Poemcast

Hi friends,

Today, I have some exciting news in this truly chaotic season in this truly unfathomable year. Today, Tracy K. Smith, the 22nd Poet Laureate, is reading my poem on her podcast, The Slowdown.

I remember sitting on the beach last year with my friend Lucy, reading Tracy K. Smith's collection of fifty poems for our time, which I also really recommend. We wrote by blinded by the June sun against the bare of our pages. Never would I have imagined Tracy leafing through my own words.

This poem, "Facial Recognition", is one of the rare poems where I allow my work in data in one part of my life to intersect with my poetry self. What it argues, is that of course, the data knows I'm one precise person.

At the top of the reading, the poem gives a nod to Sasha Stiles, a poet who explores in words and other media all things at the intersection of technology and art. It was her work and the tone of it that gave me the voice to write the poem featured today. 

If you want to listen to this episode of The Slowdown, first of all, thank you. You can find the episode on any podcast platform, and it'll be on the radio in select stations today. For instance, KALW/91.7 in San Francisco will be playing it at 6:01pm PST. I listened to WVPE this morning and loved hearing NPR's Morning Edition transition into my poem. 

Other episodes of The Slowdown are also especially great for pausing the day. I'm honored to be in such a hall of writers, and sad that the show itself is ending soon. I'd also like to highlight some recent episodes featuring some of my friends, Mount Rushmore by Dante Clark, brown and black people on shark tank by Angbeen Saleem, and AQUÍ HAY TODO, MIJA by Alexis Aceves Garcia.