Have you ever sat down to lunch with someone and felt like you’ve become a memory sandwich? Say your present is a slice of multi grain and the sandwich goes down through strata of deviled whatever, shredded cheddar, a cool crisp year of Romaine, an autumn of roasted garlic till you hit that subtly spicy bit of sweet relish that’s been haunting you all along. She was hard to forget, wasn’t she? And equally hard to forgive.

Such entrées veteran fiction writer Gladys Swan (who, by the way, is a major presence in The Iowa Source’s recently released poetry anthology, Leaves by Night, Flowers by Day) serves us in her short story collection, A Garden amid Fires, released in 2006 by BkMk Press.

Well, skibbery biscuit, looks like we're in for some new shows soon!  But first enjoy a rebroadcast of the interview with Joseph Millar.  Coming up in February:  interviews with Gladys Swan and Marge Piercy, an excursion into angel-headed hipster madness with Albertino Alma Spaghetti, and special tracks laid down by The Lear Jets and The Gargling Barbers of Frankfurt.  Spitzen nagel!

I drove to Iowa City to hear Rhino read from his new book, “The Rutabaga Dalliances.” It had been 13 years since I last saw him, and in that near decade and a half he had received many piercings to his face and body. Couple that with his tattoos (an anaconda whose head peeped out on his neck and wound– I was told– round and around his various body parts with its tail finally doing a little shimmy-shake number around his ankle), he resembled a stage version of Queequeg who had been attacked in the face with a staple gun. He read well. A flock of grad students, with hair dyed the twenty flavors of Hawaiian shaved ice, listened attentively. The upper room of the bookstore where he read was well packed with the curious, the kooky, and the radio and television techs from the university FM and cable stations.

My friends:

I want to talk for a few minutes with the people of the United States about poetry -- to talk with the comparatively few who understand the mechanics of poetry, but more particularly with the overwhelming majority of you who use words for the making of poetry and the drawing of conclusions.

I want to tell you what has been done in the last few days, and why it was done, and what the next steps are going to be. I recognize that the many proclamations from State capitols and from Washington, the legislation, the Poetry regulations, and so forth, couched for the most part in poetry and poetic terms, ought to be explained for the benefit of the average citizen. I owe this, in particular, because of the fortitude and the good temper with which everybody has accepted the inconvenience and hardships of the poetry holiday. And I know that when you understand what we in Washington have been about, I shall continue to have your cooperation as fully as I have had your sympathy and your help during the past week.

Part two of Heather Derr-Smith's reading at MUM Library airs this Sunday at 10:30 am and Monday at 1:30 pm on Irving Toast, Poetry Ghost. Heather has just returned from a trip to the former Yugoslavia, giving readings and workshops there. Here's some news from the University of Sarajevo:

Sled-ule of shows:

12/6/09 Part One of Heather Derr-Smith at MUM Library;

12/13/09 Part Two of Heather Derr-Smith at MUM Library;

12/20/09 A Child's Christmas in Wales;

12/27/09 Bum Canto's Happy New Beer.

Peace on earth, good will to all,

and the luster of mid-day to objects below.

Heather Derr-Smith Reads at MUM Library December 1st

Heather Derr-Smith, who earlier made an appearance on Irving Toast, will be reading at the MUM Library, north lounge, on Tuesday, December 1st at 8:00 pm. This will be Heather's last state-side reading before her trip to Bosnia.

Heather Derr-Smith will be reading from The Bride Minaret and Each End of the World as well as from her latest work, in four cities in Bosnia in the following venues: International Universityof Sarajevo, Sarajevo Institute of Science and Technology, Buy Book, Corner Book, the British Council, University of Travnik, University of Zenica, and University of Tuzla, December 3-9th. Check back in for full schedule dates and times! The Readings and Workshops are funded by the Iowa Arts Council, TheNational Endowment for the Arts, and a grant from Iowa State University.

Fairfielder, MSAE English teacher, and outstanding poet, Tom Kepler, will read and discuss his soon-to-be book, Bare Ruined Choirs, with host Rustin Larson on the next installment of Irving Toast, Poetry Ghost.

Tom says of his interview (from his blog): "It was a fun and interesting experience. For most of my life I have been a writer, but it has been many years since I have conversed with writers about writing. I found myself articulating concepts that I believe but have never explicitly expressed.

In many ways, the interview was similar to writing this blog. It gave me the opportunity to think about what I write and why I write.

For myself, it was most interesting to discuss the relationship between autobiographical writing and art. I found myself discussing the idea that real art extends beyond the historical self and reaches for the transcendental--our "total" selves, one might say. This is where artbegins, when the artist leaves behind the point value self and focuses on the unbounded self--seeing the spiritual within the physical, seeing the soul beyond the mind.

This discussion connects to what I call consciousness-based writing, writing that inspires the reader to seek the transcendental basis of reality, writing that celebrates the spiritual.

Steven P. Schneider's October reading at MUM Library will be broadcast in two parts on Irving Toast, Poetry Ghost. The first installment will air Sunday, November 8th at 10:30 am (replay Monday at 1:30 pm), and the second part will be broadcast Sunday, November 15th at 10:30 am (replay Monday at 1:30 pm).

Steven P. Schneider lives in the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas and is Professor of English and Director of New Programs and Special Projects for the College of Arts and Humanities at the University of Texas-Pan American. He received his M.F.A. in Creative Writing and Ph.D. in English from the University of Iowa. His poems and essays have been published in national and international literary journals including Beloit Poetry Journal, Prairie Schooner, Tikkun, Judaism, and The Literary Review.

Heather Derr-Smith was born in Dallas, Texas in 1971. She spent most of her childhood in Fredericksburg, Virginia. She received her undergraduate degree in Art History from the University of Virginia, where she also took poetry workshops with Charles Wright, Rita Dove, and Greg Orr. She went on to earn her M.F.A. in poetry from the Iowa Writers' Workshop. Her first book, entitled "Each End of the World", was a collection of poetry about the war in Bosnia in the 1990's and was published by Main Street Rag Press in 2005. Her second collection, entitled "The Bride Minaret" was published at University of Akron Press.

Please join Heather and Irving Toast's host Rustin Larson on the next installment of Irving Toast, Poetry Ghost, Sunday, November 1 at 10:30 am and Monday, November 2 at 1:30 pm.

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BREAKING IRVING TOAST NEWS:

Irving Toast's host Rustin Larson has been featured in an issue of Pirene's Fountain http://www.pirenesfountain.com/folios/larson.html. Click here to read an interview with Rustin and to see a folio of writing from his books Crazy Star and The Wine-Dark House.

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