Wordshakers
Radio Special For Poetry Month
Hosted by Andrei Codrescu (NPR, The Exquisite Corpse)

Wordshakers 1 (23:00 ) featuring:

Lord Alfred Tennyson bangs the podium in "The Charge of the Light Brigade." Thomas Edison waxes Walt Whitman's "America." Cheerleaders Chant" a found-poem. Host Andrei Codrescu decontructs his "Poetry." Denise Levertov knows "The Secret." Carl Sandburg wonders "What is Poetry?" (produced by Barrett Golding). Scott Carrier presents the categorical conundrum of "Alex Caldiero- Poet?" And Ed Sanders poses "A Question of Fame."

Wordshakers 2 (29:00 ) featuring:

Host Codrescu gives a play-by-play of "Poetic Terrorism." DJ Spooky remixes Vladimir Maiakovski. Pre-teen poet Sawyer Shetfs lists "The Sound I Hear at Night." In New Orleans a hot-dog vendor, a barkeep, and a stripper get churned in the "Poetry Combine (produced by Larry Massett). "Soldiers Drill" their found-poem. Jan Kerouac responds to her father's poetry and parenting in "Jan on Jack" (produced by Marjorie Van Halteren). Allen Ginsberg runs a "Personals Ad." Marianne Faithful performs Gregory Corso's "Getting to the Poem." Another poem is found in "Double Dutch Rhymes." Alex Caldiero concludes "Poetry is Wanted Here." And a Phoebe Snow fan helps sing "Poetry Man."

SOURCES / RESOURCES:

Andrei Codrescu assembles The Exquisite Corpse (a Journal of Life and Letters), and is an NPR commentator. "Poetic Terrorism" is from his book New Orleans, Mon Amour : Twenty Years of Writings from the City. Larry and Andrei's radio collaborations are at Medium is the Massett.

Tennyson, Whitman and Levertov are from the book/CD set Poetry Speaks. Ginsberg, Shifts and the found-poems are off The United States Of Poetry CD, part of the USOP project.

"Poetry is Wanted Here," "Jan on Jack," "Alex Caldiero- Poet?" and "What is Poetry?" are all at the Public Radio Exchange, which has more work by producers Halteron, Golding, and Carrier (also check our All Things Carrier).

Ed Sanders' "A Question of Fame" is from his CD Thirsting for Peace. Marianne Faithfull is on Gregory Corso's Die on Me. And the Phoebe Snow Fan was found on a reel-to-reel tape in a Brooklyn junk shop; it comes to us from The Professor of WFMU's Audio Kitchen.

Paul Miller, aka DJ Spooky, mix of poet Vladimir Maiakovski ("Une Aventure Extraordinarie Arrivee" from the Sub Rosa archives) with the music of Yoshio Machida ("Afterimage" from Hypernatural #2). It's part of his book/CD Rhythm Science.

The background image on this page is from the Walt Whitman Notebooks, an online exhibit at the Library of Congeres: American Memory collection.