world of Pataphysics (to understand it is to misunderstand it), the evolution of language and form, and the perpetual abstract world. “Is a tree weird in the forest if no one is there to see it?” -Mathew Clouser, The Hearsay Poetry Podcast. Referenced Literature: Trickster Makes This World, Lewis Hyde [https://www.amazon.com/Trickster-Makes-This-World-Mischief/dp/0374532559] Pataphysics: A Useless Guide, Andrew Hugill [https://www.amazon.com/Pataphysics-Useless-Guide-MIT-Press/dp/0262527561] Zong!, M. NourbeSe Philip [https://www.amazon.com/Zong-Wesleyan-Poetry-NourbeSe-Philip/dp/0819571695] Mat can be found canoodling with the Bookhouse Boys collective, and on-line @sumocartwheel.

This is a special podcast (see title). This is a Hearsay Poetry Podcast of firsts: going live, featuring live music, and sharing a little bit of life during this strange time of quarantine. Please note and forgive any “live” moments, such as responding to Facebook comments or invisible hand gestures that don’t make sense. While I love producing this podcast and would love nothing more than to spend hours of my free quarantine time editing this audio down to a perfect listener experience, eh. It’s all gravy baby. Also, we should all know too well now that time isn’t free. Enjoy listening. And watch the live video on Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/hearsaypoetry/videos/2598167397073984/]. Jack Schultz started playing piano at the age of five. At sixteen he started to teach himself guitar and began writing songs. He found a bass guitar at the crossroads while the devil was taking a nap. He’s been laying down bass ever since, even picking up the upright bass to keep the devil off his back. Jack currently plays in four Austin bands: Choctaw Wildfire [https://choctawwildfire.com/home], The Swamp Bats [https://www.facebook.com/TheSwampBats/] (bass), Underwater Ghost Town [https://www.facebook.com/underwaterghosttown/], and Milicent Hughes [https://www.facebook.com/MillicentHughesMusic/] (guitar).

What does it mean to bring a life lived into art? What is your truth? What are the similarities between music, writing, visual arts, and dance? Listen as poet Edith “Blackbird [https://www.facebook.com/blackbird.fly.524]” and I discuss the various ways artists bring their experiences, both personal and external into their work, the diversity of voice, and Edith’s own development as a multi-media poet. Edith was born in the capital of Mexico but raised in Sinaloa state, in a small town near the Pacific coast. She started to participate in local events since elementary school like “Civil Mondays”, writing patriotic and traditional poems to perform for government members at the time alongside some classmates. In middle school, she competed in a statewide contest, winning second place. In 2005, she won second place in the nationwide contest, representing her high school. The Sonora University awarded her an honorable mention for her participation in their regional contest with the piece “Plegarias de Una Luna Enamorada” and was published in their anthology Realidad Aleatoria. In this same year, she discovered Jaime Sabines, a Mexican poet who's work project deep themes about love, loneliness, existential anxiety, and death, impregnated by his own feelings, which show the reality of a changing and decaying society. Now living in Austin since 2017, Edith attends open mics around the city sharing her bilingual art. She has been featured twice for the “Austin Poetry Society” monthly event in 2018. She has won three Hearsay Poetry Ekphrastic Challenges, published on hearsaypoetry.com [https://www.hearsaypoetry.com/].

There are more things in the air this month besides love, heart-shaped balloons, or the societal expectations of mass-produced consumerist holidays (this podcast for example). If you are reading this, chances are you are listening. Though if you haven’t started listening yet, I promise at least an hour’s worth of wonderful discussion about the function of poetry to a poet, the use of metaphor and imagery, how my guest Susan found her poetic voice after writing novels, a ton of fuss and sass from Sgt. Pepper the dog, and a handful of wonderful poetry. Susan Niz [https://www.facebook.com/susannizwriter/]'s most recent chapbook, Left-Handed Like a Lightning Whelk [https://www.finishinglinepress.com/product/left-handed-like-a-lightning-whelk-by-susan-niz/], was published by Finishing Line Press in 2019. Her first poetry chapbook is Beyond this Amniotic Dream (Beard Poetry, Minneapolis, 2016). Her short work has appeared in Wanderlust Journal, The Write Launch, Chaleur Magazine, Typishly, Tipton Poetry Journal, Carnival Literary Magazine, Crack the Spine, Blue Bonnet Review, Two Words For, Belleville Park Pages, Ginosko, Cezanne’s Carrot, Flashquake, Opium Magazine, and Summerset Review. She has been featured in live poetry shows in Minneapolis. Susan writes across genres. Her novel Kara, Lost (North Star Press, 2011) [https://www.amazon.com/Kara-Lost-Susan-Niz/dp/0878393684] was a finalist for a Midwest Book Award (MIPA) for Literary Fiction. She has a Master’s Degree in Education, raises kids, has been a grassroots community organizer, and conserves Monarchs. She recently relocated from Minneapolis, Minnesota to the Austin, Texas area.