Episode 35: Viles, Vitality, and Virgules
b'This week\\u2019s episode features three poems by two authors:\\xa0\\u201cAs Snow\\u201d\\xa0by Pam Matz and\\xa0\\u201cSolu-Medrol\\u201d\\xa0and\\xa0\\u201cWords\\u201d\\xa0by Michael Levan. Pam Matz reads poems to get some real news and writes poems to find out what she means. The previous sentence is almost true\\u2026.\\nThis week\\u2019s episode features three poems by two authors:\\xa0\\u201cAs Snow\\u201d\\xa0by Pam Matz and\\xa0\\u201cSolu-Medrol\\u201d\\xa0and\\xa0\\u201cWords\\u201d\\xa0by Michael Levan.\\n\\nPam Matz\\n\\nPam Matz reads poems to get some real news and writes poems to find out what she means. The previous sentence is almost true. She\\u2019s spent most of her working life moving words around, as a typist, editor, librarian, and writer. She has a pet rabbit, who is bossy and silent. \\xa0\\nWe started off our conversation with \\u201cAs Snow,\\u201d a poem about death, dying, and possibly dementia. A poignant account of what we read as an instance of mother-daughter interaction, Matz brought into discussion the impact of death on the survivor and how losing someone close can make us hyper-aware of our own mortality. Images and ideas of snow, cliffs, and death are well-woven elements in this piece and part of what left us anxious to give our votes.\\n\\xa0\\n\\nMichael Levan\\n\\nMichael Levan, unlike previous\\xa0Slush Pile-r Frank\\xa0Scozzari, \\xa0didn\\u2019t finish the John Muir\\xa0Trail because 30 miles into the trek with his future wife, he sprained his MCL. He\\u2019s a diehard Clevelander who couldn\\u2019t bear going to school the day after Earnest Byner\\u2019s fumble versus the Denver Broncos in 1988, which is why he made sure to attend the first major Cleveland sports championship celebration last summer along with 1.3 million other fans. This past Easter night, he and his wife welcomed their third child, Odette, who along with Atticus and Dahlia, have made their world complete, no matter how difficult the pregnancies were.\\nWe move on to discuss the work of Michael Levan, \\u201cSolu Medrol\\u201d and \\u201cWords,\\u201d which also affects reflection on life, death, and dealing with illness. Levan\\u2019s structural choices for his writing lead us to ask what certain decisions might do \\u2013 or undo \\u2013 for the effect of our words. Can form distract from the intent? Can interruptions in pace lead the reader astray? Either way, Levan has a way of sustaining the sentimentality in his writing and making the speaker\\u2019s thoughts clear.\\nTune in for the results! Let us know what you think about this episode, these poems, and virgules in poetry on Twitter and Facebook with #ScallopsAndVirgules!\\n\\xa0\\nPresent at the Editorial Table\\nKathleen Volk Miller\\nTim Fitts\\nSharee DeVose\\nMarion Wrenn\\nJason Schneiderman\\n\\xa0\\nEngineering Producer:\\nJoe Zang\\n--------------------------------\\xa0\\n\\xa0\\nPam Matz\\nAs Snow\\nfor P.M., 1920-2007\\n\\xa0\\nUntil the end, which was sudden\\nyou were dying a long time\\n\\xa0\\nand because I\\u2019d been casting my mind\\ntoward yours for years\\nI was afraid I would go with you\\nslide over the cliff\\nbeing tied to you\\n\\xa0\\nI haven\\u2019t yet arranged for the plaque\\nnext to the pathway under the birches\\n\\xa0\\nI think you would say\\nyou will when you\\u2019re ready\\ntrying to avoid any sting\\nof worry or impatience\\n\\xa0\\n\\xa0\\nsince you died, I forgive others\\nkeep the anger banked \\xa0\\n\\xa0\\n\\xa0 \\xa0 \\xa0 \\xa0 \\xa0 \\xa0 \\xa0 \\xa0 \\xa0 \\xa0 \\xa0 \\xa0 \\xa0 \\xa0*\\n\\xa0\\nwhenever I came to the nursing home\\nat noon, I saw the man\\nwho proposed marriage to his friend\\nafter her diagnosis\\n\\xa0\\nhe\\u2019d be rubbing ointment on her lips\\nfeeding her lunch\\nher face straining open-mouthed\\nhis pants ragged at the cuff\\n\\xa0\\nhe\\u2019d be telling her the story that always began\\nyou were a little girl in East Texas\\n\\xa0\\nyou\\u2019d know\\u2014what\\u2019s the Yiddish word\\nfor someone like him? \\xa0\\n\\xa0\\n*\\n\\xa0\\nI could tell you about\\nthe rough wall you built\\nthe stones you gathered\\none by one\\nstopping at roadsides\\nfor a shape, a color\\n\\xa0\\nbasket-of-gold and lobelia\\ntrailing from crevices\\nyears ago\\n\\xa0\\nI couldn\\u2019t tell you\\nwhether you and your last man\\na kind man\\never slept in the same bed \\xa0\\n\\xa0\\n\\xa0 \\xa0 \\xa0 \\xa0 \\xa0 \\xa0 \\xa0 \\xa0 \\xa0 \\xa0 \\xa0 \\xa0 \\xa0 \\xa0 \\xa0*\\n\\xa0\\nsnow falling again\\nin its own time\\n\\xa0\\nsnow falling from the branches\\nthat had held it\\n\\xa0\\n\\xa0\\nMichael Levan\\nSolu-Medrol\\nThe man can only find words / to help his wife; he is unaccomplished / in s'