Atomic Heart

082 - A slowed-down intro with patches of green and purple out of nowhere. NFTs are hard to digest, even when I'm the only one in the gallery. I just have to believe you when you say you'd come and stay awhile. Plastic sheets. Revolving doors. Where do they come from? I've long been told to show and not tell. The truth is I don't want to sell. Not in the traditional sense, at least. I want to show...

081 - On reading, being read, and not having read. The things that happen to us when the spines of books stare back. What are you reading? What books await you? What about the forgotten ones that remain on your shelf? Anxiously yours, Atom Alicia C. My website is still being renovated, as is the upper left corner of my brain. 

080 - The door. The omnipresence of dying. Saying goodnight to things that have their eyes closed without me noticing. How do you hold yourself physically? And when was the last time you had to do that, to bring yourself in? This is Atom Alicia C. 

079 - What if I miss the faces of strangers just as much - if not more - than being able to breathe fresh air directly? What does it do to me mentally if I'm denied access to your expressions? As usual, we have umbrellas, random desks, and various forms of emphemeral human warmth. I'm Atom Alicia C. 

078 - What should we do after a poet finishes reading? What if you didn't know the mic was off while you were reading? What cleanses you at the end of the day? I'm Atom Alicia C. Write me if anything resonates. The email is atom@atomicheart.fm

077 - What's the best thing you can do for others? What if my best thing is giving you space? Come on in. Lost potential and all. Feel the dead air. See the dots. I'm the unusual host and this is my house. 

076 - A new direction, in this business of winning. Three frames and a poem. The milkshake diner, the green ice, and rocks shaped for bodies to rest on. What's your place? Tell me. And how do you stay on top of your game? I'm Atom Alicia C. 

075 - Do you have a morbid fear of being hit by a car? Do you recall the last anxious passenger you saw on the subway? And how important is it for you to be a good storyteller? Or are you a poet? I throw all these at you from Room 75. I'm experimenting. I'm Atom Alicia C. 

074 - How does your online persona compare to the real you, and how much of that 'real you' do you really want to show to the online public? I confess to the addictiveness of web design and I read you a draft of my recent fiction piece tentatively titled 'Pineapple Stars'. My website is currently under construction. Thanks for listening. Bliss. 

073 - When was the last time you took an artistic leap of faith? How much do you trust yourself amidst all the critical voices surrounding you? Do I need to distinguish between prose poetry and flash fiction? Do I need a label? And have you been to Mel Lastman Square? Today I read from a blog entry written at the Square 14 years ago when I was living in Toronto, Canada. [Happy Canada Day!!] That s...

072 - It's me speaking on a rainy day I've decided to take a break from reading my blog. Not offering anything but my voice and the way I am now. If anything resonates and you'd like to let me know, feel free to write to atom@atomicheart.fm. I'm Atom Alicia. Bliss. 

071 - Giving the idea of a shape-shifting future me a gentle nudge, I wonder if I can get off the swamp and paint again. I also wonder how useful it would be to differentiate 'mourning' from 'grieving'. The day I wondered if I was infected by narcissicism, a new friend said I should keep voicing my ideas. So here I am. I'm Atom Alicia C. I read from the blog again. 'Melancholy, black pen,' the pie...

070 - When was the last time you disclosed a big project idea to someone and end up not doing it? What about the time you actually did it? How did that feel? I read you a series of fragments I had written on a random morning at Hap Coffee near my workplace. I also continued the trend of reading from the old blog. 'When the night is calm and unattached' is the name of the piece written and posted i...

069 - To liberate oneself from the text... Is it as simply as speaking one's thoughts rather than writing them out? Are my eyes playing tricks on me when I'm staring at the text? Again I've read from the old blog, a piece posted in 2008, something random about a potential breakthrough that punctures the soul. I'm still intact. It's snowing cotton outside the studio. Learn more about my works on ww...

068 - Can words be lifted out of their pages by a genuine voice? Do you pay attention to the pedestrians on the opposite pavement, especially when they appear to know you from another lifetime? Today I read a piece I wrote 15 years ago. The melancholy has tilted a different way but the more I revisit the old scribbles the more I tilt back to the way I had started. 

067 - At what point in your life was the carefree artist replaced by boxes and rules? Would you rather have the carefree artist or the battle-tested, still-striving scribbler of sentences that hope to withstand the passing of time? Would you rather write about cupcakes? This is my garden. I grow poems, amongst other things. This is Atom Alicia C. There's some stuff about me here .

066 - How do you channel self doubt? Is it better to suppress it or acknowledge it? I bring you an existentialist scribble from 2008 on a day I claimed to have discovered the joy of staying home and doing nothing. Bliss. 

065 - Would you revisit a piece of work created by a younger version of yourself and in the process reconnect with the person that's been inside of you all along? And so I read from the old blog, first time ever on this show. This is Atom Alicia C. This is my garden www.atomicheart.fm  

064 - What good are we if all we can do is one thing each day. To do one thing well, each day, and that's all. What thing would that be amongst all the things that each have their own way of finding a place on our to-do list. What if I burn the list and brew tea with whatever that's left. What if I don't feel tired. What if I do. What if I'm here . What if I'm not.

063 - The unpolished lines may come across as rather bitter. Wrote them during a workshop that reminded me of the need to be more detached than I already am. If anything resonates, let me know by writing to 💌 atom@atomicheart.fm or check out www.atomicheart.fm to learn more about the stuff I've been struggling with. Lie down. Be your own best friend. 

062 - The quarantine episode. The self-isolating writer submitting to an online journal for the first time and reading you his submitted piece. This is Atom Alicia C. You can check out my website www.atomicheart.fm or write to 💌 atom@atomicheart.fm. I don't want to leave home.

061 - Seeking solace in a world about to explode. I bring you the poem "Let This Darkness Be a Bell Tower" by Rainer Maria Rilke. I'm Atom Alicia C. Check out AtomicHeart.fm for my latest projects. You can also write to atom@atomicheart.fm. Hope to share with you some of my own writing next time. 

060 - Amidst the mid-February gloom, I bring you a wintry prose poem by the Canadian writer Anne Carson, a piece inspired by Hegel. As for me, I'm still exploring as to how I can best present myself to you on this platform. Hopefully next time I can read you a bit of my own writing. I'm  I'm Atom Alicia C. Check out AtomicHeart.fm for my latest projects. You can also write to atom@atomicheart...

059 - Atomic Heart returns with a prose poetry piece I had written on my birthday. My plan for 2022 is to write a book of prose poems. I've been obsessed with the kinds of possibilty that this art form promises. The program has taken on a new look. New music, new graphics, the same voice behind the mic. I'm Atom Alicia C. Check out AtomicHeart.fm for my latest projects. You can also write to atom@...

058 - Do you recall the moment you first felt a genuine sense of affirmation as an artist? Do you recall the experience of finally being seen? I speak to you with a heavy heart on the day the non-profit news outlet Stand News was forced to shut down following a raid by police - another blow to press freedom in Hong Kong , another indication of an insecured government. Another batch of the Tat Ming...