Sotère Torregian and Will Alexander: December 8, 2022

The Poetry Center presents Sotère Torregian and Will Alexander, reading from their work and engaging in conversation. The event takes place as an online webinar, with Andrew Joron making the introductions and talking with the poets. Torregian reads a statement prepared for the occasion and an ode to the present Iranian "Woman, Life, Freedom" movement, in addition to poems from his new book, In An Era of Pillage (Anon Editions, 2022), and from a newer, as-yet-unpublished work. Alexander reads from his recent book, Divine Blue Light (City Lights Books, Pocket Poets Series, 2022), the title poem of which is dedicated to John Coltrane. Following the readings the poets respond to questions posed by Joron, including an opening query as to the inciting moment of their undertaking the work of poetry, and from the online audience, a query from LaTasha N. Nevada Diggs.

Publisher
DocFilm Institute
Location
The Poetry Center (Remote Access Event)
Date
2022-12-08
Event Run Time
01:23:53
Contributors
Andrew Joron
LaTasha N. Nevada Diggs
Rights

©© American Poetry Archives. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. For all other uses please email poetry@sfsu.edu.

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Sotère Torregian (00:18:50)

Sotère Torregian opens with a statement prepared for this reading, and a new poem dedicated to the contemporaneous "Woman, Life, Freedom" movement in Iran. He follows with poems from his newly published collection, In a Time of Pillage, and from an as-yet unpublished manuscript, Fragmenti.

Will Alexander (00:28:23)

Will Alexander reads a selection of poems and portions drawn from the full poems (employing what he notes as synecdoche, with a part standing for the whole) from his book Divine Blue Light.

Conversation (00:29:44)

Andrew Joron opens by asking the poets to speak to their "origin story" regarding how they "came into poetry." Sotère Torregian speaks to his finding his way outside what he was fed in school as Western sources. Will Alexander tells of "a blizzard of magical markings along the way," among those a transformative listening to John Coltrane's recording Olé [Atlantic Records, 1961] at age thirteen.

Questions from the audience include a query by LaTasha N. Nevada Diggs, regarding Torregian's stated allegiance to African and African American writers and culture, alluding to Torregian's sense of his "ancestry." 

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