Pierre Joris and Nicole Peyrafitte: March 19, 2015

Steve Dickison introduces Peter Joris, who reads "The Birth of Laup Nalec," "Canto Diurno #2, a/to Jack Kerouac: Ode Bilingue," "This Afternoon Dante," "Variation #1," "Variation #2," "Variation #3," "Variation #4," "Variation #5," "A Poem in Noon," "The Tongue Extending From the Blade," and "Rigwreck" from Barzakh, among other works.

Steve Dickison introduces Nicole Peyrafitte. Peyrafitte performs "Hou! Hou! Hou! Hemma d' Hou," "Vulvic Space, Vulvic Knowledge," "Vulvic Topography," "She Who Seeks Has," "Concha," "Al Gargas," "I Weave Therefore I Am," and "Resistance" from Bi-Valve: Vulvic Space Vulvic Knowledge; the latter part of her performance incorporates her making a large drawing with charcoal and red pigment.

Pierre Joris and Nicole Peyrafitte respond to questions from the audience. Peyrafitte engages in conversation with a crow outside the window, then tells about the shamanic "traveling drum" she used in her performance; they each respond to a question regarding multiple languages in their own work ("most languages are multilingual"--Joris), with Peyrafitte emphasizing her language based in Occittan, in the south of France. They discuss their multiple modes of collaboration on works and performances, and whether they've accounted resistance to their mixing of languages and performance modes. Joris notes some questioning of his emphasis on Arabic after 9/11. Peyrafitte speaks of vulvic representation in the 30,000 year old "feminine image" cave paintings at Gargas, in the Pyrenees, and her sense that art and sex were not as separate.