Transcript: Poems on Air, Episode 76 - Matthew Dickman

The following transcript is provided for accessibility only. Layout, formatting, and typography of poems may differ from the original text. We recommend referring to the original, published works when possible to experience the poems as intended by their authors.

[Music intro]

LYNNE THOMPSON: Hello! My name is Lynne Thompson, Poet Laureate for the City of Los Angeles and I’m so happy to welcome listeners to this installment of Poems on Air, a podcast supported by the Los Angeles Public Library. Every week, I’ll present the work of poets I admire, poets who you should know, and poets who have made a substantial and inimitable contribution to the art and craft of poetry.

LYNNE THOMPSON: In last week’s episode, the podcast focused on a reading at Los Angeles’ Craft Contemporary Museum that featured Michelle Bitting and Matthew Dickman, Matthew came to Los Angeles from his home in Portland, Oregon, where, in addition to raising his sons, he teaches in the Vermont College of Fine Arts low-residency MFA program. The author of four collections of poetry, most recently, Husbandry, he is the recipient of the May Sarton Award from the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Kate Tufts Award from Claremont Graduate University, and the 2009 Oregon Book Award.

LYNNE THOMPSON: Today’s poem is "Rhododendron" by Matthew Dickman

"Rhododendron"




I’m walking my infant
son through a stand of rhododendrons.

It feels like we are walking 
through a cloud of jellyfish

made of pink and purple paper
petals falling

to the ground.
These jellyfish are the fish of spring.

He is making sounds 
like a mouse, small but all out

of his body. Inside,
his organs are so new

that they are both organs
and the beginnings of organs.

When he cries for his mother
to nurse him

he sounds like a rooster.
He is not

just hungry,
but hunger itself.

He is the thing
he cries for. Sunlight is turning

the rhododendrons
into balls of pink light if light

were liquid
and something else,

splashing,
that’s what the pink is doing,

splashing all over us,
lucky without a god,

animals under the bright pink
idea of earth.

LYNNE THOMPSON: The Los Angeles Poet Laureate was created as a joint program between the City’s Department of Cultural Affairs and the Los Angeles Public Library and this podcast is available wherever you get your podcasts. Thanks for listening!

[Music outro]

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    • DISCLAIMER: This is NOT a certified or verbatim transcript, but rather represents only the context of the class or meeting, subject to the inherent limitations of real-time captioning. The primary focus of real-time captioning is general communication access and as such this document is not suitable, acceptable, nor is it intended for use in any type of legal proceeding. Transcript provided by the author.

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