 |
Program #2 - Interview with poet CK Williams. Listen to program
I was very nervous to interview Pulitzer Prize winning poet CK Williams. Michael Mcfee, a poet and teacher of mine, suggested I speak to CK because CK lived half the year in Paris, and two artists who love France might make for an interesting conversation. Fall had just turned cold, and for three straight days, I curled up inside into CK's books and found I never wanted to come out. CK's poems are immensely tender and real, but what's more, they strive for a good heart. The goodness these poems seek is goodness at its deepest essence, never a paler compromise more easily at hand. His 1972 book With Ignorance includes a back cover photo of poet from New Jersey looking much like Bruce Springsteen's photo on the back of Greetings from Asbury Park, and speaks often for the same people, with the same kindness. Flesh and Blood 's eight line eight line poems were deceptively simple, song like. So I decided I was meeting the Bruce Springsteen of poetry. I picked CK up in a beat up Honda Civic with leaves and rain on the floorboards, and we talked in a studio for an hour and a half without noticing that a minute had passed. CK was funny, easy to talk to, generous with how much of himself he shared with a stranger. I was lucky enough to see CK read the following evening from a selection of new poems, and lucky enough to attend a dinner following the reading my favorite Chapel Hill restaurant, Crook's Corner. As we talked and toasted, I felt lucky to be in the company of such wise and warm hearts. |
about the spark • listen to marfa public radio • archive • tift merritt |