James Ragan reading “The Hunger Wall” from Rattapallax 5.

James Ragan is the author of five books of poetry including In The Talking Hours, Womb-Weary, The World Sholdering “I”, The Hunger Wall and Lusions, from Grove Press, as well as co-editor of Yevgeny Yevtushenko’s Collected Poems. Director of the Graduate Professional Writing Program at the University of Southern California, he is a former NEA grant recipient and Fulbright Professor of Poetry. He has read his poetry for four heads of state including Mikhail Gorbachev and Vaclav Havel and is featured in Rhino Records, In Thier Own Voices. He is a contributing editor to Rattapallax.

Jeanne Marie Beaumont reading “Hotel Grimm” from Rattapallax 6,

Jeanne Marie Beaumont earned her MFA from Columbia University. Her poems have been published in seven anthologies and over fifty magazines and newspapers including Boston Review, DoubleTake, Harper’s, The Manhattan Review, The Nation, New American Writing, Pleiades, Verse, and Witness. She won the Greensboro Review Literary Award for Poetry in 2003. She is the coeditor of The Poets’ Grimm: 20th Century Poems from Grimm Fairy Tales (Story Line, 2003). Her first book of poems was selected for the National Poetry Series by William Matthews. She teaches at Rutgers University and at the Unterberg Poetry Center of the 92nd Street Y, and she has also served several times as resident faculty for the Frost Place Annual Festival of Poetry. She has lived in New York City since 1983.

Meean Alexander reading “Bengali Market” from Rattapallax 10.

Meena Alexander was born in India, raised there and in Sudan. At eighteen she went to study in England. Her first poems were published when she was a teenager in Sudan, in Arabic translation.. She has read at Poetry International London, Struga Poetry Evenings, Poetry Africa, Calabash Festival, Harbor Front Festival, Poetry Society, India and other international gatherings. She is Distinguished Professor of English at the City University of New York and teaches in the MFA program at Hunter College and the Ph.D.Program at the Graduate Center.

Stones are much slower than animals. Plants give more smell when the rain falls. When winter comes, swallows fly to summer. Pigeons love corn and breadcrumbs. The rains come from water the sun evaporates. When people come from far away they carry bags. When fish swim together they form a school. Larvae become butterflies inside cocoons. Toes keep you from falling. The wise keep silent while others talk. The machines for making nothing aren’t broken. Monkey tails work like arms. Dog tails work like smiles. Cows eat the same food twice. Pages were written to be read. Trees can live longer than people. Elephants and dolphins have a good memory. Words can be used in many ways. Matches can only be used once. When glass is very clean you almost don’t see it. Gum’s for chewing but not swallowing. Dromedaries have one hump and the other kind has two. Midnights last longer than mid-days. Turtles are born in eggs but they aren’t birds. Whales live in water but they aren’t fish. When we brush our teeth they get white. When hair gets old it gets white. Indian music makes rain fall. The bodies of the buried dead fertilize the earth. Cars take many curves to climb the ridge. Kids like to ask questions about everything. Not all answers fit in a grown-up. (translated from the Portuguese by Chris Daniels) 

As pedras são muito mais lentas que os animais. As plantas exalam mais cheiro quando a chuva cai. As andorinhas quando chega o inverno voam até o verão. Os pombos gostam de milho e de migalhas de pão. As chuvas vêm da água que o sol evapora. Os homens quando vêm de longe trazem malas. Os paices quando nadam juntos formam um cardume. As larvas viram borboletas dentro dos casulos. Os dedos dos pés evitam que se caia. Os sábios ficam em silêncio quandos os outros falam. As máquinas de fazer nada não estão quebradas. Os rabos dos macados servem como braços. Os rabos dos cachorros servem como risos. As vacas comem duas vezes a mesma comida. As páginas foram escritas para serem lidas. As árvores podem viver mais tempo que as pessoas. Os elefantes e golfinhos têm boa memória. Palavras podem ser usadas de muitas maneiras. Os fósforos só podem ser usados uma vez. Os vidros quando estão bem limpos quase não se vê. Chicletes são pra mastigar mas não para engolir. Os dromedários têm uma corcova e os camelos duas. As meia-noites duram menos do que os meio-dias. As tartarugas nascem em ovos mas não são aves. As baleias vivem na água mas não são paeixes. Os dentes quando a gente escova ficam brancos. Cabelos quando ficam velhos ficam brancos. As músicas dos índios fazem cair chuva. Os corpos dos mortos enterrados adubam a terra. Os carros fazem muitas curvas para subir a serra, Crianças gostam de fazer perguntas sobre tudo. Nem toas as respostas cbem num adulto.  

ARNALDO ANTUNES has been doing music, poetry, performances and interventions in other media since 1980. He has published five books: OU E (1982); Psia, Ed. Expressão/Ed Iluminuras, São Paulo (1986/2nd edition); Tudos, Ed. Iluminuras, São Paulo (1990/3rd edition); As Coisas - Jabui Poetry Prize, Ed. Iluminuras, São Paulo (1992/3rd edition) and 2 ou + corpos no mesmo espaço Ed. Perspectiva São Paulo (1997). In 1982 he founded the rock group Titans (Titãs) and performed with them until 1992. They released seven albums by Warner/Brazil, winning many gold and platinum L/P’s. In 1993, after leaving the Titans, he released NOME, a multimedia project developed from his poems and songs. Recently Arnaldo took part in the event Dentro Brasil (Inside Brazil), with a poetry-installation, an exhibition of his visual poetry and the video NOME, alongside a multimedia installation by Bruce and Norman Yonemoto and a program of 23 videos by Brazilian video artists, at the Long Beach Museum of Art in California.     

[ Pressure ]  

When I see you climb the walls I climb them too
No way out of the cosmic mudhole!
No way out of the telephone booth
The classroom, the igloo
No way out of the church, the temple, the mosque
The A train the D train the noisy bar the department store
No way out of the tunnel
Out of the river the lake the ocean the bay
Of the movie theater the motion picture screen
No way out of the doctorate the M.A. the B.A. the PhD.
The toolshed, the library
No way out of Africa, of Europe, out of Asia,
No escape from the guitar, the bassguitar
No escape from the mailman, the endless mail,
No way out of Christmas, of New Year´s
No way out of the sleeping bag no way no way
No way out of the organic vegetable garden
The deep ravine,
The glistening valley,
The starry night,
The zoo, no escape
The coat hangers no escape
The history of Russia no escape
No way out of prison
No way no way
Out of money even if you’re out of it
The Great Chain of Being, no escape
The Magnetic Field, no escape,
No escape no escape
No way out of brain chemistry
Or pain killers or pain
No way off pleasure
The rainbow, no escape
The World Trade Center no escape
My window no escape
No return no way off
No way out of midnight black midnight now coaxing midnight
gentle midnight no escape 

Audio sample: Anne Waldman with Pani Pavlova Band performing ‘Pressure’, with Arjana Shameti on Czech vocals. Track adapted by Arjana Shameti. 

[ Pratitya Samutpada ]

Do you know this term, my friend?
Which describes the coarising & interconnectedness
of all living things?
If you do this to that, this happens
Or that to that, that happens
Or this to this to that to this to that to that
to this to this to that to that to that, this happens The sun shines
The dreamer lies down in a suit of fresh clothes
The rain falls on her book of runes
The book gets wet
The seasons come round again
The weapon she dreams of turns back
on her in the hands of the person
she never considered in her plot to save the worldAh, web-life, I bow to the book-
magical syllables waiting to be caught
I bow to the mind behind it, the tender grass
I bow to the weapon, to the person who wields it
so it dissolves in the handThis to that to this to that to that to that to this to that
To that to this to this to this to that to that to this to that
By this merit may all obtain omniscience.     

[ Verses For The New Amazing Grace ]

The grace of all the bards who pen
Their words do transport me
Sweet vowels & consonants strengthen
Goddess Poesy’s legacyHeart-pearls roll off the poets’ tongues
Who chant in praise of Love
Troubadours blest with hearty lungs
Esoterics zapped from aboveSapho’s bite & Shakespeare’s wit
& Dante’s mystical climb
Dickinson’s rhyme, bearded Whitman’s breath
Are etched in genetic spineAnd if the planet cease to spin
Sad universe go silent, dark
Ancient poetry’s echoes will make a din
Rekindle the primordial sparkO I bow down to Christ’s thorny crown
All sacraments meant to heal
The Buddha’s smile, old Yaweh’s frown
And Allah’s consummate zealBut poetry’s a Goddess sent
To save a wretch like me
She strums the strings of life’s desperate edge
With her haunting melody.

Audio sample: Anne Waldman with Pavla Jonssonova performing ‘Verses For The New Amazing Grace’ by Anne Waldman (track in English and Czech)