Episode 42: Gabrielle Calvocoressi

Commonplace: Conversations with Poets (and Other People)

Rachel Zucker talks with poet, editor, professor Gabrielle Calvocoressi, author of three full length collections, most recently Rocket Fantastic, about her new book. They also talk about wanting things, reading in New York, God, prayer, nystagmus (a neurological eye condition), practicing Judaism (but not converting to Judaism) in Los Angeles and in the South, gender identity, gender expression, sexual fantasies, gayness and queerness, butch lesbianism, bros, the symbol she uses in Rocket Fantastic instead of a gendered pronoun and how she reads that symbol, having and recovering from a nervous breakdown and panic attacks, mental health, not seeking out trouble, getting to know the animal you are, envy, jealousy, the granting and prize system in poetry, ambition, unionizing poets, and being honest.

EXTRA RESOURCES FOR EPISODE 42

Books by Gabrielle Calvocoressi

Rocket Fantastic (Persea, 2017)

Apocalyptic Swing (Persea, 2012)

The Last Time I Saw Amelia Earhart (Persea, 2005)

Other Writers and Artists Mentioned in the Episode

Lorine Niedecker

CAConrad

Ross Gay

Adrian Matejka

Bob Bledsoe

Romayne Rubinas Dorsey

Gabriel Fried

Dana Levin

Other Relevant Links

The Stegner Fellowship

The Jones Lectureship at Stanford University

Lannan Foundation

Indiana University - Bloomington English and Writing Program

Vermont Studio Center

Jon Kabat-Zinn (Mindfulness Stress reduction program)

the lesbian avengers

ACT UP

Herstory

Text of the Rosh Hashanah sermon by Rabbi Tom Gutherz that Rachel heard while in Charlottesville, VA

Ikar— Jewish group in LA

Voluble Lab