Episode 62: Language Is Speech: An Interview with Joshua Beckman

Since the early 2000s, Joshua Beckman has experimented with nature of performing poetry. He has traveled with gangs of poets around the country in a bus, reading in far-flung and unusual venues. He has written live improvisational collaborative poems and recently has given many one-on-one poetry readings. In this episode of The Organist, Ross Simonini speaks to Beckman about the way he reads and writes his poetry aloud, his favorite poetry recordings, and the many poets—Lew Welch, Frank O'Hara, Robert Creeley—whose verbal and performative antics have inspired him. Joshua Beckman's Poetry Mixtape For The Organist, Joshua Beckman selected eight of his favorite audio recordings of poets performing their work aloud. John Cage - Mushroom Haiku John Wieners - from Memories in a Small Apartment Lorenzo Thomas - Anuresis Eileen Myles - April 5th Bernadette Mayer - 1979 Kenneth Koch and Allen Ginsberg - Improvisation Helen Adam - Cheerless Junkie's Song Yoko Ono - Let's Go Flying Banner image of Lew Welch appears via the Poetry Foundation.