The very day the first episode (with Beverly) was released I had a walk and talk with an acquaintance, and as she asked me what the pod ”was about”, I could only giggle before I tried to explain it: ”It’s a meandering conversation, that is not ”about” anything really. It’s a recording of what happens when two people meet up, start somewhere, and have no clue where they’ll end up.”
That is, truly, what all these conversations are, and I am very aware that this is not a podcast series for everyone. Now, I didn’t properly introduce Beverly in the first episode description, so here goes:
Beverly Delidow is a writer in multiple genres documenting life and work in the Ohio River Valley on her blog, Here’s a Quarter (https://heresaquarter.com). She is the author of a collection of short stories about life with dogs (Dog Days, 2017). She continues to gather material on canine antics, courtesy of Chiquita and Olive, under the strict supervision of the feline heads of household, Elijah and Felix. She has published poetry in the journal ABZ and has a poetry chapbook (Stepping Stones) coming out in the spring of 2021.
When we got started I blurted out how I have a hard time grasping Shakespeare (and I’ve never really grasped the difference between poetry and prose even). Surprise surprise, it turns out Shakespeare is one of Beverlys favorite authors, and hearing her recite this passage from Macbeth (Act 5, Scene 5, lines 17–28) by heart was quite fantastic:
”She should have died hereafter;
There would have been a time for such a word.
— To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death.
Out, out, brief candle!
Life is but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury
Signifying nothing.”
Hearing her intonation as she read, and then giving me a few in’s and out’s as to what this is all about, made me a little bit more keen to pick up a copy of Hamlet, or MacBeth, or Julius Caesar. It also reminded me of how in a few episodes of Buddhas by the roadside, another pod I am a part of, we’ve touched on the importance of having a guide to aid in understanding, making sense of, grasping poetry and literature, as well as paintings and theater and modern dance and…
Some things I grasp, straight up, and others… when I am taken by the hand and helped to see what is there, beyond my superficial understanding, whole new worlds and universes can open and it’s amazing to experience. Have you ever experienced it? Do you know what I mean? What type of cultural expression would be tankespjärn for you?