In the latest episode of the Ampersand Podcast, Poets & Writers editors and cohosts Kevin Larimer and Melissa Faliveno discuss the January/February issue’s section on inspiration, The Darkness and the Light, in which contributors Frank Bures, Melissa Febos, Jay Baron Nicorvo, Nancy M. Williams, Kevin Simmonds, and Rita Banerjee engage with sometimes difficult material and find inspiration in the darkness. The podcast also includes “Shadows of Words,” the twelfth annual look at debut poets, including Ari Banias, Jana Prikryl, Carolina Ebeid, Solmaz Sharif, Phillip B. Williams, Eleanor Chai, and Justin Boening, as well as Ocean Vuong, Safiya Sinclair, and Tommy Pico, who read poems from their debut collections. Editor Melissa Faliveno introduces Banerjee’s article on rasa theory with the quote: “Rasa is a shot to the heart, it’s a festering wound, it’s the mind at unrest, and it is nobody’s captive. It can be dangerous. It’s the moment where you loose yourself and loosen, and find in your body the first stirrings of emotion.” To hear the full podcast, check out Ampersand here.
Author
Rita Banerjee 