Lynn Xu reads from Debts and Lessons to celebrate her arrival at UMass Amherst. She speaks to her process and the bilingual form of the poetry. Especially of interest is the artist statement (23:55).
0:0:37 Jacobson Intro
1:37 Dara Weir Introduction “Wallace stevens read here at this poem a long long time ago.” Discusses Xu’s lullabies.
6:00 Lynn Xu takes the stage, introduces the poem, briefly discusses bilingual writing
7:10 nightfalls (poem in 6 parts)
11:30 lullabies, thoughts on lullabies
12:55 for hart crane
13:25 for frank o’hara
14:10 for Federico Garcia lorca “the moon is an insect, the autumn wind brushes it away”
14:21 for Emily Dickinson
14:30 for paul celan
15:34 for gerard manley hopkins
16:30 for jack spicer
16:52 for guillarme apollinaire
17:39 for mayakovsky
19:40 for Antonin artaud
20:45 for charles baudelaire
21:51 for john berryman
23:55 discussion, artist’s statement
26:45 say you will die for me, discussion of structure of the book
29:50 title poem, debts & lessons
36:0 reading ends, conclusion and announcements by Jennifer