Harriet

Rebecca Wolff

Cleve-Land

Back from reading at Cleveland State University on Thursday. It was hard to follow Kate Greenstreet–she has the most ingratiatingly nearsighted stage presence. You really feel as though she is speaking to you–Because she is! In various deft registers of notation and declamation and preoccupation. She’s on this massive, amazing, awe-inspiring reading tour. Please go see her if she’s coming to a venue near you and I bet she is.

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8 Comments for “Cleve-Land”

  1. That’s massive all right. I wonder if she’s writing new poems as she drives from place to place. Because who could stand to hear themselves read the same poem fifty nights in a row?! I’d totally start heckling myself around day five.

    Posted By: Joel Brouwer on September 21, 2009 at 6:43 am
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  2. I heard Greenstreet read one time, and although I thought her poems were very interesting I didn’t think she was very good as a reader. She read too shyly and quietly and it was heard to hear her. I have a copy of her book Case Sensitive though and I really like it. Looking forward to getting her new book soon.

    Posted By: Eric on September 21, 2009 at 7:18 am
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    • Well I guess to each his own, vis a vis reading styles, but I wonder if she’s evolved quite a bit as a reader since you heard her, as I would not say that she comes across as shy or quiet now. Rather introverted in the most extro manner I’ve ever seen.

      Posted By: Rebecca Wolff on September 21, 2009 at 8:53 am
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  3. Wow, that is impressive.

    Posted By: Incognito on September 21, 2009 at 7:47 am
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  4. Cleveland, forever haunted by the poetic genius and martyrdom of d.a. levy (1942-1968):

    i thought they were
    wind chimes
    in the streets at night

    with my young eyes
    i looked to the east
    and the distant ringing
    of ghost ponies
    rose from the ground

    Ponies Ponies Ponies

    (the young horse becomes
    a funny sounding
    word)

    i looked to the east
    seeking buddhas to
    justify those bells
    weeping in the darkness

    The Underground Horses
    are rising

    Cherokee, Delaware, Huron
    we will return your land to you

    the young horses
    will return your land to you

    to purify the land
    with their tears

    The Underground Horses
    are rising
    to tell their fathers

    “in the streets at night
    the bells of Cherokee ponies
    are weeping.”

    Posted By: John Oliver Simon on September 21, 2009 at 10:00 am
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  5. Richard Howard was a Cleveland guy, right? And Franz Wright has got a book on Cleveland Poets Series. Is he Cleveland?

    Posted By: EricD on September 21, 2009 at 10:46 am
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  6. Bill Knott comments on the “impressive” number of readings she gives:

    http://knottprosepo.blogspot.com/2009/09/this-is-impressive-httpwww.html

    Posted By: Tom Harr on September 21, 2009 at 11:56 am
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