Bits of Bly: August Sun
The five-part series of clips from a 1997 Robert Bly interview from KUMD concludes with the poet reciting his poem “August Sun.”
The five-part series of clips from a 1997 Robert Bly interview from KUMD concludes with the poet reciting his poem “August Sun.”
In part four of the 1997 Robert Bly interview from KUMD, the poet talks about the future of American poetry.
In part three of the 1997 Robert Bly interview from KUMD, the poet talks about Spanish poetry and other influences, including the Indian poet Ghalib.
In part two of the 1997 Robert Bly interview from KUMD, the poet talks about nature as an influence and following a thread with words.
Poet and social critic Robert Bly, who penned many of his works from a cabin on Moosehead Lake about 30 miles southwest of Duluth, died on Nov. 21 at the age of 94. He was interviewed in the fall of 1997 on KUMD radio in Duluth, and a cassette of the interview survives in the Perfect Duluth Day archive. Consider the clip above to be part one of a short series.
The interview took place the year after Bly’s book The Sibling Society: An Impassioned Call for the Rediscovery of Adulthood was published.
This is an excerpt of the short film “From the Museroom: A Sampler of Minnesota Poets,” shot during a Poetry Collective benefit at the Firehouse in Minneapolis, Minn.
“Feeling and Thinking” by Rumi
Someone struck Zayd a hard blow from behind. He was about to retaliate, when his assailant cried, “Let me ask you a question: first answer it, then strike me. I struck the nape of your neck, and there was the sound of a slap. Now I ask you in a friendly way — ‘Was the sound caused by my hand or by your neck, O pride of the noble?'”
Zayd said, “The pain I am suffering leaves me no time to reflect on this problem. Ponder it yourself: he who feels the pain cannot think of things like this.”
