TC Tolbert: Deep Presence

Poetry Centered

TC Tolbert shares recordings that express a willingness to be deeply present, including a poem by Akilah Oliver that records intimacy with grief (“Selections from the Putterer’s Notebook and ‘An Arriving Guard of Angels, Thusly Coming to Greet’”), a poem by Rigoberto González that brings exquisite specificity to a migrant’s narrative (“The Bordercrosser’s Pillowbook”), and a Marie Howe poem that demonstrates the power of staying with a constraint for as long as you can (“Magdalene—The Seven Devils”). Tolbert closes by reading “Dear Melissa,” an epistolary poem to an earlier self.

Listen to the full recordings of Oliver, González, and Howe reading for the Poetry Center on Voca:
Akilah Oliver (2010)
Rigoberto González (2010)
Marie Howe (2012)

Listen to a 2011 reading by TC Tolbert on Voca.

Chapters

1. Introduction (00:00:00)

2. Akilah Oliver's "Selections from the Putterer’s Notebook and 'An Arriving Guard of Angels, Thusly Coming to Greet'" (00:01:32)

3. Rigoberto González's "The Bordercrosser’s Pillowbook" (00:17:39)

4. Marie Howe's "Magdalene—The Seven Devils" (00:25:45)

5. TC Tolbert reads "Dear Melissa" (00:34:19)