I would love to hear you talk about that, the relevance of a poem that was written in one context and yet speaks forcibly in another. So, now that we are out of 2020 and into 2021, it was amazing to me how the poem speaks so well, to our time, collectively, and individually. Christ, let's let things not get even worse. A weird fall, nearly 90 one day, leaf mold, making the house all red eyes and throats. Jesus, let's let things not get even worse. So I just want to say that first, The book is dark out of the starting gate, but there's, I hope, a long track.īad, it got bad. I think every poem is judged on its aesthetic honesty, not on whether it's uplifting or not, but if somebody said, "Where's the poem of yours that might make me feel like, you know, going to tomorrow," it wouldn't be this one. And because of that, it is, in no way a feel-good poem. And let me just say about it s o people don't run screaming for the exits it's the first poem in a section that has a lot to do with depression. So I was hoping that you could read the opening poem of the book called "Bad" just so that we can hear your voice and have that in mind as we talk further about the book. Welcome to this conversation about your newest book, “Listen." I'm thrilled to be with you here today, having a conversation about everything about it, actually. He is also the author of multiple books of poetry, including “Clangings," and most recently, “Listen,” which he will read from today, Steven will be joined on this episode by one of his former students, and a fellow poet, Andrea Reed. His work has appeared in The Paris Review, Ploughshares, Slate, The Atlantic Monthly, and many other places. Today's guest is Steven Cramer. Steven founded our low residency MFA in Creative Writing program. Every episode, we bring you conversations with authors from the Lesley community to talk about books, writing, and the writing life. But people said, "She already knows about it, don't worry about it." So I thought okay, maybe she's fine with it.This is Why We Write, a podcast of Lesley University. I actually wanted to take scissors and cut out that line where I talk about her facial hair. We had a book event at the retirement home and Julia was one of the first in line: She said, "I want two copies." And I was just bracing for the storm. And it's the woman identified in the book as Queen Julia, who has dinner with my dad every night at the retirement home. I insult this person egregiously and, in hindsight, I think I really did take a cheap shot at this person. There's one person in the book that I really go over the top in insulting. So there would be a phone message from him every night: Is there any news about the title of the book? Is there any movement on the title of the book? My dad's memory is not what it used to be. And suddenly there were just howls of outrage from the family. Who Killed Mom? became the title, I can tell you at that point family support took a 180-degree turn. Goodbye, Christmas Town when it was in proposal form and the family was very supportive. But what was really hard to contemplate was the fact that now I was going to be telling stories about other people and that those people might be upset. ![]() So I made the decision way back that I was going to write about the fact that I used to wake up soaked in my own urine on a regular basis. One of the first realizations I made as a non-fiction writer was if you're not going to tell the truth, and if you're not going to tell hard truths, there's no point. I wrote a piece about my alcoholism that first ran in the Georgia Straight and then a version of it ran in. To be honest with you, I got that out of my system very early in my career. Did it take some courage to reveal your troubles with alcoholism at a very young age? But blowing your life wide open for everyone to see is another matter entirely. You write in a very distinctive voice, often in the first person. Who Killed Mom? A Delinquent Son's Meditation on Family, Mortality and Very Tacky Candles is more than a recounting of his mother's death it's a memoir of family life: funny, poignant and brutally honest. ![]() The unlikely opportunity presented itself two years ago with the death of his mother, who was suffering from Parkinson's disease. Ever since Steve Burgess, 52, began making a living as a freelance writer in Vancouver almost 20 years ago, he has wanted to write a book - even through television stints on CBC end and
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