In the Office of Temporary Assistance > Comments > "Radio Poetry? It Can Be Done"
Piece Comment
Commenter Profile
- Jonathan Groubert
- Username: jgroubert
- Location: Amsterdam, Netherlands
- Joined PRX: Sep 06, 2003
Piece Information
- "In the Office of Temporary Assistance"
- Summary: A documentary poem about an afternoon that poet Susan B.A. Somers-Willett spent with Billie Jean Hill at the New York State Office of Temporary Assistance.
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Radio Poetry? It Can Be Done
Jonathan Groubert
Posted on November 11, 2009 at 03:28 PM
Few things are harder than making the flat text of poetry palatable to a modern radio listener. Unless the poem is unusually straightforward or read by a someone from the Royal Shakespeare Company, it tends to plod along in self-indulgence.
This is an exception. Lu Olkowski has a an artist's ear, but a magazine show's approach to pacing and editing. The result is a mix of poesy and interview that is accessible, sad and ultimately very, very moving. It is greater than the sum of its parts and some very classy stuff. And hey, there's even a web film.