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Dennis Morton: Well hello, you are listening to The Poetry- Hello, you're listening to The Poetry Show on KUSP and my name is Dennis Morton. And you know, I know that you're used to having Morton Marcus or myself say this is a very special show.

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But tonight, it truly is a very special show because for the first time in the history of The Poetry Show, most of the former hosts over the long history of The Poetry Show are all here in the studio tonight. We're missing Morton Marcus tonight.

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He is recuperating from an illness and I suspect he will be listening tonight. And those of us here tonight are on my left, Joe Stroud, Gary Young, myself, and Stephen Kessler, Gary and Stephen were hosts- hey guys, when were you hosts of The

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Poetry Show? Stephen Kessler: It's about 1980 to 85, now 86 or 80-81 to 86, something like that? Gary Young: Or 82 to 89?

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Stephen Kessler: It was some- It's back in the day- Dennis Morton: We've got it pegged, we've got it pegged somewhere in the early 80s right? Stephen Kessler: Yeah, it's it's- it's the first half of the

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80s. Dennis Morton: Yeah and Joe, when did you come on? Joseph Stroud: 1924 Dennis Morton: 1924. Joe has been on The Poetry Show longer

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than the poetry show has been on the air. Joseph Stroud: That's true. Stephen Kessler: Transcendental poetic imagination. Joseph Stroud: It was meta- metaphysical.

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Dennis Morton: Yeah, yeah. What was it like being on The Poetry Show back then in '24? Joseph Stroud: We had no microphones back then. Dennis Morton: Yeah, you had to shout a lot.

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Joseph Stroud: We- Very loud. Yes. Dennis Morton: Laryngitis was one of the occupational hazards. Joseph Stroud: I have it right now. I never recovered. Yeah. But there was a- there was someone between Gary and

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Stephen. Didn't Lisa Lowe have the program for a year two? Stephen Kessler: I thought that was before us. Dennis Morton: That was before. That was prior. Joseph Stroud: Oh okay. Right.

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Dennis Morton: Yeah. What was it called? "Striking the Dark Air for Music," or something like that? Stephen Kessler: Before that it was "Ice on a Hot Stove." I forget the names of the of the hosts, but it was two women who

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I think were connected with Bookshop Santa Cruz in some way. Gary Young: Lisa, I think. Stephen Kessler: Well it was- but there was there was a- there were a couple of other people too. But because I remember

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initially it was called "Ice on a Hot Stove," and then it was "Striking the Dark Air for Music." Then Gary and I went minimal and called it "The Poetry Show." Gary Young: It sort of stuck.

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Dennis Morton: Yeah, it's stuck. It's we're- it is the oldest radio poetry program in the United States from all I can gather. Mort, Mort- Mort and I, I thought at least that this was the second oldest one. Grace Cavalieri was my guest one- one

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day on the show and, and I think she was kind of laying claim to having the oldest show. And Mort was listening to the show that night and the next time he and I were both on, he said, you know, Dennis, I got to correct you. Not long after my "Santa Cruz

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Mountain Poems" book came out, I was asked to come on The Poetry Show and that book came out in 72, and it was within a year or so after that, that I was asked to be on The Poetry Show. So that makes us older than Grace's show by three or four years. I

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don't know what- if that's a big deal to be the oldest poetry show and it's probably it's probably quite the opposite of being a big deal. It probably means that poetry needs a lot of- a lot more exposure than it gets. Although longe- there's

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something to be said for longevity. I'm all for longevity. Gary Young: Well, I think the key was, he was ahead of the curve.

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Dennis Morton: Ahead of the curve. Gary Young: This is the- this is the poetry wave is cresting and ready to crash on the airwaves. Dennis Morton: Yeah, well, you know what, aside from being here

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to honor our colleague and friend, Morton Marcus, we're also here to keep The Poetry Show on the air and to help keep KUSP on the air. And we've got a goal tonight of 10 phone calls. And we've so far actually, I think received two calls in

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support of The Poetry Show. So we're, we're well on the way to making that- that goal, Stephen Kessler: The momentum, keep the momentum going folks. Dennis Morton: Yeah and how do we keep that momentum going?

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Stephen Kessler: We can just keep being witty and poetic, and we don't have to ask you too often for money in this- in this hour. We know you're inspired. So just go to your telephones right now. Call 1-888-777-1507 and it's almost painless. You

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can just pledge your money and come back and listen to us be brilliant and- and talk about- talk about the old days in Santa Cruz radio. Dennis Morton: Yeah, what- what was it like in the old days

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because I didn't get here until '83? So, so when you guys first came on, how- you know, you changed it to "The Poetry Show" from "Striking the Dark Air for Music?" Stephen Kessler: All I remember was that at that time, I could

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actually, in my complete mechanical ineptitude, actually run the board. I knew how to run the board, I mean, they trained me and I did it. And now I just would be terrified, facing the computers and all the the CD players. You know, there were

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LPs on the walls instead of CDs. Dennis Morton: LPs thats right. Joseph Stroud: There were no CDs. Yes. Dennis Morton: We remember that far back, no CDs.

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Stephen Kessler: No CDs, we had those little cassette tapes. Gary Young: The room seemed a lot smaller then because they came off the wall so far. Dennis Morton: Well, Joe, you- you came on in '86. Is that

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right? Joseph Stroud: I believe it was. Dennis Morton: You and Mort. So Mort's been on since '86, then? We're now-

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Joseph Stroud: He holds the record, Mort holds the record. Dennis Morton: 21 years, wow. Stephen Kessler: Mort holds a lot of records. Dennis Morton: You know, as I was reading a poem to myself out

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loud this afternoon, one of my favorite of all of Mort's poems, the phone rang, and lo and behold, it was Mort himself. And he said, "Dennis I want to thank you and all the guys who are going to be on the on the show tonight and I'm touched by it."

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And he said, "I would like however, if you started the show off by reading that essay that I wrote for The Good Times," which appeared a little over a year ago. And so I promised him I would. So Mort here is, to the best of my ability reading this

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relatively cold, here is a reading of that essay that you called THE POET AND THE COMMUNITY And it appeared in the Good Times, so maybe a year, year and

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a half ago. Mort writes, All my writing, teaching and organizing artistic events over the years, have been based on my belief that art is not a solitary act of self expression for its own sake, but an

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undertaking for the edification of the entire community. From the start, I never considered the poet, in his role as priest, prophet and shaman, which I believe his role to be, as elevated above or separated from anyone else in the human

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community. Poetry is a job like any other, a labor of head, heart and words, as muscle and planning are for other undertakings that ultimately benefit not only the self, but society. What starts in solitude ends as public consumption. I

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follow Wordsworth's dictum that a poet is, quote, "nothing different in kind from other men, but only in degree, by a greater promptness, to think and feel," and that he has quote again, "a greater power in expressing such thoughts and

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feelings." And Wordsworth adds significantly, for me, that these thoughts and feelings are expressed in the common language of men. I had no difficulty with the apparent contradiction in those statements, which imply that the poet is like other men,

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but different from them. Because I saw myself as just one human being, among others, different from them only in that my occupation as poet was different. I had a job, an expertise, in the same way a shoemaker, a steel worker, a

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businessman, or a scientist had. And all our efforts benefited society in different ways. These ideas have guided my teaching from the beginning. In 1972, I wrote for the Journal of English, teaching techniques that what readers experience and

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half create in the poem is the primal vision they have forgotten, or which society with its moral and economic needs, has trained out of them. Thus, at first, the poem acts as a tool of recognition, enabling readers to see who and where

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they are as social beings, and who and where they are as individuals. In the first, they are members of a social group. In the second, they are evolving spiritual entities. Therefore, the poem allows us to rediscover our spiritual selves, its

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function is to put us in touch with our feelings or in a deeper sense to reveal to us once again, the primal vision, the psychic and physical goals of both the human race and life itself, which are indelibly- indelibly stained on our

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chromosomes. By the 1990s, these notions had made me question the efficacies of the personal lyric, the most common type of poem being produced in American poetry, the personal lyric, which explores feelings, states, and impressions, had come to be

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used more as a form of self expression, even therapy, and I wrote, "We've gone too far with the personal lyric. If as a society we are too self indulgent, in our literature, we've become too self absorbed. We pamper and preen ourselves

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and whine over the slightest trespasses against us. In pursuit of the personal, we've turned away from our place in the larger worlds of society, the nation, the planet, and history, and we've trapped ourselves in the household of

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our petty self-concerns, and domestic relationships." I went on to say, "the attempt to speak to the human condition must replace our puling about our individual lots. The guideline I've always used in my work is that when speaking about myself,

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I make sure that my conclusions reflect the concerns of all humanity, or in other words, that they move from individual to universal concerns." I was addressing those ideas in particular to language poets and the plethora of memoirs that

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were flooding the market, and creative writing classes at the time. In the language poets I found the pursuit of a private utterance that was intrinsically solipsistic the antithesis of what I thought poetry should be. As far as my own writing was

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concerned, I made clear that my poetry and prose are easy to understand, and extremely vivid because of their direct everyday language and use of imagery. However, the difficulty for the reader is that my poetry does not reflect the world as he

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ordinarily sees it. And I continued, in my poetry reality is used as a facade to reveal scenes chosen from everyday life, transformed by fantasy, folklore and myth, into a dream world which reveals the inner life of things. I am not a

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realistic writer. My poetry evokes an inner world reflecting the outer one in metaphor and simile. At times, it reads like funhouse mirror distortions of the everyday world, showing the world in fresh and at times grotesque ways. In the end, when

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my poems are successful, I hope they enlarge the world of the reader by quickening and enriching his sense of life, and affirming his relationship with his fellow humans, and with all elements of the planet by evoking the sacredness of

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existence. All of these conceptions can be applied to teaching where I saw my task is making the student acutely aware of the world around him. So he would think critically about it. And that my fellow Poetry Show hosts, is what Mort- an essay

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that Mort wrote for the Good Times that appeared about a year and a half. Any thoughts guys on on that, while I get a sip of water here? Joseph Stroud: Well, I agree with about half of it. Mort and

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I, we know we'd go around about this a lot. But what I think his major point is that you know that poetry, like all of the arts is something that enlarges our life, whether it's lyric, or dramatic poem, or narrative poem, or prose poem, or even a

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language poem. That's, that's the concern for me, I don't care about the theory. I care about poems that make a difference in my life. Yeah, that's my major concern. Stephen Kessler: Yes, I certainly agree with some of the

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things that that Morton says in that essay, but as a person who writes what I think are personal lyrics, although I don't really think of- think about them in conceptual terms that way, but it seems like if, and this is certainly true of a lot of

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Morton's poems, too, that if you- if you enter your experience, your own experience at a deep enough level, that's where you find the universal. It's not as by writing about your life, you're automatically cutting yourself off from the

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world. But if you just dwell on the surface of your experience, that's- that's the problem, you know. I think that poetry at its best goes way down into a place that is archetypal. And so, if you have a personal experience that you penetrate deeply

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enough, then you're going to reach the experience of a lot of other people. Gary Young: I think that's that dream world that Mort talks about,

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Joseph Stroud: Right. Gary Young: I think we might define it differently. But I think that's what he's- what he's talking about, that this world is the dream world once we get down to that level, and

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poems take us there. Joseph Stroud: Well, here's- let me read a poem of Mort's. Gary Young: Yeah Joseph Stroud: This is a poem that Mort wrote many, many years

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ago, and it came from a pitch night, someone from Gonzalez, down below Salinas called and pitched and gave us some money and Mort said, "well, you know, I'm gonna write you a poem." And this is the poem that Morton wrote from that pitch night.

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THE POEM FOR GONZALES, CALIFORNIA It's called For Tony Doyle, who was the person who called in that night. Gonzales will always be a cold, clear night in early March, a

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place on Highway 101 between Soledad and Salinas. Where returning late from a trip to Santa Barbara, I chose to pull off the road and drive into a field, exhausted, sick in soul, halfway to divorce, and as sure of my own death, as I was of the

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sour milk taste coating the inside of my mouth. When I switched off the engine, I heard the breathing of my two small daughters asleep in the backseat and I knew that they would continue on without me, that the world would be, with no fanfare

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and less concern. A deep quiet settled around the car, the dark field incircled me. The stars, a glittering panorama through the windshield, ticked across the sky. I was more alone than I'd ever been, and didn't know where that realization would lead me.

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Shut in that car, an insect in this [unidentified] surrounded by the field and the endless inching movement of the stars. I listened to the breathing from the backseat, knowing that whatever I decided would determine the rest of my life.

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10 minutes later, I flipped on the ignition and drove toward home. This happened in Gonzales, California, a town that a friend now tells me has been taken off the map. It happened in a field I could never find again, but have marked in my memory as the

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place at my back I start from and continue on. That's a straight ahead lyric poem. Dennis Morton: It's beautiful. I'd forgotten about that poem. I remember Joe reading- or I remember Mort reading that once.

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That's- what- what book is that from Joe? Joseph Stroud: That's from "Shouting Down the Silence." Dennis Morton: Okay, and that was published when? Joseph Stroud: Poems from 1988 to 2001, verse poems he calls

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them, as opposed to prose poems, which is something he got involved with. Dennis Morton: He did didn't he? I got the- [crosstalk]. Stephen Kessler: So let's just remind our listeners that it's

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time to call and pledge your support for poetry on KUSP, the number is 1-888-777-1507, or you can do it on your computer at kusp.org. But by all means, call in and support this kind of, let us say unconventional radio programming, which you won't

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find at too many other stations, especially at the level of the poem that you just heard. Joseph Stroud: Maybe there's someone in Gonzales who wants to call, or Davenport?

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Stephen Kessler: Gonzales, where are you? Maybe there's- Dennis Morton: Is Gonzales still on the map? Joseph Stroud: It's on the map now. [crosstalk] back on the map.

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Dennis Morton: So it disappeared and where did it go when it took-? Joseph Stroud: I have no idea! Dennis Morton: The famous disappearing Gonzales.

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Stephen Kessler: So yeah, if your name is Gonzales, if you live in Gonzales, if you know someone named Gonzales= Dennis Morton: We will accept your contribution right here on KUSP and The Poetry Show will be going for another 30 years, with

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new sets of hosts at some point in the future. Joseph Stroud: We're not going to last that much longer. Dennis Morton: Yeah, well, I've got three people to thank. David States phoned in, John Blitz phoned in with a generous

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contribution, and Judy Gear phoned in, so thanks to those three folks. And that gets us 30% of the way to our goal of 10 calls, 10 contributions to keep KUSP healthy and to keep The Poetry Show rolling. So we did, you know- I was hoping that each

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of you might read a poem of your own, too, because this is rare to have all you guys on the- on the show at one time. I know, Joe, you don't want to do that and I won't, I won't- I won't push you to read them.

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Joseph Stroud: I came here to honor Mort. Dennis Morton: We won't hold the gun to your head. Joseph Stroud: Okay Dennis Morton: We won't do that Joe, this is an act of

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apophasis. Joseph Stroud: I see. Dennis Morton: Yeah Joseph Stroud: An act of what?

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Dennis Morton: An act of apophasis. That's- that's to say something in the act of saying you won't say it. Stephen Kessler: Oh, that's a really interesting term. I never heard that before.

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Dennis Morton: Yeah, it's a great, its a great word. Stephen Kessler: Where, where else on the radio can you hear a word like "apophasis?" Dennis Morton: Yeah, not- not many places

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Stephen Kessler: And have it defined? Dennis Morton: Well, who'd like to read a favorite Mort poem next? Stephen, I see you- Stephen Kessler: I have- I have Mort's first book here, which I

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reached back into- Dennis Morton: Is that a Kay k boo Stephen Kessler: It's a Kayak book, Origins- "Origins" publish d by George Hitchcock. And this s really a wonderful poem th

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t I just happened to open the ook to this afternoon. It's ca BIOGRAPHY His mother says, "look at that mess," and takes away his voice. His mother says, "a boy your age" and takes his hands away.

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"Don't sit inside, go out and play" and takes away his hair. She says, "You eat my heart out you" and takes herself away. Says, "can't you see you're killing me," and takes herself back. Hairless, handless, without a voice, he limps to his

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manhood, and finds the girl who's waiting there. "I love you so" She says crying and kissing his several scars, and takes his life away, and lives with it until it dies. Dennis Morton: And that first Kayak book, when was that

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published? Stephen Kessler: '69 I think, I've bought a copy of it, '69 yeah, '69. You know, I have to- this is a great opportunity, if you'll indulge me, to say that I actually met Morton Marcus in

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1968 through the mail when I was editing the Lampeter Muse at Bard College in upstate New York and Morton somehow- Word got around that we were looking for poems, and Morton sent in poems. I published one of his poems. It was a prose poem called "Poem

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for my Ear." So it was one of his earlier prose poems. And then when I came out to Santa Cruz to go to graduate school, Morton, he had just come down from San Francisco where he was like a basketball coach at some high school up there-

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Joseph Stroud: Wilmerding Link- Stephen Kessler: No, re- Lick Wilmerding Joseph Stroud: Yeah, he was not only a basketball coach, but he was an English teacher as well.

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Stephen Kessler: English teacher too, yeah. Dennis Morton: Wait a minute, would you say that Linker Dink thing again? Stephen Kessler: Lick- Lick. Wilmerding its- it's a- it's a

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two name- Joseph Stroud: It's a private- Stephen Kessler: It's a very good high school in San Francisco

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Joseph Stroud: Very prestigious Stephen Kessler: One of the top high schools, in San Francisco Dennis Morton: Still- still there? Stephen Kessler: As far as I know. I'm pretty sure. So-

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Dennis Morton: So only people who can pronounce it can go there. Stephen Kessler: Right. It's not that hard when you actually see it. But so Mort came down to teach at Cabrillo and I came out

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here to go to graduate school and we met like in the fall of 1968. So I've known Mort for almost 40 years and and, you know, it's just, it's been one party after another. One poetry, you know, poetry event and- and- and collision after another,

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it's been it's been really amazing. When- when Mort was running the series at- well, it started out at at a restaurant up on the- on Laurel Stree called the "Immediate Family, which later became the "Babblin Brook." But in- he started

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a series there, then it went up, I think, to the Whole Ear h restaurant at UCSC, and then it was at Zachary's. I think t at was really where in its heyd y, right, Zachary's and there wa a poetry reading every l ke Tuesday night, every Tues

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ay night, and there were wo usually local poets. There wa a huge, well, not huge, but th re was a solid community of peo le who would come to those readi gs and basically Morton alm st single handedly, I mean, w th the help of the poets that

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he recruited, he built a poe ry community in this town, in he early- in the early through t e- all through the 70s, really nd now, he never- he never stopp d, of course. But that to me, or me personally, at that time in my life as a writer, was suc

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a vital forum, to listen to, to my- my peers, and to read my wn poems and to to interact w th with other poets. I just th I- you know, I've heard stories about the Civic Center been nk it was one of the most excit ng moments in the cultural hist

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ry of Santa Cruz since I've b en here. Because it was an opportunity to, to connect, ou know, in that community way t at he was talking about in his in his es filled up once or twice with great, great poetry events.

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Joseph Stroud: Righ Dennis Morton: Was Mort involved in that? Joseph Stroud: I think, that was mostly- what's his name- Dalessandro

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Stephen Kessler: Jim Dalessandro and Jerry Kamstra Gary Young: Jerry Kamstra Stephen Kessler: Yeah, yeah, Mort- Mort wasn't- See the thing is that those guys were really into the showbiz aspect of

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poetry, you know, like, put on a big spectacular thing, get lots of people out there, get lots of superstar, you know, well-known poets and fill up the Civic and those were a lot of fun. But in the day to day, in the trenches, you know, building- building it

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one poet at a time, and giving the- the people who weren't known an opportunity to be heard, and to hear each other, that was really Morton's accomplishment, I think, and his- his gift to the community.

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Dennis Morton: This is wonderful to learn about all of this, lots of which I had not known. Gary, do you have a favorite poem of Mort's that you'd like to share with us? Gary Young: Yes, but I'm gonna read another one.

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Dennis Morton: A different one? Gary Young: This is not my very favorite poem, but- Dennis Morton: Alright Gary Young: When I saw that Stephen had brought in

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"Origins," this is a special book for me because I wrote about it for my MFA thesis, and- Dennis Morton: About this poem? Gary Young: About this whole book; this is one of the- one of

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the books that was- was in my, my exam, as such as it was. So I just wanted to read one of these poems that I've known in a long time. LEARN TO BE WATER

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Learn to be water. Direction is any way you can travel, your shape, whatever you naturally become. Let the moon strum your belly, the planets beckon and tug. Learn to be water. Dennis Morton: I- sorry to say that I do not own a copy of that

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Kayak book. When I first came to Santa Cruz in 1983, I remember there was a humongous stack of Kayak books in the basement of "Logos." And I'd never even heard of Kayak at the time. And now you can't- you can't put your hands on Kayak books there-

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they've long since become collector's items. Joe, you probably- Stephen Kessler: You probably can find a few in my closet. [Laughter]

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Dennis Morton: I haven't looked in your closet, Stephen! [Laughter] Stephen Kessler: Because, yeah, I had- my first book was published by Kayak also.

00:27:18.580 - 00:27:25.420

Dennis Morton: Oh, wow. George must have been the first publisher of a lot of poets. Joseph Stroud: He published my first poem. Dennis Morton: He did?

00:27:25.420 - 00:27:35.790

Joseph Stroud: In Kayak, yeah, way back in 1966. Dennis Morton: And George is still going. Joseph Stroud: Still going. Dennis Morton: He gave up poetry for painting.

00:27:36.540 - 00:27:49.120

Stephen Kessler: He's always been a good artist. Dennis Morton: Yeah. Yeah. Well, I heard the phone ring again, I think I heard a couple of phone calls, which means we must be close to halfway to our goal of 10 calls. And that's appropriate

00:27:49.120 - 00:28:00.910

because we're almost halfway through this edition of The Poetry Show on which we are honoring our friend and colleague, Mort Marcus by reading some of his poems and telling stories, recollections.

00:28:00.910 - 00:28:07.530

Joseph Stroud: We're not going to tell all the stories. Dennis Morton: Not all of the stories. Stephen Kessler: Oh, actually- Dennis Morton: Tell me one of the stories you're not going to tell.

00:28:06.950 - 00:28:14.050

Joseph Stroud: [Cross talk] I dare not. Stephen Kessler: Mort will tell us his own stories when his memoir comes out [cross talk] in spring, I guess. Gary Young: Yeah.

00:28:14.560 - 00:28:26.860

Stephen Kessler: What's it? "Striking Through the Masks," he wrote a humungous autobiography or memoir, I guess, of poets that he's known and so that should be very interesting, indeed. The number here for those of you who are just too

00:28:26.890 - 00:28:43.420

entranced by our conversation to even think of going to the phone is, 1-888-777-1507 or go to KUSP.org on the internet, but call us up because we really like to see the little- the little red light go on when the- when the phone rings.

00:28:43.430 - 00:28:56.070

Dennis Morton: I love to hear it, love to see that. Stephen Kessler: Yeah, this is- this is the chance, you know, The Poetry Show is just one among many very eccentric programs you hear on KUSP. And I think it's really one of the

00:28:56.070 - 00:29:09.960

things I like about public radio, and, and especially a station that stays, you know, part local, part international, like KUSP is, is that it just gives you the opportunity to hear things that you're not going to hear otherwise. And it

00:29:09.960 - 00:29:25.080

serves a community that's not very much served by the so-called "mainstream media," which is really, you know, the marketers' least common denominator media, that they think if you're- if you're stupi enough, you'll buy anything, an

00:29:25.110 - 00:29:44.730

if they just browbeat you lon enough, you- you might, you kno , buy their product. Well, a l we're selling here is is rad o and the radio that actual y belongs to you. So give us a call 888-777-1507 and suppo t this kind of, let us s

00:29:44.730 - 00:29:57.540

y offbeat- offbeat medi Dennis Morton: Well, we have received another call and I'm holding in my hand. the name of a person. His name is Len Anderson. You ever hear that guy before?

00:29:57.000 - 00:30:08.970

Joseph Stroud: That sounds very familiar. [Cross talk] Dennis Morton: Sounds familiar to me to, yeah. Stephen Kessler: He's has, he is like a secret- the secret power n Santa Cruz poetry.

00:30:06.280 - 00:30:14.530

Dennis Morton: That's what I hear. Yeah. Yeah. Stephen Kessler: No way of telling though, because it's a secret. Gary Young: He's- he stays pretty invisible but his- his

00:30:14.530 - 00:30:26.470

works are manifested in various ways. Dennis Morton: Are they not? Yes they are, indeed, and thank you Len Anderson for your generous contribution to The Poetry Show. It's not the first time and I'm sure it won't be the last time.

00:30:26.710 - 00:30:42.760

I also want to thank Susan Freeman for coming in to do the boards tonight for us. I know that she's battling laryngitis or a sore throat, and we hope that- that she's toward the end of that infirmity, rather than- than the beginning. There's been

00:30:42.760 - 00:31:08.050

a nasty flu going around guys. We will say the number one more time, 1-888-777-1507 in hope that that precipitates an avalanche of phone calls. It's a beautiful sound here on The Poetry Show when the- when the phone rings. And now, now Gary

00:31:08.050 - 00:31:21.100

and Stephen, I know you are not averse to reading one of your own poems, are you? Stephen Kessler: No, I'm not averse to reading my verse. Dennis Morton: Averse, what was- what was I thinking? What was I

00:31:21.100 - 00:31:27.750

thinking? Gary Young: You know, I've picked out all these poems of Mort's. I think I'd rather- I'd rather read at least one more of Mort's.

00:31:27.790 - 00:31:35.580

Dennis Morton: Okay, you go ahead and read one more Mort poem, but sometime before the next half hour is over, I want you to read one of yours, please. Gary Young: Alright well- [cut off]

00:31:41.450 - 00:31:56.720

-never once in word or gesture has he referred to it. I call him three minutes later. Remarried, no longer a drunk, he says, "Your refusal to answer made me see how foolish I was and caused me to change my life."

00:31:59.090 - 00:32:12.270

Dennis Morton: And that's from what? Gary Young: "Moments Without Names," it's just such a marvelous Ars Poetica and it also is so eloquent- a depiction of how poetry changes our lives, you know, that you- you get

00:32:12.270 - 00:32:24.330

changed, you get touched in the most unexpected ways. And Mort has always been very, very keen to point those ways out. Joseph Stroud: And also that- that quirky humor that Mort is so adept at.

00:32:27.150 - 00:32:33.250

Dennis Morton: He doesn't seem like a quirky guy, but he is, isn't he? [cross talk] Joseph Stroud: -can be quirky sometimes. Gary Young: Yeah.

00:32:33.750 - 00:32:44.920

Stephen Kessler: But he's- he's definitely out of the mainstream. I mean- Dennis Morton: There is only one [cross talk] one Mort Marcus, yeah. And we know that before too very long he'll be back here

00:32:45.190 - 00:32:52.760

on The Poetry Show. Stephen Kessler: But that wit is one of the- one of the great things in- in Morton's poetry. Joseph Stroud: Yeah, the com-, you know, the comedy, the comic

00:32:52.760 - 00:33:05.780

sensibility, which is rare in poetry and he's certainly a master, no question. Dennis Morton: All right, so and if this is a game of catch-up, it means that Stephen and Joe owe us one more Morton poem and,

00:33:06.080 - 00:33:19.730

and then we'll- then we'll talk a little bit about pitching. We're doing pretty well so far. Stephen Kessler: Well, let's, let's remind our listeners that the number to call is 1-888-777-1507. Make us happy by

00:33:20.270 - 00:33:37.220

making that little red light go on and the telephones ring, an make yourself happy by knowin that you are helping to increas the momentum and the strength o KUSP as your local public radi station, or regional actually. The signal goes- you know,

00:33:37.220 - 00:33:52.460

sometimes when I was living up on the coast, which I occasionally still do, up in Mendocino County, I would at night, I could get the signal of KUSP coming over the water. And I could listen to- In fact, one time I called Nate Mackey when

00:33:52.460 - 00:34:05.030

he- his show was on and I said, "Hey, Nate, it's, you know, I'm listening to you up in Mendocino County." And it was, it was, it was quite amazing that- that- t hear- so that the signal, it's big signal, and it goes all ove the place and I know there ar

00:34:05.030 - 00:34:20.060

many translators an transmitters up in the- alon the ridges of Big Sur and place but- so if you're out ther somewhere in a- in the, yo know, Salinas Valley or, or u in Marin, or wherever you'r listening to us, give us a cal

00:34:20.060 - 00:34:31.980

and let us know where you ar and let us know that you suppor public radio Dennis Morton: We go down as far as San Luis Obispo now, so that's pretty cool. You know, just before- Stephen, you're

00:34:31.980 - 00:34:50.010

gonna read a poem, is that it? Just before you do read another poem by Mort, I want to thank Judith and I want to thank Moon for their generous contributions to KUSP. We have five or six more calls to receive here, I think, although there've been a

00:34:50.010 - 00:35:07.860

few more calls since I last looked at the board. Oh my goodness, yes. I want to thank Margarita for her generous contribution and I want to thank Dorothy for hers. We're making progress, folks here. We got about 25 minutes left and we've

00:35:07.860 - 00:35:23.310

got at least four more calls that we're looking for, to meet our minimum. We'd like to exceed our minimum, it would- it would make us feel awfully good, wouldn't it? Oh my goodness! Do you know where Dorothy- okay guys, you get one guess. Where

00:35:23.310 - 00:35:28.470

do you think? Joseph Stroud: Gonzalez. Dennis Morton: Joe! You're right! Joseph Stroud: I am. All right!

00:35:30.430 - 00:35:41.560

Dennis Morton: That's why he's Joe Stroud, isn't it? That's it. And there's that phone ringing again. That's beautiful. Stephen Kessler: We like that sound. Dennis Morton: Will you guys come back next week, please?

00:35:42.460 - 00:35:58.660

Stephen Kessler: Well, I have another sales convention to attend, a sales seminar to give, the art of salesmanship, as you- as you all know, I've been a great success as a salesman all my life. Let me read a poem that- of Morton's that I

00:35:58.750 - 00:36:10.300

stumbled upon this afternoon when I was looking through his books. And I don't often think of Morton as a feminist poet, you know, but check this out. This is called "The Women in the Photograph." This is from his book called "Pages from a

00:36:10.300 - 00:36:16.640

Scrapbook of Immigrants: a Journey in Poems" Dennis Morton: Is that the Gray Wolf book? Stephen Kessler: This is the Coffee House. Dennis Morton: The Coffee House, yeah.

00:36:16.900 - 00:36:35.500

Stephen Kessler: And it's really a biography of this family, told in in- in poems. And it's- it' really quite, you know, this i another case where he's tellin his personal story, but it rise to an archetypal level. An undoubtedly, this poem wa

00:36:35.500 - 00:36:42.920

inspired by looking at some ol photographs of his family, it' calle THE WOMEN IN THE PHOTOGRAPH Or maybe A- An Old Photograph.

00:36:43.440 - 00:37:00.510

The women are like onions: layers of wool, linen, and lace surround an inner self they are unable to imagine. Are they only an enclosed dampness, a skinny sob robed in sour breath? Mothers, aunts, full-grown sisters: they sit inside their

00:37:00.510 - 00:37:18.330

clothes, as in this photograph- corseted, tied, and strapped, collared to the chin, cuffed to the wrist, hemmed to the heel- aware of pressing hoops, and pinching stays and the tightening grip of high-buttoned shoes. Every day they sit and

00:37:18.330 - 00:37:38.220

swell, every day a little wider, swell around the vague core none of them can comprehend. Every day: waiting, waiting for they can't imagine what, the taste in their mouths bitter, bitter. They sigh, groan, shift in their chairs, even weep. Aches settle

00:37:38.220 - 00:37:54.960

in their backs, in their elbows, emerge as cramps in their insteps, tremors in their teeth. Who are the other women then, the ones who chop cabbage, simmer soup, polish furniture until the furniture glows, unearthly, like gardening-

00:37:55.050 - 00:38:10.170

guardian effigies in sacred tombs? Who are they, then, who bear children, scold weather, spank sickness from every cobwebbed corner, hold on through pillage and rape, through night after night of drunken weight upon their

00:38:10.170 - 00:38:27.240

breasts? Can the women in the photograph be these women too- women who hold on, hold on, and will not let go? Dennis Morton: Thank you, Stephen. Stephen Kessler: Oh thank you, Morton. That's a poem by Morton

00:38:27.240 - 00:38:41.650

Marcus from a book called "Pages from a Scrapbook of Immigrants." Dennis Morton: Coffee House Press. Yeah, that was sometime in the late 90s or- When was that Joe? Do you remember? Gary Young: Maybe early 90s wasn't it?

00:38:42.110 - 00:38:51.460

Joseph Stroud: Early 90s. Dennis Morton: 88, it's 88. Joseph Stroud: I was way wrong. Okay. Yeah. Dennis Morton: You know, I- there's a poem that I have, a

00:38:51.460 - 00:39:13.000

favorite poem of Mort's, and I would like to read that and then leave the rest of the show for you guys to reminisce and read his work. My favorite poem of Mort's is in "Big Winds, Glass Mornings, Shadows Cast by Stars," from Jazz Press, and

00:39:13.000 - 00:39:29.220

it's called "The Long Line." I even got him to read this on air once, I think. THE LONG LINE Each morning I slap my chest, stretch my arms, and say, "So

00:39:29.220 - 00:39:49.920

this is life, this is my body: Well, what do you know! This is grand!" and try to forget all the dead bodies from which my body has emerged, that infinity of deaths leaning against me, as if I walked at the head of a long line made of bones.

00:39:50.700 - 00:40:11.280

Sometimes I lean back, trying to shove the line into a closet with my shoulder, but the weight behind it is immense, and so it follows me all day, footstep to footstep, leg to leg, it's chest against my back, pushing me forward. I slam my elbows into

00:40:11.280 - 00:40:30.450

it, try to kick it with my heels, then flick the sweat from my forehead, saying aloud, "So this is life, this is my body: Well, what do you know. This is grand." It's like being the head of a battering ram hurtled toward a concrete wall. And it

00:40:30.450 - 00:40:48.900

picks up speed, I swear it. Each day it picks up speed, hustling me forward, and I must jog to keep up, saying, "So this is my life, this is my body, etc." until I'm sprinting through the streets as if running from my shadow, shuffling errands like a

00:40:48.900 - 00:41:08.520

card sharp, while barbers and old ladies shake their heads. It will end against a building, or the grille of a truck. I know I'm being aimed, but I don't know at what, maybe at the boy in front of me wholm I bump with my belly and steer by the elbows

00:41:08.520 - 00:41:25.080

and who endlessly recites, "So this is life, this is my body: Well, what do you know! This is grand!" I love that poem, thank you for writing it Mort, if you're listening.

00:41:25.480 - 00:41:30.120

Gary Young: And you see this is- that was the next one I was going to read. Dennis Morton: You we're going to read that? Nah! Gary Young: A greatest hit.

00:41:30.480 - 00:41:51.020

Dennis Morton: Yeah. Okay, so that's two of us. Joe you- Stephen Kessler: The Poetry Show on KUSP, and if you would like to hear The Poetry Show continue for many years to come, now's the time. Call us at 1-888- 1-888-777-1507, 1-888-777-1507.

00:41:51.130 - 00:42:08.830

Pledge your support for independent, free speech, no holds barred, improvisational radio. Give us a call and make your investment in this kind of programming. Dennis Morton: Yeah, I mean, you can go to the web to

00:42:10.120 - 00:42:22.360

www.kusp.org, but if you call you get extra karma points because it makes us all happy. We see the flashing light, we hear the- we hear the bells, we get like little kids. Stephen Kessler: Our serotonin reuptake inhibitors are

00:42:22.360 - 00:42:33.800

stimulated. Dennis Morton: Yeah, that's what I meant to say, Stephen. Yeah. Yeah. Hey, so I've lost track of whose turn it is to read a Morton poem, I have a feeling that it might be Joe. Yeah.

00:42:35.580 - 00:42:50.760

Joseph Stroud: This is a poem of Mort's from "Where the Oceans Cover Us," an early book of his. One of the great influences on Mort's early work especially was Pablo Neruda. And this is a poem called "Serenade to the Poet," which is a poem that's dedicated

00:42:50.760 - 00:43:02.420

to Pablo Neruda. SERENADE TO THE POET for Pablo Neruda. This is the voice that speaks for cats, consoles the troubles

00:43:02.420 - 00:43:22.490

of fleas, sobs with widows and old men, whispers with dust in midnight houses, and extends the patience of trees. The same voice that traces the sweat on working backs, and shakes a rain into the forests. It can perform the pantomime of spiders, or

00:43:22.490 - 00:43:39.560

imitate mountains clearing their throats. In one syllable it hollows crystal caverns of salt, and pressures into diamond, the green lights asleep in an underground fern. For the moment of its speech, this voice dissolves barriers between sea

00:43:39.560 - 00:44:00.200

and sky, man and man, between the cloth and its design, the burro and the snake, shack and tree, between ancestors and jellies of unreleased sperm. This voice makes the donkey understand Spanish and the cow speak it. It can displace the

00:44:00.200 - 00:44:16.610

iron heart of a mountain and discover the dwarf of stone who sleeps inside. And this is the voice whose subterranean light creates weird lamps like fish beneath the sea, and lights the stars from inside.

00:44:18.310 - 00:44:25.010

Dennis Morton: Thank you, Joe and again, thank you, Mort. Yo know, I bet he's listening, wha do you think guys Stephen Kessler: Mort if you're listening, call up and pledge Joseph Stroud: He better!

00:44:25.010 - 00:44:30.650

Dennis Morton: Where's your pledge, Mort! already. Come on. Stephen Kessler: If you don't pledge tonight, I don't know what-

00:44:34.360 - 00:44:44.500

Dennis Morton: Well, I've got- I've got some good news. We've got a another wonderful phone call received from Edwin Haskell. Thank you very much, Edwin Haskell for your generosity.

00:44:44.660 - 00:44:52.240

Stephen Kessler: Is that Eddie Haskell from the "Leave it to Beaver?" Dennis Morton: I don't think he's, he- He's probably never heard that before. So- Who? would you say that again?

00:44:52.570 - 00:44:58.030

Stephen Kessler: Eddie Haskell Dennis Morton: Eddie Haskell from? Stephen Kessler: Wasn't? Wasn't Eddie Haskell on Leave it- "Leave it to Beaver?"

00:44:58.000 - 00:45:10.360

Dennis Morton: Yeah. I was just- I was just- I missed, I was off. Yeah, that's the that's the same guy. It is. We're gonna hear from the Beaver next. Stephen Kessler: That's great. And how about Ozzie and Harriet?

00:45:10.360 - 00:45:16.510

Are they gonna- are they listening? Dennis Morton: Ozzie and Harriet, oh yeah, any of those guys left? Gary Shapiro: David.

00:45:17.110 - 00:45:30.940

Dennis Morton: David's left. Yeah, that was the voice of Gary Shapiro who will be on at nine o'clock, folks. I don't know if you've been listening to "From the Bookshelf" lately, but Gary has been doing such incredible work. He's getting these great

00:45:31.570 - 00:45:49.390

interview conversations. I think they're more like conversations with writers from all over the place. And three cheers for Gary and "From the Bookshelf." Stay tuned at eight o'clock for that. I mean, at nine o'clock, right at nine o'clock. What do I mean?

00:45:49.390 - 00:46:05.110

I don't even know what I mean anymore. Anyway, thanks to- sorry for any, any laughter at the expense of your name. Edwin Haskell that's probably why he- he is Edwin. Stephen Kessler: Edwin- certainly I- with all respect

00:46:05.110 - 00:46:12.580

Edwin I'm really happy that you- that you pledged support for KUSP. Dennis Morton: Edwin is very generous and he's calling from King City.

00:46:12.640 - 00:46:18.280

Stephen Kessler: All right. Dennis Morton: So we're touching spots all over the place. Joseph Stroud: We're getting close to Gonzales. Dennis Morton: We're getting- Yeah, that's not far from

00:46:18.280 - 00:46:24.040

Gonzales. Joseph Stroud: We've got one from Gonzalez, one from King City now. Dennis Morton: Yeah. Now- Now we need one from what? Santa Cruz?

00:46:24.310 - 00:46:31.160

Joseph Stroud: Santa Cruz, Boulder Creek, Ben Lomond. Gary Young: Capitola Joseph Stroud: What's- is the north part of the county alive? Are they listening?

00:46:31.220 - 00:46:37.690

Stephen Kessler: Let's hear from Davenport, already. Dennis Morton: Davenport, that would be good. Gary Young: Bonny Doon Dennis Morton: Bonny Doon, now that's a poetic place, Bonny

00:46:37.690 - 00:46:41.950

Doon, yeah. Joseph Stroud: What's poetic about that? Dennis Morton: What's poetic about that? Haven't you been there?

00:46:42.010 - 00:46:46.520

Joseph Stroud: I've been there but what- I want you to tell me what's poetic about it? Dennis Morton: Well, I'm gonna tell you after the show, Joe. [Laughter]

00:46:49.370 - 00:46:59.900

Stephen Kessler: You're listening to KUSP and you're listening to poets getting a little giddy with this- this- the sales euphoria we're engaged in? Dennis Morton: Yeah!

00:46:59.900 - 00:47:12.080

Stephen Kessler: It is 888-777-1507 is the number to call. We are on a roll here. The phones are really ringing they're not exactly off the hook. But they're ringing- Dennis Morton: No, we're waiting for them

00:47:12.100 - 00:47:18.700

Stephen Kessler: -rather steadily and- Dennis Morton: We got two people back there looking a little glum, they're waiting Stephen Kessler: Keep that up. Let's see that red light blink

00:47:18.700 - 00:47:30.490

and those telephones ring. Dennis Morton: In the meantime, I want to thank Joanna. Now, Joanna's first name has been highlighted with a magic marker. So maybe that means that I shouldn't pronounce- shouldn't

00:47:30.550 - 00:47:46.660

say her last name. But Joanna has given us a very, very generous gift here. And I want to reiterate that John Blitz started it all off with a wonderful gift. He's been doing that for quite a number of shows in succession. So thanks to

00:47:46.660 - 00:48:04.810

everybody who's been contributing I- I've got a good feeling about us making our- our goal. There is another- another phone call. We've got about 11 minutes left, who hasn't- who's just itching to read another Mort poem? Who's got one?

00:48:05.860 - 00:48:11.770

Now Gary, Gary's got one. Gary Young: I've got lots of- Dennis Morton: Gary's book is- Gary's book is open. All right, Gary,

00:48:11.810 - 00:48:31.430

Gary Young: I wanted to read something from the "Santa Cruz Mountain Poems," because Stephen talked about Mort's place in the- in the community in terms of educating and- and organizing poetry events in a poetry culture here in Santa Cruz. But

00:48:31.430 - 00:48:47.030

he also helped to define it, I think literarily. There's- there are a lot of poems, a lot of books that one can read about our area here and Mort, you know, pretty much wrote the seminal piece here with the "Santa Cruz Mountain Poems." So

00:48:47.030 - 00:48:59.080

I just wanted to read a couple of short ones from that, Dennis Morton: Okay. Gary Young: DAWN Stones lean toward the sun. They rise from their haunches. from

00:48:59.080 - 00:49:16.960

everywhere in the meadow, they drag themselves out of their weights, lifting in unison, like an exhaled breath. The year turns away from me. The year turns away from me. I'm here, on the other side of the hill, where a winds are flames. Blue

00:49:16.960 - 00:49:31.630

wings in the meadow. Tall steeples of ash diminish at the meadows edge. And far down the hillside, a deep chorus of boulders is singing the pebbles awake. Dennis Morton: That's a nice poem.

00:49:32.620 - 00:49:41.480

Gary Young: Well, there's a whole book of them, the Santa Cruz mountain poems, so yeah, it's a beautiful book. Yeah, it really is. [Cross talk] Stephen Kessler: How many- how many books has Marton published?

00:49:41.480 - 00:49:50.800

Has anybody- has anybody kept track of that? There's quite a few. We've read from at least a half a dozen tonight and I'm sure there's probably at least twice that many. Joseph Stroud: Not- Twelve, something like that.

00:49:52.330 - 00:49:57.850

Dennis Morton: So, alright, Joe, you got one. Joseph Stroud: Yeah. Dennis Morton: All right. And after that, Stephen? Stephen Kessler: Okay. Okay.

00:50:00.040 - 00:50:13.540

Joseph Stroud: I got this- Which one do I want to do here? Let me do one that is great for young poets. Mort once sent a poem out to an editor and got a note back saying, "I like this poem a lot, but you have too many adjectives in it."

00:50:13.600 - 00:50:25.340

Dennis Morton: Oh! [Chuckles] Joseph Stroud: And Mort thought about that and says, "Well. Take this!" So he writes a poem that is about 98% adjectives. And it's called:

00:50:25.340 - 00:50:41.570

LOOK CLOSELY I hold in my hands one invaluable, unusually large, circular, hydrated, cellular, fish-spined, shell-pasted, molecular, wood-fitted, lilac-scented, pollinated,

00:50:41.870 - 00:50:57.380

earth-colored Katanga‑mined, Bantu -smelted, cleaned, polished, rough-edged, curved, granite, gold-incrusted, filigreed, stamped, platinum inlaid, green embossed, diamond-tipped, rectangular, sculpted, Polynesian carved,

00:50:57.530 - 00:51:11.990

interconnecting, figure-locking, beaten, Persian hammered, sheeted, fur covered, feathered, braided, Inca woven, lace trimmed, stitched, beaded, Navajo embroidered, Chinese inspired, Japanese designed, Brahmanic, blue lacquered, hand

00:51:11.990 - 00:51:28.220

painted, red enameled, impenetrable, soaring, mythic, hermaphroditic, Hebraic, Gothic, mobile, eurhythmic, mechanical, non-plastic, free-spinning, winged, elevated piece of myself. If you look closely, you can see it.

00:51:31.520 - 00:51:42.080

Dennis Morton: [Laughter] Joseph Stroud: So all those poets out there who get these nasty letters from editors back, you can take a lesson from Mort and ignore it. Or write a poem. [Laughter]

00:51:42.080 - 00:51:50.210

Stephen Kessler: There you go. Dennis Morton: That poem was anthologized unless I am- Joseph Stroud: Probably many times. Dennis Morton: Yeah, but do you remember there was a thick,

00:51:50.720 - 00:51:58.700

very, very thick anthology. That was my first introduction, I think, to a Morton Marcus poem, and I wasn't even in California at the time. Stephen Kessler: "The Young American Poets"

00:51:58.720 - 00:52:04.930

Dennis Morton: Yeah, I think so. Yeah. Who was the editor of that? Joseph Stroud: Paul Carroll? Dennis Morton: Yeah, yeah, I'm pretty sure it was-

00:52:04.960 - 00:52:19.800

Joseph Stroud: A big table book, I think. Dennis Morton: Yeah. So I mean, back in Oswego, New York I discovered that Morton Marcus and that poem. We've got another person to thank. Tilly is calling. And, again, a very,

00:52:19.800 - 00:52:28.470

very generous gift. This is- this is wonderful. Guys, you really got to come back again. This is- [Cross talk] Joseph Stroud: Next time it's going to be amazing. [Cross talk]

00:52:28.470 - 00:52:40.050

Stephen Kessler: We'll take a commission [Laughter] We'll take a commission next time. Well, you know, my father was a salesman, and even though I've never had much luck in business, I can- I can sell something I believe in and, you

00:52:40.050 - 00:52:50.500

know, KUSP, I mean, what's not to- what's not to like about KUSP? Dennis Morton: Hey, I want to say something, Stephen. I got to interject here, parenthetically. You are the- the creator of The

00:52:50.500 - 00:52:59.630

Redwood- what's it called? "The Redwood Coast Review" "The Redwood Coast Review" You know, that is a very, very fine paper. I look forward to receiving that every time, and

00:52:59.630 - 00:53:17.820

you've got a particularly fine essay at the top of the front page. And you reprint some poems by a young man who, what, did two, two turns in- in Iraq, and is no longer with us. Anyway- Stephen Kessler: I wish we had time to tell that whole story.

00:53:17.820 - 00:53:33.090

But go look for "The Redwood Coast Review." You know, we can look for it online at stephenkessler.com slash rcr dot html, I think is the- Dennis Morton: You know, I bet Google would lead the way.

00:53:33.070 - 00:53:46.750

Stephen Kessler: Yeah, just look for The Red- look for me, or "The Redwood Coast Review" online. But you can also find it when, as of probably tomorrow in the back of Bookshop Santa Cruz with the free publications and also in the entryway to the

00:53:46.750 - 00:54:05.710

downtown Santa Cruz Public Library. It's a quarterly literary newspaper that I edit up on the coast and we did publish, not reprint, but we published some poems by a young Iraq war veteran who couldn't live with what he had

00:54:05.710 - 00:54:21.340

experienced over there and took his own life. But he left a really remarkable and- and heartbreaking but beautiful testimony of his- his experience there. And again, it's poetry coming out of somewhere where you would least expect it and

00:54:22.330 - 00:54:29.610

maybe sometime I could come and read those poems on the air. They're really- they're reall beautiful. Dennis Morton: I would love it if you would, you know, if you would do that.

00:54:29.690 - 00:54:44.960

Stephen Kessler: But yes, "The Redwood Coast Review," that's- that's what has kept me, my journalism and publishing and editing jones satisfied over the last nine years. Dennis Morton: Three cheers for you. We've only got about five

00:54:44.960 - 00:55:02.210

minutes left and then Gary Shapiro comes on with "From the Bookshelf," a wonderful show here on- a staple on Sunday evenings at KUSP. Just another great sample of the diversity and the intelligence that you will find on this station. We're

00:55:02.210 - 00:55:20.270

here tonight, Joe Stroud, Gary Young and Stephen Kessler and myself to celebrate the work of our dear friend and colleague Morton Marcus. I think we may have time for one or two more of Mort's poems. It's your turn.

00:55:20.270 - 00:55:41.330

Stephen Kessler: I believe I have a- Dennis Morton: Before you start, I just give that phone number one more time so that folks have an opportunity to express their appreciation and we'll express our gratitude 1-888-777-1507 All

00:55:41.330 - 00:55:51.400

right. Stephen Kessler: Okay. And this is a called: MEDITATION FOR MY DAUGHTERS by by Morton Marcus. Wherever you go, my daughters, to what distance of years beyond

00:55:51.400 - 00:56:07.900

my years, to what nights beyond my nights, encountering what collapsed verandas that have not yet been built, what wrinkled, spotted hands of trembling old men whose bodies swoop now through sunlit playgrounds? When you find that self I've searched

00:56:07.900 - 00:56:24.580

for in the wreckage of my life and never found, everything topples, everything sags and slumps with a sigh, as if the years were too much to carry. As if time were a burden that makes us collapse. And even you will be old and weathered, my

00:56:24.580 - 00:56:43.090

daughters, and ask your children in a matter- manner similar to this. Where will you go? I think of you both on a high hill beneath the moon, asleep now in a dark house, your veins filled with the last of my blood, glowing a milky blue and spread

00:56:43.090 - 00:57:00.130

like luminous maps through the dark continents of your bodies, while the orange sun inches up the far side of the hill, and your breaths slip slow and secret from your lives. My daughters, my lovely daughters, where will you go?

00:57:02.340 - 00:57:17.700

Dennis Morton: Thank you, Stephen Kessler. And we're really just about at the edge of it here. I want to thank all of our wonderful listeners for having gotten us beyond our- our goal. We've had at least 12 people call in, there's someone

00:57:17.700 - 00:57:35.370

on the line right now, we'd love to hear one or two more calls. And we're just about to to pass the baton to Gary who will do "From the Bookshelf." Gary Shapiro. And I, before I turn it over to Gary, I want to thank you, Joe Stroud, for for being

00:57:35.370 - 00:57:54.570

here; Gary Young, you for being here; Stephen Kessler, you for being here. And the Poetry Show continues its proud tradition started by you guys. So thanks to you, folks, thanks to our dear friend Morton Marcus. Thanks to all of our listeners.

00:57:54.930 - 00:58:07.460

Gary, take it away. Gary Shapiro: Thanks, Dennis. And congratulations on another great Poetry Show and meeting your goal tonight. "From the Bookshelf," which comes up in just a minute, it's the perfect

00:58:07.460 - 00:58:19.100

compliment, I think to the Poetry Show. It airs here every Sunday on the Central Coast Public Radio after the Poetry Show. And "From the Bookshelf" features some marvelous conversations with authors and artists, performers, singer

00:58:19.100 - 00:58:35.120

songwriters, photographers. Some of my recent guests include ubiquitous television game show contestant, panelist I should say, Orson Bean, Robert Dallek, who wrote a great book about Nixon and Kissinger was with me a couple of weeks ago. Henry

00:58:35.120 - 00:58:49.160

Dilts, who was The Monkeys official photographer and the official photographer at Woodstock wrote a wonderful book about his life as a rock photographer, told me some great stories. Mike Farrell, who you remember, played BJ Honeycutt on

00:58:49.160 - 00:59:03.770

MASH was here. Marisha Pessl, a great novelist whose novel "Special Topics in Calamity Physics" is a wonderful book and she talked to me here on 'From the Bookshelf." Comedian Robert Klein has been on the show, Tom Layer has been on the show a

00:59:03.770 - 00:59:21.450

couple of times. Ronnie Shell. Do you remember him? He was the Gomer Pile's best friend on the Gomer Pile Show. He is an actor who has never been out of work in 30 years. Oh, hey, we got another new member, contributor to KUSP. And

00:59:21.450 - 00:59:40.530

his name is Mr. Morton Marcus. And I want to thank little Morton for using the telephone here, calling up and giving a semi-generous pledge. Thank you so much, Morty. You know, you should call, you should join Morton Marcus and call here at

00:59:40.530 - 01:00:00.150

188-777-1507, that's 888-777-1507, or pledge online at KUSP.org. And while you're online, you can check out our podcast page, where you'll find podcasts of many of our recent programs, including "From the Bookshelf," my favorite program

01:00:00.150 - 01:00:16.560

here on KUSP. Coming up on "From the Bookshelf" in the upcoming weeks, we have poet and novelist Dorothy Allison, whose novel "Bastard out of Carolina" is a classic. David Nichols will be on next week. He's an expert on President Eisenhower and

01:00:16.680 - 01:00:28.230

Eisenhower's surprising role in the Civil Rights Movement. Brian K. Vaughan, he's a comic book writer, but he's also the head writer now on the television series "Lost" will come and shed some light on that television show for us in a couple of

01:00:28.230 - 01:00:47.100

weeks. So I hope you'll join me every week here on Central Coast public radio at nine o'clock for "From the Bookshelf." And show your support for a show like "From the Bookshelf" or the Poetry Show by calling 1-888-777-1507 or visit us at

01:00:48.780 - 01:01:43.110

www.kusp.org and make a pledge. Keep this kind of radio alive here in Santa Cruz, San Ardo. This is KUSP Central Coast public radio broadcasting and HD radio at 88.9 fm and KBDH, San Ardo. Stay tuned now for "From the Bookshelf." For KUSP, I'm

01:01:43.110 - 01:01:44.040

Gary Shapiro.