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Chris Funkhouser: [Music] There are many things to be said but what I'd like to say now is events of recent decades have shown that the planet now faces an immense threat to its health and future as a life-sustaining

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celestial body. Evidence of global warming, destruction of the ozone layer, pollution of soils, air and water, deforestation of tropical and temperate forests, all derived from human activities have provided the species with ample

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warnings to change its ways or risk the possible loss of the planet within the next hundred years. Our planet is an organism existing as a series of interdependencies and inter-penetrations. What all people do now and in the coming

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years will determine the fate of the Earth. We believe acceptable human behavior now and in the future should harmonize with the law of interdependence, which includes all living creatures, recognizing that what we do will come back to us and to our

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descendants, as well as to all other beings on the planet. We believe all beings on this planet have a perfect, inherent, and natural right to clean earth, air, and water. This right is sacred and inviolable. These principles should be the

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working premises for any future human activities. We call for an ecological reconstruction involving community action in which every person contributes to his or her part in maintaining ecological equilibrium in their location.

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Morton Marcus: That was Chris Funkhouser reading a document that he wrote this summer out in Colorado. He is the editor of We Press, he is also a poet and that is called, "The Declaration of Interdependence," tonight on the Poetry Show.

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And good evening everybody, this is Mort Marcus. Welcome to the Poetry Show. Our guest tonight is Chris Funkhouser. Chris, welcome. Chris Funkhouser: Hello.

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Morton Marcus: I realized that document was not written by you alone. Why don't you tell us a little bit about it? Chris Funkhouser: That was- "Declaration of Interdependence," was written, was done with a group of about

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eight writers in Colorado this summer. The other writers of the document were Gary Snyder, Anne Waldman, Miguel Grinberg, David Cope, the poet, not the composer, Allen Ginsberg, myself, let's see, Ed Sanders and Peter Warshall, an

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environmentalist. Morton Marcus: Was that David Cope in relation to Steve Cope? Chris Funkhouser: No, no. He's a poetry brother, but not, yeah, there's blood in poetry, I guess, so yeah.

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Morton Marcus: Well, Chris, you've been out here for a while doing We Magazine, which you do with your own money, your own imagination, your own energy. You've done such things as interviews with Allen Ginsberg, and the earthquake poems of

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Francisco Alarcon, which I know you're planning a second volume on. What were you doing in Colorado? Chris Funkhouser: Well, just to be straight, I don't think I ever published any interviews of Allen Ginsberg, but I publish

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his work from time to time. I was in Colorado because of poetry, by and large, because of a poetry conference that was happening there in Boulder at the Naropa Institute this summer, highlighting ecological concerns and there was a

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Pan-American poets conference, possibly, definitely the largest gathering of North American, Central American, and South American poets in this country, so it was quite an event, quite a gathering.

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Morton Marcus: Okay, and one of the things you're going to do, you're gonna read us some of your own poems tonight. And you're going to tell us a little bit about what went on there. And I know something that you were extremely interested in was

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this article called, "Behind the Rice Paper Curtain: What Goes On In Naropa's Summer Writing Program." Why don't you tell us something about that? Chris Funkhouser: This article was published in a magazine

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called "Texture" out of Colorado. It was written by a good friend of mine who's coming to visit and read poetry here in a couple of weeks named Richard Loranger. Richard is an old friend of mine and you know, he and I basically kind of spent

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the summer you know, chiseling around Boulder and the community of, you know, writers and bon vivants there, and you know that's that. Yeah, he wrote the article, he did many, many interviews and just hung around. He, you know, both of- neither

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one of us paid any money to take part in this conference. We were both just, you know, crashing, he more than I. Morton Marcus: Did you get to meet Antler or Jeff [unidentified]?

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Chris Funkhouser: Oh, yeah. Actually, on on Fourth of July, Antler I climbed a 13,000-foot mountain together. And Jeff and Antler, I spent time with, I saw them reading and I went on another hike with them on Sanitas Mountain in Boulder,

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where Antler gave his workshops, on a mountain. Morton Marcus: So he was teaching there also? Chris Funkhouser: For a week, he was there for the ecology week. Morton Marcus: Well, he was a guest on this show on a

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memorable afternoon, we were on in the afternoon, and really read some great stuff from his first book. Chris Funkhouser: Is that "The Factory Book?" Morton Marcus: Yeah, well, it was. Actually, "The Factory

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Book," was then incorporated by Penguin and brought out- Chris Funkhouser: "Last words?" Right. Yeah, great guy, Antler. You know, one of the most, you know, along with a couple of other people I know, some of

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the, you know, more human beings I know, very compassionate. Morton Marcus: Great, absolutely great. Well, tell us more about things that went on there because there is a connection between Santa Cruz and Colorado, in fact between Northern

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California and Colorado which has been there for the last twenty-five or thirty years, and people keep moving back and forth in one way or another, spiritually or physically or both. So why don't you tell us a little more about what went on

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out there? Chris Funkhouser: I guess it does make sense, Boulder and Santa Cruz are definitely, sometimes I think Santa Cruz is Boulder by the sea and a lot of people I know feel that way.

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What went on is two good friends of mine, people I've traveled with and been working with for a while, decided to use their energy to put on, at first the Pan-American poets conference and they well, travelled through the Americas and contacted all

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these writers that they met along the way and brought them together and then some other folks had idea to have ecology conference there, ecology poetics conference and they had the proper channels to do that. They just just did it, you know,

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and they had a school that was looking for something, you know, to do. It's the first thing of its kind, really, Naropa is a Buddhist college and they never really had, you know, gone into, you know, political and other issues but it was a very

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political time and lots of, you know, conversation and action. Also with this document that we created, and also some other- some other documents that we wrote to be published in Latin America regarding the book burnings in Managua and Leone on

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the Fourth of July by the [unidentified] government in Nicaragua. Very, very sensitive time, the Pan-American conference was just starting at the time and, you know, the workers, the Sandinista workers all went on strike that they

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were trying to, you know, nationalize the factories in Nicaragua, you know. The US had warships off the coast of Nicaragua at the time. Very, very sensitive, and, you know, we did some benefit readings for the labor unions down there. And

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things like that were happening, there are many, many performances, many different- every, you know, five, at least five nights a week, performances, other types of gatherings all along the way, you know, twenty, no, sixteen

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hours a day. Morton Marcus: About how many people were drawn to, let's say, some of these readings or seminars, I guess? Chris Funkhouser: For the readings, they had big, you

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know, big, fairly big venues, probably three or four hundred people there and the writing program itself is an annual thing. And this summer, I think, there was probably eighty people from all over, in and out, you know, through the four weeks of

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the conference. Morton Marcus: And those were students? Chris Funkhouser: Students, you know, wanderers or what have you. People who are just trying to check it out. Folks like you

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and me, I suppose. Morton Marcus: We're checking everything out everywhere. Chris Funkhouser: Well, there's a lot to check out, really, it's a big library really.

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Morton Marcus: What does, let's say- is going to happen with We because of this? What are some of the projects you've planned for We, if any, in relation to your summer? Chris Funkhouser: Well, one thing that already happened was

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we published a book which I think about only two people here in Santa Cruz have seen because I don't have any more right now. It's a book by Richard Loranger called, "Influx Blinklist," a very experimental book which he and I are actually still working

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on. All the covers are hand- painstakingly hand-done and take about forty-five minutes to do each, so. We've only produced fifty of them and then we put on a show of the "Blinklist" with a group of eight people doing sort of a choral, a totally random

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Brownian, sort of experimental performance. So that happened, now you can find, you know, the most recent issue of We that was put together by, not just myself, We is, right now there's a core group of people in Santa Cruz, people that, you know,

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that I've known and gotten to know. Eric Kirkendall(?), Steven Cope, Carl [unidentified] is working on it now, a woman named Angela Kuhn. And we have lots of, you know, help and assistance from other people. And now the magazine basically,

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I think it's safe to say, you can find it from Buenos Aires to Vancouver. I mean, all the- it just traveled more really and, you know, people seem to like it and I've been getting a lot of things in the mail, whether or not they're going to be of use,

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I can't say. The projects we are working on now are fairly pointed and it might be a while before I get a magazine, per se, out but, this is just like a big web really, it was a web-like time where we got to experience a lot of new people from other,

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you know, wild places and get things out, and just be people together. Morton Marcus: Any names of any South American poets, for example, that you would like us to burn into our minds and look

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for their stuff? Chris Funkhouser: Yeah, totally. There's a Chilean poet named Nicanor Parra, he was an older man. His book, "Antipoems," is excellent, it's excellent.

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Morton Marcus: Was he there? Chris Funkhouser: Nicanor Parra was supposed to be there- Morton Marcus: But he never shows up where he's supposed to be, hasn't shown up where he's supposed to be for thirty years.

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Chris Funkhouser: He was sick and legitimately sick. But the interesting thing that happened, well, I don't know if it was interesting, but people liked that instead of Parra, when he was supposed to read, Ginsberg got up and read Nicanor Parra's

00:14:07.380 - 00:14:14.820

poems and turned you know, three, four hundred people on to a poet they never heard before. That was good. Morton Marcus: Really? Chris Funkhouser: Yeah, that was really excellent because they've

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been working together for forty-five years, I think, they've known each other that long and- Morton Marcus: If anyone's interested out there, Nicanor Parra poems have been translated in a poem book called, "Poems

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and Antipoems," by Nicanor Parra, put out by New Directions, and it's still available. Chris Funkhouser: Yeah Morton Marcus: It's available in paperback, so it can be gotten.

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Chris Funkhouser: That's a great poet, and Miguel Grinberg has done a lot of really good work in Argentina, both ecologically and poetically. First, he had a magazine going there for a long time called Eco Contemporáneo and that was very good. You

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know, there's, you know, many other names, you know, that I can mention, but those two kind of stand out. There's a Puerto Rican poet that I think everybody should know, and have all of his books, named Victor Hernandez Cruz, who was also

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there this summer. I think he's probably, you know, I shouldn't go and say something like, he's the greatest poet alive, but I'll go ahead, and I think he's excellent. So he's someone who's just there with it, you know, the poems he writes aren't about

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ridiculous things, they're about real things involving our civilization and culture. And he does it, you know, with this musical dancy thing and intermingling of languages. I mean, this is so important that we, you know, that we are aware

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of this type of poetry, all of us, you know. He's actually going to be, I think, in San Francisco in a couple of weeks at the National Poetry Festival. So you might want to check that out. You know, and there's you know, there's slews of, you

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know, poets that- right now, I mean, in all the literatures, this is again opinion, but in all the literatures it seems to me that in this century, the Latin American writers are doing the best of anyone and that, you know, I'm not trying to say

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anything but you know, just like from the start, you know, from Borges and from, you know, [unidentified] and Pablo Neruda and people like this, you know, they are on to it and it's just, you know, it's definitely important for all of us to, you

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know, to be checking out. And the novelists there, you know, just Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Cortazar, and these are brilliant, brilliant writers, Jorge Amado, you know, I think it's really important for everyone to be examining that,

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you know, so I couldn't stress the importance ok. Morton Marcus: I would agree with you, but I certainly would not want to leave out all of the other literatures, which are so exciting and really so revolutionary, especially the

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East Europeans, the Yugoslavs and the Poles, the Hungarians, and the Czechs, and even the people up in Sweden and Norway doing incredible poetry. So it's actually what's going on around the world, it's been a tremendous freeing, maybe the

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opening of printing in a lot of different areas. But certainly right now, and especially in prose, the South Americans are a major influence and finally being heard by a culture that is very, very different, a language that's very, very different from

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them. Chris Funkhouser: Yeah, that's true and they don't understand it's like from- from the root on down, you know. They keep saying, you know - I'm not trying to slam the North

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American poets or anything because that- that would be of no use - but, you know, they say, you had the greatest voice that ever lived and they didn't listen, you know. They're talking about Walt Whitman, you know, not for the poets, but for

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the people, you know. In the last hundred years - and we could get into it, we probably won't - but the entropic situation that we might be in, you know, knowing people failed to listen to the poets where in other cultures, in Eastern

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European cultures, in Central and South American cultures, people actually listen to their poets. Morton Marcus: You know the old story about Yevtushenko coming to Berkeley, this was a little before your time, but he came to

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Berkeley to give a reading and he got up on stage, this was in the midst of Vietnam, when the Vietnam was really heating up at the end of the 60s, early 70s. And he said, "John Steinbeck, where are you? You are the wolf, why aren't you talking against

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this war?" And he says, "Where are the American poets, why aren't they talking about this war? Well, you won't talk about this war, so I will talk for the American poets." That is an arrogance. Nothing as arrogant.

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Chris Funkhouser: He's an arrogant guy from what I know. Morton Marcus: And one of the people in the audience, you know, said, "Hey, what you don't understand is that you don't have freedom of speech because you are listened to over in your

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country, but in America, we have freedom of speech because nobody listens to us. And we are absolutely no threat to anyone." And of course, American poets were speaking out in great numbers against the war. So it's just one of those strange things

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about the development of our culture. And what we do is we just keep singing and keep writing from one generation to another. Chris Funkhouser: Yeah. It's not like- we're not looking for pity

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either, that's just the way it is. TV took over and, you know- Morton Marcus: Even before that, people never liked to read in this country. Chris Funkhouser: Yeah, well, you know, you know what they

00:19:59.160 - 00:20:14.670

like to read. So that, I mean, that's a little bit of what happened. But there was a lot of excitement in Colorado this summer, and I have personal interests in Central America. I've traveled through there, and earlier this year participated

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in an International Poetry Festival in Nicaragua in January, which was a very, very incredible experience. And we also performed and did workshops in Costa Rica, and Guatemala, and even Mexico and Yucatan, so that's where, you know, that's

00:20:36.840 - 00:20:53.160

just where my interest has been, a little bit anyway. And I think it's close, it's close to where we are, it's close to the New York City. So why should I care, or why should we care about that as much as you care about what's going on in New York, which is

00:20:53.160 - 00:21:03.420

just the same really. Morton Marcus: Did you get to hear or talk with Margaret Randall Chris Funkhouser: Sure, definitely. Margaret recently

00:21:03.420 - 00:21:15.840

sent us some material for We actually. Yeah, Margaret Randall is great. She's a totally great spirit. Her stories are excellent. Morton Marcus: Did you know that she once edited a magazine in

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Mexico called, "El Corno Emplumado?" Chris Funkhouser: Right, yes. Morton Marcus: And this was one of the big breaks in the language barrier between North and South America. And a lot of

00:21:25.980 - 00:21:38.360

merican poets and South Americ n poets learn of each other's work there for the first time. Chris Funkhouser: But she was doing the real work, I think, and she had a lot of trouble because of that in this country.

00:21:38.360 - 00:21:52.490

Morton Marcus: Oh, yeah. I got her into this country and they weren't gonna let her across the border. She and her then husband, Sergio Mondragon and I did a series of Fiestas up in San Francisco, and the third Fiesta for "El Corno Emplumado"

00:21:52.490 - 00:22:03.260

which was to raise money for them, they were supposed to be there and they would not let them cross the border. Because though she had been an American citizen, and she's still having this problem, they said that she had given up her citizenship,

00:22:03.260 - 00:22:19.070

but we finally got her there and it was an incredible evening. I mean, everybody read and sang and it was just an amazing time. Those were the old days in San Francisco. Chris Funkhouser: Right, the old days, [inaudible] yeah. I know

00:22:19.070 - 00:22:30.140

what you mean. Morton Marcus: Well, we are just about to take our half an hour break and we're gonna come back and Chris is gonna read some poems and maybe tell us a little more.

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Chris Funkhouser: Yeah, I guess that sounds good to me, Morton. Morton Marcus: Okay, we shall- Chris Funkhouser: Are you going to play that or you want to play the tape?

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Morton Marcus: Let me play this now and then maybe I'll switch it to tape. Unknown: [Music] Morton Marcus: Has readings in there.

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Chris Funkhouser: Right. Morton Marcus: You're going to have readings also? Steven Cope: Well, I'm actually not sponsoring. I'm not doing the booking there anymore. This is actually Christopher's

00:23:38.870 - 00:23:47.580

project, the one that's coming up. There's not gonna be anything as regular as it was before. Chris Funkhouser: We're gonna we're gonna put on two- Steven Cope: But there's going to be readings happening. It

00:23:47.580 - 00:24:01.720

won't be a regular basis like it was before, nor will it be the same format each time like it was before. It'll be different projects going on. Chris Funkhouser: Independently taken on.

00:24:01.720 - 00:24:15.420

Steven Cope: Yeah. Chris Funkhouser: This reading out on the eighth and then later in the month have a reading with Fransisco Alarcón and a woman named Tory Miller, whose book We Press is publishing in October.

00:24:15.490 - 00:24:34.440

So it'll be like I'm publishing an Alarcón book and Tory's book in October, so we'll have another reading. So, that's one of the projects we're working on, are these books, and I think what you were getting to is we're making a an album of local

00:24:34.520 - 00:24:53.230

writers, poets, and also sort of regional, greater Bay Area writers, basically one or two people from Southern California. But we've been given an organizational support grant by the California Arts Council to help fund the project, and we're

00:24:53.300 - 00:25:13.020

going to be coming out with LP, cassettes, and CDs, probably in March. Recording is underway, and will be happening throughout October, November. So, We Press did an earlier cassette issue of a magazine, an audio magazine, which featured local poets: Gene

00:25:13.100 - 00:25:31.040

Guyer, and Eric Kirkendall, Richard West was living here at the time, and other people around. So this is a continuation of that and what we're interested in, you know. We've got the necessary tools to do it and the people are doing

00:25:31.110 - 00:25:49.900

it, so we're just doing our part. We have that, I guess, that's what's happening. If people are- you know, happen to be interested, you know, we can use any help we can get, or any ideas or anything. I'd like to, I guess- my post office box is

00:25:49.980 - 00:26:08.930

number 1503 in Santa Cruz, 95061. That's one way you can get in touch with us about that or you could call- no, you can't really call but you could get in touch. So that's one thing that's happening. We're also, in the distant future, working on

00:26:09.000 - 00:26:27.870

another package of possibly a magazine of conglomeration of items. You know, magazines, there's just so many magazines, right? It's very difficult to really make, no I don't have any money, we don't have any money because, you know, we were not

00:26:27.950 - 00:26:47.120

into doing what it takes to make a lot of money, right. And the funding for people like us is few, you know, it's no matter what the quality of the work is, they're too busy with, you know, paying for soldiers in Saudi Arabia and stuff like that to

00:26:47.200 - 00:27:06.070

get the artists name. So we don't have any, you know, we're just doing, you know, doing the best we can in terms of trying to offer a lot of varieties, you know, different formats, you know. It keeps it fresh, it keeps it interesting and it can

00:27:06.140 - 00:27:25.320

be more of a, you know, you can have a, you know, instead of something so cut and dry, you can mix it up a little bit and present, you know, present alternatives in an alternative way and that's, you know, how I guess how we feel it should be done.

00:27:26.560 - 00:27:42.220

Morton Marcus: Let me ask a more direct question in this area, which may send you off into [unidentified] of laughter. Where do you get the money to do this? Chris Funkhouser: Well, I spend- my daily budget is seventy-nine

00:27:42.220 - 00:28:03.640

cents to live, so after I pay my rent, that's one way, but I mean, I work. When I work, I work, and that has, you know, helped fund a lot of the things. I have- I can't really tell you exactly because I can't say that it's absolutely legal so, you

00:28:03.640 - 00:28:22.600

know, there I said it, but you know, we're resourceful, that's the best way to put it and you know I have- Steven Cope: You didn't- you didn't hear that, everybody, it was a lie. No, there wasn't- no real illegal activity taking

00:28:22.600 - 00:28:28.890

place. Chris Funkhouser: No, yeah, I'm just kidding Steven Cope: But not on my part, not that I know about anyhow. Chris Funkhouser: For instance, for this album we have, you

00:28:28.890 - 00:28:42.870

know, Carl who was on the board of directors of We Press which is a nonprofit, a less than profit organization, I should say. Carl has a A-track studio with state of the art equipment so it won't cost us a cent to record the album. This is what I

00:28:42.870 - 00:28:50.250

mean by being resourceful, okay. Morton Marcus: The people have to come down here then to record to get- Chris Funkhouser: Oh, sure, sure.

00:28:50.250 - 00:28:57.660

Morton Marcus: Can't go around with a mic- Chris Funkhouser: No, no, the studio will be set up. Steven Cope: Unless I mean, unless they send something pre-recorded.

00:28:57.720 - 00:29:18.810

Chris Funkhouser: On the proper, yeah, tape thickness and length so. So, you know, I can't work a regular job fifty, forty hours a week, fifty weeks a year. So, what I tend to do is I work sixty to seventy hours a week for three months and go crazy,

00:29:18.870 - 00:29:35.370

absolutely insane, and but then I'll have a pile of money I can take ten weeks off and, and live, you know, live off of what little savings there is or you know, and also go to Central America or Mexico or wherever and live very, very cheaply down

00:29:35.370 - 00:29:52.230

there on savings and have a whole you know, new influence. So that's for about two or three years now, that's what I've been doing. And I've managed to, you know, We Press has won some awards, and we're starting to get grants now. And because, you

00:29:52.230 - 00:30:05.460

know, I guess the quality of the work is there. It's just a matter of desire, really, more than anything else. You just have to, you know, you have to want it. I mean, I'm in love with, you know, what we do, and these other people are totally

00:30:05.460 - 00:30:18.990

passionate about it. So, you know, that's what it really takes, I think to get things out and, you know, I'm not even interested in selling any of this stuff. It's just, for making any money, I think money is evil, it's, you know, it's

00:30:18.990 - 00:30:34.190

almost as bad as TV in the devil realm. So, you know, that's just like the weird stuff, the money thing. Morton Marcus: Well, it's interesting that you that you walked in here with Steve tonight because you are two of

00:30:34.190 - 00:30:47.240

the young guys who are really keeping literature going. And if there are not enough people like you from one generation to the next, it just all falls to pieces. And that kind of dedication and commitment really is what has kept literature

00:30:47.240 - 00:30:59.000

going in the West now since the Renaissance patrons went out. Chris Funkhouser: I think, you know, you're probably leaving a few people out of it but- Morton Marcus: But right here locally, I mean, there's Mike

00:30:59.000 - 00:31:08.960

Springs(?) trying to open up- Steven Cope: There's a lot in this community, actually, there's a lot of people right here. Morton Marcus: There's [cross talk], Felicia Rice and Gary

00:31:08.960 - 00:31:17.970

Young, everything like that. Steven Cope: Right. Morton Marcus: I mean, it's great when you're part of that whole, what Chris called the web before. Your energy is really

00:31:17.970 - 00:31:31.260

very important because there are a lot of people who will sit back and write but who will not get it together, to put it out there, to organize the readings, to get them down on paper, or cassettes or whatever. So you guys, as far as I'm concerned,

00:31:31.260 - 00:31:39.750

really are special and Chris wondering how quick he got this program, that was the reason. Chris Funkhouser: Well, it's a bloody miracle, isn't it? Gee whiz.

00:31:39.750 - 00:31:50.800

Steven Cope: Extraordinary. Chris Funkhouser: Well, it's not, you know, We is not, you know, it's just a couple of people. It's so many people, like I said, people doing a couple of things. When I was on

00:31:50.800 - 00:32:04.720

Joe's show, he was like, "Well, who's involved?" I said, "Everybody's involved," you know, because it's, you know, we're not feeding off people but we do get juiced by a lot of things. And it is kind of, you know, I'm glad it happens, and

00:32:04.750 - 00:32:25.090

you know, sometimes I don't know how but it does. And at this time, I mean, we're living in a time where everything is very controlled and censored, and to be able to actually, you know, I don't know, we could talk about it the whole- for an hour, but I

00:32:25.090 - 00:32:37.210

think it's really important, you know, to present modern alternatives and things of this nature because if you don't, you're just not going to get it because they're not going to let it out, you know? And it has to be, you know, thank God for

00:32:37.240 - 00:32:51.310

underground and subculture. I mean, you know, We is kind of an above ground thing at this point but, you know, the spirit is very much, you know, very, you know, very different than, you know, I think people would want it to be, you know, we're on,

00:32:51.340 - 00:32:59.680

you know, [unintelligible]- Steven Cope: We're not modified for the tastes of any individual. Morton Marcus: Well, let some let's hear some poetry. And

00:32:59.920 - 00:33:13.690

again, I'm inviting you both to read so Chris, why don't you start us off? Chris Funkhouser: Fine. I'll go through- I have a few poems here, pretty fresh material and I write a lot of, I've been

00:33:13.690 - 00:33:32.410

writing a lot of short stuff, so that's what you're gonna get. This is for Carl and it's called: LIFE Some people pay $1,000 for what others discover accidentally in

00:33:32.590 - 00:33:43.390

daydreams. This is a piece written in collaboration with Richard Loranger called: MIRACLE IN THE BREWING

00:33:44.890 - 00:34:08.320

An unforgiveable subject. On your last knee you slide, red liquid, paper to mouth, no more God. Your belt is linked to lips of light, no more repetition, only flight. See, you know, the one and only poem I ever wrote for Santa

00:34:08.320 - 00:34:21.460

Cruz, called: THE OCEAN, THE OCEAN At the right place, a shoreline to be erased, in time we're crazed and shall live by the ocean.

00:34:24.340 - 00:34:42.730

Rattle this office is called: HEAT Don't get cold, get warm. Your jacket is in your mind. Third World War hasn't been nuclear, it has been psychological.

00:34:45.760 - 00:35:01.300

THE TRUTH Rockefeller had painted over man at the crossroads, looking with hope and high vision to the choosing of a new and better future.

00:35:04.090 - 00:35:27.750

[Poem in Spanish] This is called: FAR BEYOND, for Alarcon. From shore could see a cloud could see, reaching with a hand

00:35:27.750 - 00:35:45.560

for it, a tree on a mist peak near a mesa where gods play card games, and with others, I will climb hills because some do. [In Spanish]. CENTRAL AMERICA

00:35:47.210 - 00:36:08.060

So thirsty, had to drink Coke. JULY 7TH, 1986 Weather warning, weather warning: severe thunderstorms approach the hottest July 7th in Washington, D.C. Students'

00:36:08.060 - 00:36:22.010

freedom of speech severely restricted, random drug searches of baseball rookies approved, student searches approved, don't you miss the good old days when you could talk dirty and stick whatever you wanted in your locker?

00:36:23.990 - 00:36:50.780

And, you know, there's a few more. For now it's just- this is written in Managua with Angela Kuhn and Elliott Greenspan. THIS DARK ROOM You think teal and out comes terpsichore or the prettiest

00:36:50.780 - 00:37:12.740

girl in town. Any muse will do, any fuse will do, so turn it on, finger pick it, name it something rectangular. A light switch does not represent electricity, is not necessarily fast, can never change the arguments over whether or not

00:37:13.100 - 00:37:29.310

photography is a serious art form. I originally hoped to bring some other material down to play for you some tapes but I managed to not only get lost severely on the way to the studio, but I didn't manage to stick the tapes

00:37:29.310 - 00:37:45.000

in my bag. So these things got lost, but you know, another time. And, you know, thanks for letting me share these poems with you. And I really hope that, you know, Steven's gonna come up next, but before that, I'd just like to say that I hope

00:37:45.330 - 00:38:01.560

people out there in Santa Cruz will, you know, at least try to, you know, be in touch or whatever. It's hard because I know communication is a really hard thing, but we're into it and it's not, you know, it's not well, you know, it's not what

00:38:01.800 - 00:38:19.440

you think it is, and you aren't what you think you are. And there are- Santa Cruz's special place and there's very special people here and, you know, I'd like, you know, for everything to, you know, be as as unified as possible because without it,

00:38:19.920 - 00:38:38.670

you know, there's really nothing. I mean, we could all float around on our individual planets, which we do anyway, but it's in the collision where there's energy. And I definitely invite, you know, people to, you know, to be in touch as they say

00:38:38.670 - 00:38:51.690

and keep going. Steven Cope, ladies and gentlemen, he made something happen this summer at the cafe community and last spring, last year. He's guitar player for the Lemonade Retrospective. He's about to take a two month trip around the

00:38:51.690 - 00:39:10.220

United States of America in search of the water buffalo. Steven Cope: Yeah, I have to take a little credit for the getting lost as well, before getting here. I know I was here but I don't drive and I always come here in car

00:39:10.000 - 00:39:20.890

Chris Funkhouser: You're walking, we only have bikes and [unintelligible]- cars and we're like, "Where's the radio station, dude?" Steven Cope: Can't fly yet. Okay, well, since this is a We

00:39:20.890 - 00:39:35.440

Press type of show, I will read the poem that is from the magazine that we happen to have here. It's probably the most assertive thing that I've ever had published, or that was the word that was used by someone on the board of directors, I guess

00:39:35.440 - 00:39:50.680

you would call it. It's called: INSTITUTIONS, and it's a mesostic problem. The problem is not that there is too many stupid people in this world, but that there is too many stupid worlds in this

00:39:51.040 - 00:40:04.080

people. Chris Funkhouser: All right! Steven Cope: We got the punk rock applause from the right side here. Actually, like last time, I didn't know I was going

00:40:04.080 - 00:40:13.380

to be reading, so I didn't bring what I would have liked to have read. Morton Marcus: In case you're wondering out there, Steve, just accompanied Chris and so I just asked-

00:40:14.340 - 00:40:23.100

Chris Funkhouser: It's a long story but Steven and I worked on a musical project together, which you'll probably actually hear some of towards the end of the show and- Morton Marcus: Is that on the tape that [unintelligible]-

00:40:24.840 - 00:40:40.450

Chris Funkhouser: The Lemonade Retrospective. Morton Marcus: How many minutes is that by the way? Chris Funkhouser: Not that much. And we're recording now, we were in the studio this afternoon, in fact, and we were going to play

00:40:40.450 - 00:40:56.740

live over the air except you know, we had gotten to eat some black beans at home and listening to Sonic Youth and we, you know, we were late and the guitar didn't come with. If there's a guitar around- but anyhow, we were gonna come down

00:40:56.740 - 00:41:15.790

and do that, come another time and see that. When the record comes out in the spring, there will definitely be, you know, shows, readings, performances featuring all the people who are involved, which is an infinite number of people right now. So,

00:41:15.790 - 00:41:31.540

that will happen and we'll probably put in the show the cameo appearance there or something. But Steven is a guitar player and a poet and that's, you know, he's great. Do you have anything else you want to read that long, massive-

00:41:31.570 - 00:41:40.920

Steven Cope: Well, I don't want to read that one. I was thinking maybe it's possible that I- Chris Funkhouser: Oh, yeah. Should I go ahead? Steven Cope: We're going to read a poem from someone who's been

00:41:40.920 - 00:41:52.020

published here who will be on the record as well. He's published in this issue and he doesn't get heard enough of. Morton Marcus: Now, this is from Number 13 We Magazine. Steven Cope: We Magazine.

00:41:52.020 - 00:42:03.840

Morton Marcus: And this is in all the bookstores in the area? Steven Cope: Well, Logos has a copy left I think. Bookshop Santa Cruz doesn't because as you can see, but everyone else can't, it's very small. It's hard to keep track of in a big

00:42:03.840 - 00:42:14.950

bookstore. Chris Funkhouser: Bookshop Santa Cruz is very generous and does have 12 issue of our magazine on the poetry rack, and Alarcon's books. They've been very cooperative, I like them.

00:42:14.970 - 00:42:23.730

Morton Marcus: Well what about Capital Book Cafe? They have copies? Chris Funkhouser: Well, they're actually- they will soon. Alarcon is going to have a reading out there in a couple of

00:42:23.730 - 00:42:30.680

weeks and they will you know, then we'll have the connection or whatever. Morton Marcus: Is this for a new book that he's coming out with? Chris Funkhouser: Yes, called, "Loma Prieta."

00:42:30.710 - 00:42:41.900

Morton Marcus: Is this the second- Chris Funkhouser: Yes, it's a follow up to his highly successful quake poems, which we published last year. Morton Marcus: Do you know the day on that, on Alarcon's

00:42:41.900 - 00:42:51.770

reading? Chris Funkhouser: Oh, yeah. It's going to be either the day before or the day after the earthquake's anniversary. Morton Marcus: Okay. Well, I will keep a word out, send me

00:42:51.770 - 00:42:58.520

stuff on advertising stuff on all this. Chris Funkhouser: Go see Francisco because- Morton Marcus: Yeah, he's a great reader also. Steven Cope: Okay.

00:42:58.550 - 00:43:08.580

Morton Marcus: And you're Steve Cope again. Steven Cope: Yeah, here's me I'm not reading my stuff. This is a guy named H.D. Moe. This is a piece called: IDEAS, I always like to read this guy just because he's

00:43:08.580 - 00:43:20.250

really, really fun to read if nothing else, I don't know. Chris Funkhouser: [cross talk] right. Steven Cope: Ideas are rare images of the misunderstood, too quick, subatomic, too fluid, huge to be encompassed in a

00:43:20.250 - 00:43:36.300

commodity. Alien protoplasm, osmotic, unfelt by haberdasheries of Babbitt's(?), grown from the lightening of a cracked door, of open heaven, of opium peasant eyes. Ideas are ubiquitous, nowhere as crazy beautiful invented truth.

00:43:36.810 - 00:43:55.050

[unidentified] is suicidal wallflowers, unblind dice throws, mumbling to be just born and on your own. Fast past bread lines of loafers' Augustine triangle, inhaling philosophies, air looming goals, coniah formed by spring, meaningful kindness,

00:43:55.050 - 00:44:09.500

nihill [unidentified], subconscious exteriors dreaming, hammerheads rid above, the light darkening them into Phoenicians. Chris Funkhouser: There you go. H.D. Moe is pretty well known and he's been around for a long time and you know, no one-

00:44:09.770 - 00:44:21.230

Steven Cope: He's not heard around here. Chris Funkhouser: He said he's an idiot, but he's not an idiot. Right? There's- so that's if you know, if you're interested in checking out We Magazine out there and you haven't seen it,

00:44:21.260 - 00:44:37.880

you know, we got a few of them left and that's, you know, PO Box 1503, Santa Cruz and I'd like to remind all of you also that you're trapped on the earth so you will explode. Morton Marcus: Well, you want to remind them of one more thing,

00:44:37.880 - 00:44:51.410

and that is there'll be a reading with Richard Loranger, Chris Funkhouser: Richard Loranger, of- all over universal right? dude, and Steven Cope who we've just heard a little bit of, and

00:44:51.410 - 00:45:09.860

Eric Kirkendall who used to sing in this really great band called Box of Laughs and, you know, his poetry is just there, it's there because it's not there. And they're very excellent and talented performers as well, so that's going to be happening.

00:45:10.610 - 00:45:24.260

Tory Miller's book will be coming out, something to check out. And always, Alarcon, too, so. We're around, you know, just, we're folks hanging out- Steven Cope: Like everybody else.

00:45:24.380 - 00:45:36.170

Chris Funkhouser: And we smell like everybody else. Morton Marcus: And that's Steve Cope and Chris Funkhouser, the editor of We, and that is post office box 1503. Chris Funkhouser: That's it.

00:45:36.200 - 00:45:40.700

Morton Marcus: Santa Cruz, 95060? Chris Funkhouser: Yeah. Morton Marcus: Okay. Steven Cope: 95061.

00:45:40.940 - 00:45:51.350

Morton Marcus: Sorry, 95061. And now we're going to listen to your tape. Chris Funkhouser: Yeah, I have to apologize to all my friends in the Wrestling Worms about not having their tapes here. I

00:45:51.350 - 00:46:12.110

really wanted to play this music but it just didn't happen. So this instead we get the indulgence of the Lemonade Retrospective which is a musical poetry project in this divine location.

00:46:12.480 - 00:46:24.990

Morton Marcus: And we'll go off with that. Next week, Joe and I will be back here and we will be pitching because it's going to be a sprint week and we're going to be looking for your support for the Poetry Show and for this radio station. I'd like to say

00:46:24.990 - 00:46:38.820

that KUSP thanks Stapleton's Grocery for providing a grant to help make this program possible. Stapleton's Grocery specializes in organic produce and unadulterated comestibles in the Farmers Exchange building in Santa Cruz. Thank you, Steve.

00:46:38.850 - 00:47:08.820

Thank you, Chris. And here we go to the tape. Chris Funkhouser: On Jake Fitzgerald [unidentified]. We walk through a high hallway, we walk through a high hallway into a bright, rosy colored space, gradually into the light,

00:47:09.330 - 00:47:30.330

thorough space, neatly bound into the house by windows found into the basement wall that lead around. The windows were ajar and around, the walls with holes and gleaming white against depression.