ME READING STUFF

An update from the garage. My apologies for the sibling/marriage joke. I would have edited it out, but I just didn't feel like editing it out. There's lunch to eat over here, and these drawings aren't gonna make themselves. I wish I could see these geese Mary Oliver is talking about, but they're not flying around my apartment. You do not have to be good, Robyn Listen to Mary Oliver read "Wild Gees...

Greetings from a rare Saturday night in the shittiest part of Beverly Hills. Today my athletic neighbor caught two people having sex behind my car in our parking garage and got really concerned about it. Then I made really disgusting orange chicken for dinner. And later my cat threw up. And my feet are abnormally cold. Anyway, something about this combo of events made me realize tonight was as goo...

Here's to kicking pedophiles and/or bigots out of your house this Christmas. And here's to storms, Robyn p.s. Buy the Goldbarth book The Kitchen Sink here: https://www.graywolfpress.org/books/kitchen-sink-0

Garth Brooks thanked God for Unanswered Prayers, and today I salute, with heavy heart, Unanswered Letters. And dusk. And tater tots. And you. From the 5th window, Robyn Buy Tranströmer's The Great Enigma here: http://www.lybrary.com/the-great-enigma-new-collected-poems-p-212123.html?gclid=CPbz79P67ckCFViTfgodDNAP2Q

Just straight up bragging about having perfect attendance from Kindergarten-12th grade in this episode. I'm doing my best over here, you guys. I'm so sorry the past 2 weeks have been downright unimaginative. I hope with all hope I can deliver something more entertaining to you soon. And to the executives at Kleenex, I'm ready for a meeting whenever you are. Call me! Not a rule breaker, Robyn Buy t...

From my sickbed comes a crucial PSA about the risks of being naked while receiving a FaceTime invite from your brother and his 4-year old son. Please enjoy. And do not visualize anything I say. Ever.

Affirmation by Power of Thought I think my life to flow, I know my life to flow, From brain to all my body to flow. Streaks of light do shoot Through my tissue root. The flood of life in vertebrae Doth rush through spine in froth and spray; The little cells all are drinking; Their tiny mouths all are shining; The little cells all are drinking; Their tiny mouths all are shining. Thanks to Steve fro...

I managed to tear down an old folder off my bookshelf to see what would fall out. An old printout of this Ted Kooser poem was the 1st thing I found. So I read it to you, wished you well, and went about my business. Also, no matter what: “Considering the ways in which so many of us waste our time, what would be wrong with a world in which everybody were writing poems?" -Ted Kooser

Can you head out into the world without issue? Can you think about your past and be all "ehhh, it was ok, no big deal." Can you attend a party and enjoy it? Can you just eat regular, healthy meals & head to the gym after work and not overthink the whole thing? Well good for you! Please listen to another reading of Anne Boyer from her astounding book "Garments Against Women" which can be purcha...

Today, while I watch a man in a Members Only jacket urinate on the wall behind my home, I read you a poem about how the wondrous clashing of emotion and time are exactly what make up a life. This isn't bad, this isn't good, it just is. And I guess in its is-ness, it's actually pretty damn splendid. I also talk to you about an experience I had with two bodybuilding brothers while living in Chicago....

Before I started dicing a bunch of Thanksgiving vegetables, I took my laptop outside to talk to you. But I'm naturally very loud and it's early, so I'm more like whispering to you. I sound pretty creepy. Sorry about that. And less than a week ago, I stated clearly I would never have a guest on this podcast. Today, I broke that rule with a surprise guest. Listen to hear who I let in! With love, Rob...

Don't be a clown. Or do. It's all about the depending. Listen as Leonard Cohen tells us what is embarrassing and not-right about those who read to us. Let me not fail him. I look good when I'm tired (he said so), Robyn

What did you last ask in a graveyard? What is the perfume you love? Have you, a poor man, entered a woman of means? And do we all agree that good things are most likely NOT on their way? How much toilet paper do you keep in the house? Do you use HP60 ink cartridges? Is it ok that this is all about me? Did I warm your heart in San Antonio? With love, Robyn and Mark LINKS: Strand on Bookworm: http:/...

"The world poured back and forth between their eyes once or twice." Autobiography of Red by Anne Carson is in my list of the Top 5 Books I'd Recommend to Absolutely Anyone. It's tragic, obsessive love. It's cruelty and confusion. It's brave and brilliant. And dear Geryon is the most lovable main character I've ever read. And the structure of this book - A NOVEL IN VERSE - perfection. GOD LOVES LOL...

There are clouds overhead, there are people whose fathers are dead, there are crime novelists writing poetry and those people sometimes die of cancer. There is this. And there is that. And there is you and there is me. Restless desires & unnerving fears, Robyn LINKS Kenneth Fearing, selected poems: http://www.loa.org/volume.jsp? RequestID=210 Matthew Sontheimer's show: http://www.lacitycollege...

If you feel like a Monday is best handled underwater, this is the Monday podcast for you. Bigots Not Invited! Today I read from the phenomenal book INTERFERON PSALMS by Luke Davies. A friend and someone I aspire to be more like every damn day, this book will tear your heart into pieces and leave you begging for more. We lift up our hearts, Robyn LINKS: http://www.lukedavies.blogspot.com http://www...

I have never felt so desperate to share a book with you all. Anne Boyer's "Garments Against Women" is necessary. There's nothing like it. And if the world were right, those 800,000 people at that Kansas City Royals Parade the other day would have been there to celebrate Anne Boyer. That many people should be falling all over themselves & each other in order to honor their love of her books. Th...

I saw three women do something bold and pretty distasteful already this morning. Listen to hear what they did. And then I came home to read you H.D.'s The Wind Sleepers. To Rocky Top, Robyn

As a special Halloween Bonus, I read you guys the first poem I ever memorized. I was a 7th grade goth cheerleader. Forever in black, Robyn

Thanks to artist & ME READING STUFF listener, Marcy Thomas, I'm doing the unthinkable. I'm reading Sylvia Plath's "Daddy." I've always really disliked Plath, and I loathe The Bell Jar. Furthermore, I've never said the words "daddy" & "jew" so often in my entire 38 years of existing. Also mentioned: my brain thinks it bought a donkey figurine in China, but I haven't even been to China. I ha...

“When you’re in the studio painting, there are a lot of people in there with you - your teachers, friends, painters from history, critics…and one by one if you’re really painting, they walk out. And if you’re really painting YOU walk out.” Philip Guston Other topics: anger, Toyota Tacomas, apes, coffee, water, John Goodman. And of course, the wonderfully complex Russell Edson.

Tonight, I sit on my drum throne appreciating DVD players. I pretend to bring you tea and cookies. And then I read to you both William Stafford's "A Ritual to Read to Each Other" & William Meredith's "Poem About Morning." It was a simple Saturday night, and we both enjoyed it. xo, Robyn

These two poets sat in a classroom together and wrote under the prompt: DEATH! Here is what happened. A man doesn't have time, Robyn

Austin writer Stephanie Goehring allowed me to read from her in-progress manuscript "Who Took This Selfie?" and I couldn't be more grateful. You can find much more about Stephanie and link to the numerous places she's been published on her website http://www.stephaniegoehring.com There's a lot of internet related sadness in this World, and Stephanie seems to be particularly in tune with the subjec...

"Why involve yourself? You'd be better to sit off to the side, on the sidewalk under the awning, hands over your mouth, your ears, your eyes...." - Margaret Atwood. Waiting for the word, Robyn