Posts Tagged Poems
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June 1, 2018 by Simon Sweetman
Sweetman Podcast: Episode 118 – Chris Tse
Welcome to episode 118 of Sweetman Podcast with support from our sponsors – T Leaf T, Yeastie Boys and Le Petite Chocolat. I had a conversation with Chris Tse. He’s a Wellington poet. He’s done some acting and music-making too but it’s for his books How To Be Dead In A Year of Snakes and the very recently released He’s So […]Archive
April 27, 2018 by Simon Sweetman
His Evolution Was Never Televised: The Anger and Poetry of Gil Scott-Heron
The first I was really aware of Gil Scott-Heron – and I mean really aware– was hearing Paul Ubana Jones perform an a cappella take on Home Is Where the Hatred Is. (Here’s the Gil Scott-Heron original.) I had heard of Gil Scott-Heron; I knew this famous piece. But hearing Jones speak and sing the words…well, that really made me take notice. The compilation […]Archive
March 8, 2018 by Simon Sweetman
Sweetman Podcast: Episode 106 – Andrew Fagan
Welcome to episode 106 of Sweetman Podcast with support from our sponsors – T Leaf T, Yeastie Boys and Le Petite Chocolat. I nabbed a wee chat with Andrew Fagan – he of the Mockers and of course his own career, poetry, songs, a life on the seas – a stint as a radio programmer and DJ, first as a Kiwi […]Archive
February 28, 2018 by Simon Sweetman
Art Garfunkel: What Is It All But Luminous
What Is It All But Luminous: Notes From An Underground Man Art Garfunkel Knopf; First Edition edition Something like starting from the beginning feels like the right thing to do… Do you remember that clip of Art Garfunkel talking absolute-fucking-balderdash between takes in the studio? For his memoir he’s essentially done the same thing. Why […]Archive
February 15, 2018 by Simon Sweetman
Sweetman Podcast: Episode 103 – Richard Langston
Welcome to episode 103 of Sweetman Podcast with support from our sponsors – T Leaf T, Yeastie Boys and Le Petite Chocolat. I sat down for a chat with Richard Langston. We’ve met and talked a few times over the years but this was the first time I’d attempted to get his full story – journalist, poet, broadcaster, music enthusiast, television […]Archive
December 19, 2017 by Simon Sweetman
Good Gig, Bad Conversation After…
I used to play in an Irish band – we’d tour around the central North Island (and one time we went to the top of the South Island). We went where the gigs were. It was a working band. Some weeks were hard slog; others were easy. Sometimes there was no work. Many times the […]Archive
December 12, 2017 by Simon Sweetman
Stubs: # 216 – Howl, Wellington, 2010
When I was introduced to the poem Howl and the poems in that book and any other things by Allen Ginsberg it blew my mind. Right time. Right place. University – first year, eager, hungry. And this madness, these lines, this attitude, it infected me. And I’ve been a fan of the Beat poets and […]Archive
August 9, 2017 by Simon Sweetman
Ariel Leve: An Abbreviated Life – A Memoir
An Abbreviated Life: A Memoir Ariel Leve Harper Ariel Leve doesn’t name her mother – we can Google and find out her name of course – but I guess it’s a gesture around dignity; proof that this isn’t a Mommy Dearest-styled hatchet-job memoir; in fact it’s about memory, recovery and growth, about understanding and conquering, […]Archive
May 26, 2017 by Simon Sweetman
R.I.P. Denis Johnson
Sad to wake up and hear of the passing of Denis Johnson. What a writer! He was scheduled to be part of this year’s Auckland Writers Festival – the appearance cancelled due to health reasons. And now less than a week later – this news. Tragic. I found Johnson’s books always at the time I […]Archive
May 11, 2017 by Simon Sweetman
Sweetman Podcast: Episode 62 – Sarah Jane Barnett
Welcome to episode 62 of Sweetman Podcast with support from our sponsors – T Leaf T, L’affare and Yeastie Boys. This one is a conversation with writer Sarah Jane Barnett. I met Sarah through mutual friends, but before that I had written about how much I loved her first book. She’s since released a second book of poems which […]Archive
April 5, 2017 by Simon Sweetman