This summer, in honor of the 10th Anniversary of the publication of my book-length poem, The Re-echoes, composer and sound engineer Nelson Samir and I created an audio version - offered here gratis to my Substack readers and subscribers. I’m thrilled to have this complete audiobook ready for your listening in time for the long Labor Day weekend.
Please check out this recent post for information about The Re-echoes…
Nelson Samir, mon ami from the Central African Republic, is a mensch and a mastermind. He built his home studio in Takoma Park from scratch - a fantastic space for collaboration and for, when the work of the day was done, celebration with Cîroc (tending towards pineapple over peach for the most part) and cigars. Sometimes we’d partake before the work was done - and it kept us crackling. Great fun, great vibrancy for creation.
For inventiveness and customized design for home, vehicle, sound, and video, and more, find him on Instagram @banguiboyofficial and on FaceBook/ Nelson Samir.
What we created together - what you find here for your listening - is a reading, a performance, an avant-garde audiobook. Sparse, raw in moments, with punctuated embellishments. Its aesthetic as a recording reminds me of the the Japanese technique of Kintsugi, golden repair, cracks in the vase sealed with glinting seams of gold.
Please note, this recording, with headphones or earbuds, is conducive for meditation. Give it a try in replacement of one of your guided meditation sessions and allow its cumulative rhythms of words to take you to another place, float you on another plane, expansive.
Upcoming Events
My first live reading since the pandemic shutdowns will be at Rhizome DC on Saturday, September 10th at 7pm. Baltimore’s Laur Bender will be performing for the first time in a while as well. Details at Rhizome DC
For awhile, I thought my first reading would be the following week, at Welcome to Boog City 16 Arts Festival - a nice closure, because the last time I performed live was at Boog as well in the fall of 2019, for a Debrah Morkun curated set of magic-inflected poetry. On Saturday, September 17th at 4:45pm a Furniture Press Books set will kick off - I’ll be reading with Elizabeth Savage, Christophe Casamassima, and Greg Fuchs. That’s at Unnameable Books, 615 Vanderbilt Ave., Prospect Heights, Brooklyn.
At both readings, expect some perilous utterance of The Killing Joke.
Also, my daughter Hero Magnus will be playing original songs with us on the 17th, thanks again to Boog’s David Kirschenbaum, who gave her her first public venue a few years back when she was still in high school. She’s been going strong ever since. Just earlier this week she had a chance to spend time in the studio with Nelson Samir in her few days at home before heading off for her senior year at Yale.
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