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b'This episode is extra special because we had Erika Meitner, winner of the National Poetry Series and professor at Virginia Tech. She is currently working on a \\u201cdocumentary poetry project\\u201d on the 2016 Republican National Convention...\\n\\xa0\\nWelcome to Episode 18 of the PBQ\\u2019s Slush Pile! This episode is extra special because we had guest, Erika Meitner, winner of the National Poetry Series and professor at Virginia Tech. She is currently working on a \\u201cdocumentary poetry project\\u201d on the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland for Virginia Quarterly Review.\\n\\xa0\\n\\nAll of the poems we\\u2019ll consider on today\\u2019s episode were submitted by Maureen Seaton: "West Ho," "West Ho 2," & "Love in the Time of Snow."\\xa0Maureen Seaton currently lives in three states of art\\u2014Florida, New Mexico, and Colorado (ocean, desert, mountain range)\\u2014all bordering on our next-door neighbors, the world.\\nWe start with the \\u201cWest Ho,\\u201d and Tim points out that the poet\\u2019s use of specific facts ultimately aids the piece. The wonderful descriptions of sunshine from Jersey to Colorado warms us up to this poem.\\nWe go on to discuss \\u201cWest Ho 2,\\u201d a seeming counterpart. This poem brings nods to the Jersey accent, and leaves us wondering who Lizzy Tish is. The \\u201cconstellation of places\\u201d keeps us \\u201ctawlking\\u201d about this one for a bit longer than \\u201cWest Ho.\\u201d\\nWe were all a little intimidated by the French in \\u201cLove in the Time of Snow,\\u201d but Erika reads for us using her \\u201cJersey French.\\u201d We love the historical allusions in this poem, and Jason, who grew up in a military family, recounts for us the story of Lafayette in the Revolutionary War.\\nYou can listen to Maureen read her poem \\u201cHybrid\\u201d at the University of Miami here, and at a POG reading with collaborator Sam Ace here.\\nListen to find out which poems we accepted and comment on our Facebook event page or on Twitter with #WestHo!\\nSign for our email list if you\\u2019re in the area, and even if you\\u2019re not!\\nSend us a self-addressed stamped envelope, and we\\u2019ll send you a PBQ Podcast Slushpile sticker!\\nRead on!\\n\\xa0\\n\\xa0\\nPresent at the Editorial Table:\\nKathleen Volk Miller\\nErika Meitner\\nMarion Wrenn\\nJason Schneiderman\\nMiriam Haier\\nTim Fitts\\n\\xa0\\nProduction Engineer:\\nJoe Zang\\n\\xa0\\nPBQ Box Score: 3=0\\n\\xa0-------------------------\\n\\xa0\\nWest Ho\\nColorado ties with Texas for 6th sunniest\\nstate in the USA. Who cares? The sun\\u2019s\\n\\xa0\\nnot racing against itself, why should it?\\nI will not be buried in Elizabethport nor\\n\\xa0\\none of the Oranges like the rest of my clan.\\nMy body will not be flown home in a crate\\n\\xa0\\nto be clucked over by who knows which\\nIrish relatives. The way the sun rises here,\\n\\xa0\\nclanging its huge cowbell, easing the East\\nright out of you, you\\u2019d think everybody\\u2019d\\n\\xa0\\nbe tinted silt and rouge and worshipping\\nThe Bright Solar Prince of the Solar Palace.\\n\\xa0\\n(Who?) I\\u2019m but one who recently drifted\\nfrom old New Jersey, the 27th sunniest state\\n\\xa0\\nwhere the sun shines 56% of the time. Don\\u2019t\\nunderestimate the operatic trill and maw\\n\\xa0\\nof this western sun as it blazes over you\\nand laughs behind the Rockies. It will draw\\n\\xa0\\nyou to it and sear you like a steak, Jersey\\ngirl, Golden Guernsey, little pail of milk.\\n\\xa0\\xa0\\nWest Ho 2\\nI also live in the state of New Mexico, the second sunniest state, and in Florida, the eighth. I live in three places but I don\\u2019t have three faces. This is not exactly a metaphor, yet I can see the metaphor coming at me, a satellite in the hard dark sky.\\n\\xa0\\nDeputy Azevedo placed Dexter\\u2019s head in an evidence bag and took it out to his cruiser:\\nthe last words I read as I fell asleep last night.\\n\\xa0\\nHere in Colorado everyone skis obsessively on Sunday. People break their legs and arms and sometimes their necks.\\n\\xa0\\nI\\u2019m feeling a little Jersey today.\\n\\xa0\\nDon\\u2019t get me talking about dogs or coffee.\\n\\xa0\\nThere are no real characters in this poem, only those who have escaped from Totawa.\\n\\xa0\\nLizzy Tish, for example.\\n\\xa0\\nLizzy will not be buried in Totowa nor Newark nor Hoboken. Her musical body will be laid to rest somewhere on the plains of Colorado.\\n\\xa0\\nPersonally, I both'