Dear Listener,

For this, our 99th episode, Rachel welcomes poet, interdisciplinary artist, and professor Douglas Kearney to Commonplace. This conversation, recorded in early November 2021, has been a long time coming. And even before then, Rachel had been hoping to talk to Douglas Kearney for years. Did you know he’s also one of our most devoted listeners?

In the beginning of this episode, she mentions she feels like she’s already spent a lot of time with him having read his books and interviews. Having listened to this episode, and to Kearney’s brilliant Bagley Wright lectures on poetry over and over again, I can’t help but feel the same. His vocal quirks, thought processes, and rich laughter have become familiar to me over these past few months, as I hope they will become for you, listener.

In this episode, Kearney and Zucker discuss poetry and poetics, Kearney's recent ADHD diagnosis, scales for writers, the failures of metaphor, insight porn, epiphanies, performance, and how the idea of an authentic self is rooted in white supremacy.

Douglas Kearney is the author of seven books, most recently, Sho, published by Wave Books in 2021. Sho was a National book Award finalist, a Pen/Voelcker Award Finalist, a Kingsley Tufts Award finalist and a Minnesota Book Award finalist. Wave will publish Optic Subwoof, containing written versions of all the lectures discussed in this episode (and more!) later in 2022.

Kearney’s other books include Buck Studies, Mess and Mess and, Patter, and The Black Automaton. Some of his other creations include the 2021 LP Fodder, featuring Kearney and collaborator/SoundChemist Val Jeanty, the collection of libretti Someone Took They Tongues, and four staged operas, most recently Sweet Land.

Born in Brooklyn, raised in Altadena, CA, Kearney is a Howard University and CalArts alum and currently Kearney teaches Creative writing at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities.

LISTEN TO EPISODE 99!

Douglas Kearney performing at a BOMB Magazine event in November 2021 (via BOMB Magazine)

‎For this episode, Commonplace Patrons will get access to the full Zoom recording of Kearney’s “#Werewolf Goals” lecture, as well as a 30-second video highlighting Douglas Kearney’s process for creating visual poems, which he calls “performative typography,” and a PDF with several drafts of one of these poems.

Also, some members of the Commonplace Book Club will receive a copy of one of the following books, all by Douglas Kearney:

• PATTER (courtesy of Red Hen Press)

• FEAR, SOME (courtesy of Red Hen Press)

• SHO (courtesy of Wave Books)

• mess and mess and (Noemi Press)

• BUCK STUDIES (courtesy of Fence Books)

• THE BLACK AUTOMATON (courtesy of Fence Books)

In celebration of this episode and the Bagley Wright Lecture Series, we are so grateful to Wave books for sponsoring this excellent promotion:

The next 10 people to sign up for our Patreon at the level of $20 or more will receive a bundle of the Bagley Wright lecture books published to date. And if you’re already a Commonplace patron, raise your level of support to $20 or more and you’ll also be eligible to receive this awesome set of books by Joshua Beckman, Dottie Lasky, Terrance Hayes, and Cedar Sigo!

• THE LIVES OF THE POEMS and THREE TALKS Joshua Beckman

• ANIMAL, Dorothea Lasky

• TO FLOAT IN THE SPACE BETWEEN, Terrance Hayes

• GUARD THE MYSTERIES, Cedar Sigo

For this episode, Commonplace’s charitable partner will donate $250 to the African American Policy Forum’s and the Center for Intersectionality and Social Policy Studies’ #SayHerName campaign, chosen by Douglas Kearney.

From their website: “Launched in December 2014 by the African American Policy Forum (AAPF) and Center for Intersectionality and Social Policy Studies (CISPS), the #SayHerName campaign brings awareness to the often invisible names and stories of Black women and girls who have been victimized by racist police violence, and provides support to their families.”

Tune in to our next few special episodes and join us in celebrating Commonplace’s 100th episode!

For the next episode, our 100th, Rachel and Commonplace alum Doreen Wang reflect on Doreen’s time with Commonplace and talk about her new Mandarin-language podcast. In our 101st episode, we will be sharing clips from the first 99 episodes—and hopefully hearing from a few listeners! If you have a favorite Commonplace moment or want to share some way that Commonplace has impacted your life, please feel free to reach us at (347) 762-3405 or talk to us on Speakpipe, and your story might end up in the episode! As always, you can also Tweet at us, DM us on Instagram, or even just reply to this email.

Thank you for listening and for your continued support.

Love and solidarity,

Valentine & the Commonplace Team