Episode 65: Cowboys and Baristas and Co-ops, Oh My!
b'Welcome to Robe-isode II\\u2014the one where Kathleen is in her robe instead of Jason! Though Tim Fitts, Ali (The Co-op) and Zoe Heller were in the studio in Philly, (hopefully in their outdoor clothes) most of the gang was not present in the studio for this recording. Instead, they could be found in the comfort of hotel rooms, coffee shops and such, relying on modern technology to bring everyone in on the show!\\nAfter some fun banter about\\xa0ice cream sandwiches rolled in bacon bits, chocolate milk spiked with salt, and other reminiscences, they were ready to get down to business.\\xa0 (We never believed for a second that Jason now works as a barista.)\\nBoth poems discussed in this podcast were by Ryan Clark. (Poems below the bio!)\\nFirst up was \\u201cCreta Mine.\\u201d Jason described its initial tempo as adagio. Everyone else seemed to agree, in their own words, as the first part was slow and soothing, while the rest was more upbeat.\\nThey also applauded this poem as it focused on a topic rarely given the light of day: abandoned towns.\\nNext up was \\u201cCrossing Trails: Cowboy to Homesteader\\u201d which received props for its intriguing formatting, resembling a river. Just take a look at the actual poem for yourself. The \\u201criver\\u201d is like seeing a shape in a cloud, you\\u2019ll either see it, or you won\\u2019t.\\nDiscussion surrounding this poem was followed by a long silence as the gang pondered on the piece. Remember when you listen: silence is the sound of thinking!\\nIn order to even more fully appreciate the work, Kathleen gave us a peek inside Clark\\u2019s cover letter, which is rarely ever done on the Slush Pile.\\nThe author used \\u201chomophonic translation,\\u201d to produce these poems. Listen to the podcast for a more in-depth description of the technique given by the author himself.\\nClark\\u2019s cover letter was so fascinating to point the crew decided that it would have to be published with the piece as an artist\\u2019s statement.\\nThe show wrapped with some of our favorite things: Tim recommends everyone visit every taco shop in San Francisco.\\xa0 His opinion should be trusted, since he bragged about cooking burritos for a year after college. Kathleen would like us to listen to the On Being episode with Sharon Olds.\\nThis is Ali\'s last podcast as it is his last week working for DPG, so unfortunately, you won\\u2019t be hearing him as much around here in future podcasts. *cue the boos* However, he did leave us with the last words, \\u201cwe\\u2019ll survive.\\u201d\\nLet us know what you think of the show, the mag, our voices, and whether or not you\\u2019ve ever sprinkled salt in your chocolate milk!\\xa0\\n\\xa0\\n\\xa0\\n\\nRyan\\xa0Clark\\xa0was\\xa0born\\xa0in what\\xa0was\\xa0once part of Greer County, Texas, but which now makes up the southwestern corner of Oklahoma. Thus, his parents would tell him that while he\\xa0was\\xa0born\\xa0in the state of Oklahoma, he\\xa0was--more importantly--born\\xa0in the Republic of Texas. Today, he is strangely obsessed with borders and the doubling power of puns. As a result, he writes his poems using a unique method of homophonic translation that re-sounds existing texts based on each individual letter\'s potential for sound (i.e. "making puns out of everything"). He is the author of\\xa0How I Pitched the First Curve\\xa0(Lit Fest Press, 2019), and his poetry has recently appeared in\\xa0Yemasse,\\xa0The Shore,\\xa0riverSedge,\\xa0Flock, and\\xa0Homonym. He is a winner of the 2018 San Antonio Writers Guild contest, and his work has been nominated for Best of the Net. He currently teaches creative writing at Waldorf University in Iowa, where he misses the relative temperateness of Texoma winters very much.\\n\\n\\xa0\\n\\xa0\\nCreta Mine\\nfor Creta, Oklahoma, no longer a town\\n\\xa0\\n\\xa0\\n1.\\n\\xa0\\nTouch Creta wherever you want to seize a thing from out of the unfriendly earth.\\n\\xa0\\nThis is a sound we make furious with mineral imagination, the heave of site\\n\\xa0\\nadvertising what we love of the future, but which is just land unsuitable for farming.\\n\\xa0\\nMine is a cover for rocks much like the rest but only these are mine\\u2014\\n\\xa0\\nthis is a land that only I can open, and I will'