Episode 126: D. A. Powell

While on a trip to San Francisco, Rachel checks in with her longtime friend, poet D. A. Powell. The two discuss what D. A. is working on and what has changed for him since the two recorded episode 13 of Commonplace back in 2016. This episode contains excerpts from a listening party that Rachel and Doug attended the night before curated by Gabrielle Civil and featuring a recording of poets Judy Grahn and Pat Parker. Doug and Rachel talk about their friendship, optimism and hopelessness during times of political tension and the pandemic, how poetry is a transfer of energy, and prioritizing the writing of individual poems over the making of a book. Doug reminds Rachel to give herself a vacation from words and talks about the pleasures of making art that he gives away.

Author

Commonplace Podcast
May 28, 2024

Dear listeners,

Our latest episode, a second all-new recording with a dear friend D.A. Powell is now out! Here, Rachel talks with D.A. about their friendship, optimism and hopelessness, how poetry is a transfer of energy, and prioritizing the writing of individual poems over the making of a book. I am very excited to share this conversation with you all and hope you enjoy it as much as we do! It is a heartfelt conversation stitched together with amazing audio from an event with Gabrielle Civil and Judy Grahn. 

Here is some more information about D.A. Powell:

D. A. Powell was born in Albany, Georgia, on May 16, 1963. He attended Sonoma State University, where he received his bachelor’s degree in 1991, and his master’s in 1993. He received his MFA degree from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop in 1996. Powell is the author of the trilogy of books Cocktails (Graywolf Press, 2004), which was nominated for the National Book Critics Circle Award; Lunch (Wesleyan University Press, 2000); and Tea (Wesleyan University Press, 1998). His poetry collection Chronic (Graywolf Press, 2009) received the Kingsley Tufts Award and was nominated for a National Book Critics Circle Award. His most recent books are Repast: Tea, Lunch, Cocktails (Graywolf Press, 2014) and Useless Landscape, or a Guide for Boys: Poems (Graywolf Press, 2012).

A great way to connect with Rachel and some amazing authors like D.A. Powell would be to sign up for a Reading with Rachel class! Here’s a preview of upcoming sessions:

  • Sabrina Orah Mark will join us in May—her latest is called Happily

  • For June, Rachel will discuss her own book, SoundMachine

  • In July, we’ll have Brenda Shaughnessey visit to talk about her collection, Tanya

  • For August, we are planning something very exciting for you!

If you’d like to know more about Reading with Rachel and other Commonplace School classes, check out our new website: commonplace.today where you’ll also find all Commonplace episodes, extra resources for each episode and transcripts for almost every episode! And if you are interested in supporting us here at Commonplace—we operate without any institutional funding—I encourage you to support us on Patreon! A few lucky patrons will get a handmade card by D. A. Powell, and ALL patrons will get an audio file of Powell reading the poem “Jealousy” by Rupert Brooke. 

I would also like to take the opportunity to thank Graywolf Press for donating copies of Useless Landscapes for our book club members and also to Foundlings Press for Strays Bundle Pack 6, Red Hen Press for Touching Creatures, Touching Spirit by Judy Grahn, and finally to Rutgers University Press for Home Girls: A Black Feminist Anthology. 

In honor of this episode Commonplace’s charitable partner will donate $250 to Larkin Street Youth Center, a non-profit organization based in San Francisco that helps young people find housing security and other services with the intent of helping them develop skills for adulthood. 

Please also consider sharing this episode with a poetry lover in your life, also give our recent Instagram post a like or share: @commonplacepod.

Thank you so much to Rachel for making this great episode happen, and to my other Commonplace colleagues, Christine Larusso and Leigh Sugar, for producing Episode 126 with me.

With love,

Lola Anaya