Invitation to Sonic Poetry: Demarcations, Repositories, Examples

The SpokenWeb Podcast

SUMMARY

In this first episode of Season 6, producer Andrew Whiteman invites listeners to step into an arena of collaboration between poetry and sound. We all know it when we hear it, and we have mixed feelings about it. Why does the archaic meeting place of music and poem hit such a nerve? Is this art form literature or is it music? Surely, it’s not song, is it? And if poems already carry their prosodic intentions within themselves – why bother supplementing them with extraneous audio?" These questions are answered by Siren Recordings, a new digital-DIY sonic poetry label run by Kelly Baron and Andrew Whiteman.

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SHOW NOTES

Audio played in the episode

“Happy Birthday Ed Sanders Thank You!”, written and performed by Edward Sanders ( from "This is the Age of Investigation Poetry and Every Citizen Must Investigate” part of the “Totally Corrupt Dial-a-Poem Series by John Giorno. Found at https://www.ubu.com/sound/gps.html ) and Andrew Whiteman. Unreleased track.

Audio clips of Amiri Barak, Helen Adam, and the Four Horseman from Ron Mann’s 1980 film Poetry in Motion. found at https://vimeo.com/14191903.

“The Great Reigns” written and performed by Erica Hunt ( from Close Listening with Charles Bernstein at WPS1 Clocktower Studio, New York, June 20, 2005, available at https://writing.upenn.edu/pennsound/x/Hunt.php ), and Andrew Whiteman.

“#7” by Alice Notley and AroarA. Unreleased track. Text taken from Notley's book “In The Pines”, Penguin Books. 2007.

“ Pinbot” and “Abu Surveillance” by Anne Waldman and Andrew Whiteman. Unreleased track. Text taken from Waldman’s book “Iovis: the Trilogy”, Coffeehouse Press. 2011.

“How I wrote Certain of my Books” by David UU and the Avalettes. from the casette Very Sound (Sound Poems By David UU). Underwhich Audiographic Series, No.18. 1984.

"whn i first came to vancouvr” by bill bissett. from the cassette Sonic Horses. Underwhich Audiographic Series, No.19.1984.

"From The Life & Work Of Chapter 7 (For Steven Smith)” by Tekst. from the cassette "Unexpected Passage”.

Underwhich Audiographic Series – No. 15. 1982.

“ Canto One” by Andrew Whiteman featuring Robert Duncan, Ezra Pound, Richard Sieberth, Al Filreis. buried somewhere at Penn Sound. https://writing.upenn.edu/pennsound/. Unreleased track.

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PRODUCER BIO

Andrew Whiteman is a founding member of the indie-rock collective Broken Social Scene, and a PhD student at Concordia University investigating the confluence of mythology and experimental poetics. He is a musician, producer and sound artist with special interest in Sonic Poetics, and has collaborated on recordings with Alice Notley (In The Pines, 2013) and Anne Waldman (IOVIS, 2023) among others. This work has led directly to the creation of Siren Recordings, a boutique sonic poetry label, hub and ever-growing archive he runs with Kelly Baron and Brandon Hocura. His divinatory practice is located at https://intarotgate.com.