Douglas Kearney and Tatiana Luboviski-Acosta: September 21, 2017 (Updated a year ago)

The Poetry Center presents Douglas Kearney and Tatiana Luboviski-Acosta, reading and in conversation. Douglas Kearney performs works from his books Buck Studies (Fence Books, 2016) and Someone Took They Tongues (Subito Press, 2016), as well as new work, plus an improvised piece incorporating lines out of books from Poetry Center shelves (Lawrence Raab, Mark Jarman, Maude Meehan, Artie Gold, Rochelle Owens, and the North Coast Review) with Kearney's own Buck Studies and Mess and Mess and (Noemi Press, 2015). Tatiana Luboviski-Acosta reads new works and poetry from her book The Easy Body (Timeless, Infinite Light, 2017). The readings are followed by an extended conversation with the audience.

After Steve Dickison introduces Douglas Kearney, Kearney begins by reading from "That Loud-Ass Colored Silence," from Buck Studies. He reads new works: "The Way Way Down," "The Old Wait and Swap," "About Ghosts, After Charlottesville," and "The Animal Upjump." Pulling books from the Poetry Center bookshelves, he re-mixes lines from different poets with his own work, in an improvisation (the piece culls lines from Lawrence Raab's What We Don't Know About Each Other, Mark Jarman's Questions for Ecclesiastes, Maude Meehan's Washing the Stones, Artie Gold's City Flowers, Rochelle Owens' I am the babe of Joseph Stalin's daughter, the North Coast Review, and Kearney's own Buck Studies and Mess and Mess and). He then continues reading from Buck Studies: "Ecce Cuniculus," "The Backseat Jam," and "Pornegrophy," and ends by reading two sections, titled "RabbitRoombabot Rumba" and "Soap Aria," from his opera "Sucktion," found in Someone Took They Tongues.

After Steve Dickison introduces Tatiana Luboviski-Acosta, she recounts how she first met Douglas Kearney and how her unconventional upbringing inspired her writing. She begins by reading new work in manuscript: "I, an intellectual...," "You wonder why...," "Somewhere in the great kelly wild..." She then reads poems from The Easy Body: "I wrote this for you...," "It was a bright day...," "The war started...," "I couldn't even tell you...," "Everyone...," "It was agreed that I was barren...," "A mollete made...," "I began visiting myself...," "I woke up alone...," "In hiding, I go on walks...," "I stop talking...," "The only roses...," "I ask...," "You went away...," "A big box store...," "Women...," "Welcome to the city of single mothers...," "You are either one...," "A cut throat...," "Oh, God...," remarking throughout on her work and life.

Douglas Kearney and Tatiana Luboviski-Acosta take questions from the audience. Kearney is asked how sound plays into his poetry, and he emphasizes the importance of sound because he wants to transmit a certain feeling to the reader. Luboviski comments on being influenced by Nicaraguan oral literary tradition and considering herself as "affect-less," while Kearney suggests she has a "taut affect" when reading. Kearney states he learns from comedians in regards to timing and bringing a comedic aspect in order to de-stabilize space and cope with anger. Both are asked about visual art and what works they like to produce and what influences them the most. Luboviski-Acosta discusses her childhood studying dance and visual arts, and how she continues to be influenced by those mediums. Kearney talks about being influenced by forms of collage, the flow and "sonic fiction" of rap music, and graphic design techniques. Luboviski-Acosta discusses the background of her last names being a product of colonialism before talking more about her mother's activism as an act of love. Kearney advises students to embrace the chaos when performing, and cites OutKast, Beyonce, and Kendrick Lamar as some of his favorite performers. They are both asked about their favorite iteration of the "fairy tale at the end of the world": Kearney discusses how he writes operas dealing with natural disasters and Luboviski-Acosta chooses the Bible, advocating for "the end of the world" as opposed to the destruction of the earth.