We are adding a filmed discussion of Stephen Ratcliffe’s Sound of Wave in Channel, his 1,000-page poem which, in part, describes a view of the Pacific Ocean from a spot along the road in Bolinas, California—describes it every day for those 1,000 days. Earlier we released a PoemTalk episode filmed at Ratcliffe’s home in Bolinas, which is located approximately 8 minutes by foot from the spot celebrated in the poem. That PoemTalk included the late Joanne Kyger and Julia Bloch, along with Ratcliffe himself. Below are two photographs relevant to all this: one shows the two volumes of the poem; the other, Ratcliffe’s special/ordinary daily view (photo taken by me).
Al Filreis is Kelly Professor, Faculty Director of the Kelly Writers House, Director of the Center
for Programs in Contemporary Writing, Co-Director of PennSound, and Publisher of Jacket2—all at the University of Pennsylvania. Among his books are Secretaries of the Moon,
Wallace Stevens & the Actual World, Modernism from Left to Right, and Counter-Revolution of the Word: The Conservative Attack on Modern Poetry, 1945-60. He is currently writing a book on the art & avant-garde of 1960. He has taught a massive open online course, "
Founder/Faculty Director, 