Richard Siken Reads Jorie Graham
Summary
Poet Richard Sykin discusses Jory Graham’s “I Catch Sight of the Now,” linking its fragmented temporality to his post-stroke experience. He then reads his prose poem “Piano Lesson,” explaining how associative leaps and humor helped him reconstruct language and identity after losing his capacity for literal speech. The episode explores how form enacts themes of loss, illness, and the dream of becoming.
Topics discussed
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Intro: Kevin Young and Richard Sykin
Reading: I Catch Sight of the Now by Jory Graham
Discussion: Line length, breath, and temporality
Discussion: Enacting loss and the 'split minute'
Discussion: Roomlessness, illness, and camera angles
Discussion: Writing from within disability and the title
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Reading: Piano Lesson by Richard Sykin
Discussion: Associative writing and recovery from stroke
Discussion: The prose poem as architectural containment
Discussion: Humor, truth, and the structure of the book
Outro and Ads: Uber Eats and Blinds.com
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