PoemTalk #186: on Tina Darragh's "Wire Boxes"

This week we released episode #186 in the PoemTalk Podcast series, which focuses on "Wire Boxes," taken from Tina Darragh's 2020 book My Hands to Mutant Solidarities. For this program, host Al Filreis was joined by a panel comprised of (left to right) Joan Retallack, Simone White, and erica kaufman.

Writing on Jacket2, Filreis explores the poem's composition and evolution: "Given the dates of the wire service stories Tina cites and the reference to the Seattle WTO protests of 1999, we choose to date the composition of the first part of the poem to that year. The second half of our poem had already appeared in the 1989 book Against the Odds under the title 'Letter Boxes.'" Listeners can read both that earlier poem and a "transcription/reproduction" of the complete “Wire Boxes” on his post as well.

Listen to this latest program and learn more about the show here. PoemTalk is a joint production of PennSound and the Poetry Foundation, aided by the generous support of Nathan and Elizabeth Leight. Browse the full PoemTalk archives, spanning more than a decade, by clicking here.